When owners say they want to "move to the mainland," they usually mean one of two very different things. One route lets you keep your free zone company and get permission to trade onshore. The other actually transfers your company's registration out of the free zone. They carry different costs, different tax exposure, and different timelines, and most guides blur them together.
Bottom Line
- There are two routes. Route A: keep your free zone company and get a Dubai DET permit to work on the mainland under Resolution No. 11 of 2025. Route B: re-domicile the company itself under the new re-domiciliation provision in the amended Commercial Companies Law.
- Route A is cheaper and faster: a temporary permit is AED 5,000 for up to six months; a dual branch licence is AED 10,000 a year.
- If you already sell to mainland clients, the one-year window to regularize ran to 3 March 2026, with a possible one-time extension. If you missed it, regularize now rather than wait.
- Mainland activity can cost you 0% corporate tax. A domestic presence is taxed at 9%, and crossing the de minimis line can strip your QFZP status for the following four tax periods, a five-year exclusion.
- A genuine exit needs clearances your provider often controls. That is where a provider that withholds records slows you down.
What owners really mean by "move to the mainland"
Most owners asking about a free zone to mainland transfer in the UAE are describing one of two legal paths that the law now keeps separate. Route A keeps your company registered in the free zone and adds permission to trade onshore. Route B transfers the registration itself. The difference decides your cost, your tax, and your timeline.
Route A is the Dubai DET operating permit under Resolution No. 11 of 2025. Route B is full re-domiciliation under the company-migration provision added by Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2025.
Why does the distinction matter so much? Because one is a permit you renew alongside your existing licence, and the other unwinds your free zone registration entirely. Shallow guides treat them as the same decision. They are not. We cover the broader trade-off in our guide to the real cost of choosing, setting up, and switching between free zone and mainland.
Route A keeps your free zone company and adds mainland permission
Route A lets you stay put and add permission. Since Dubai Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025 took effect on 3 March 2025, a Dubai free zone company can trade in mainland Dubai without dissolving. The Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) now issues permits that sit alongside your free zone licence rather than replacing it.
There are three DET routes. A mainland branch licence and a dual "branch operated from the free zone" licence each cost AED 10,000 per year, renewable annually. For short engagements, a temporary permit costs AED 5,000 and is valid up to six months.
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Dubai DET routes to operate on the mainland without closing your free zone company
Source: Dubai Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025; Reed Smith analysis, 2025
Under the resolution, DET was required to publish the list of eligible activities, splitting which need a branch licence and which need a permit, within six months of the resolution taking effect. Check the current DET list for your specific activity, since it decides which route applies. Two limits also matter. The resolution does not apply to DIFC entities, and the permits authorize business only within Dubai, not other Emirates.
There was a deadline. Free zone entities already trading onshore in Dubai were given one year to regularize, so the cut-off was 3 March 2026, with a possible one-time extension. If you have been invoicing mainland customers without a permit, sort this first. Our explainer on whether your free zone company can sell in mainland Dubai now walks through the eligible-activity detail.
Route B transfers the company registration itself
Route B moves the registration, not just your permission to trade. Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2025 came into force on 15 October 2025 and added a company-migration provision to the Commercial Companies Law. This is the statutory re-domiciliation route, and it is a genuinely different process from a permit. It moves where your company is registered.
The key benefit is continuity. The new provision lets a company transfer its registration between mainland and free zone while preserving legal personality, contracts, rights and obligations. That is the difference between re-domiciliation and the old shut-down-and-reincorporate approach, where you lost your history, re-signed every contract, and started your banking KYC from scratch.
With owners, the shut-down-and-reincorporate path was where most value quietly leaked out: expired contracts, a new tax registration, a fresh bank onboarding that took weeks. Re-domiciliation is meant to close that gap.
How long does it take? A straightforward transfer can run several months, roughly three to six for a clean case and longer for complex regulated activities. Treat any timeline as indicative, because the implementing rules for specific activities are still bedding in. The same law also confirms free zone companies are UAE juridical persons that must comply with the Commercial Companies Law when they operate onshore.
Will moving to the mainland cost you your 0% corporate tax
It can, and this is the consequence owners underestimate most. The free zone 0% rate is conditional on keeping Qualifying Free Zone Person (QFZP) status. A QFZP pays 0% on qualifying income and 9% on non-qualifying income, and a domestic permanent establishment is taxed at 9%. Mainland activity creates exactly that kind of presence.
Watch one line above all others. Your non-qualifying revenue must stay under the de minimis: the lower of 5% of total revenue or AED 5 million in a tax period. Cross it and you can lose QFZP status altogether.
The penalty is worse than a one-year tax bill. Failing the conditions means the entity is taxed at 9% and ceases to be a Qualifying Free Zone Person for that tax period and the following four tax periods, a minimum five-year exclusion from the 0% regime. So a modest mainland move that tips you over AED 5 million in non-qualifying income is not a small correction. It can reset your tax position for half a decade.
The practical read: model the tax before you pick Route A or Route B. For some owners a temporary permit keeps them under the line; for others, mainland income is already the real business and re-domiciliation is honest about that.
What actually moves: the people and the paperwork
A genuine transfer moves more than a licence. Visas are the biggest piece. Free zone work permits are issued by your zone (DMCC, IFZA, JAFZA and so on), while mainland staff are permitted through MOHRE. A mainland move means cancelling free zone visas and re-issuing under a MOHRE labour card. That is time, cost, and a window where staff status is in flux.
Then there is the physical footprint. A mainland branch usually needs an establishment card and an Ejari-registered office. Banking changes too: account terms and KYC are tied to your licensing authority, so a change of authority often reopens onboarding. Finally, your VAT and corporate tax registration details need updating with the FTA.
None of this is exotic. But it is where a slow or obstructive provider turns a two-month job into a six-month one.
Where a bad provider slows you down
This is the exit-friction trap, and it is real. A genuine transfer or closure needs clearances your provider often holds. Before you can deregister, you need free-zone finance clearance and an FTA tax clearance, and the tax authority only signs off once you have no outstanding liabilities and any suspended import VAT is released.
The list gets longer. Closing a UAE business involves clearing dues and obtaining clearances from bodies such as utilities and customs, cancelling visas, and settling any outstanding fees, on top of returning your company documents to the authority. Cancellation and deregistration fees vary by zone, so treat any headline figure with caution and get the current schedule for your own zone in writing before you commit to a date.
The exit-friction pattern owners hit is predictable. A provider slow-walks the clearances, or attaches surprise fees to the No Objection Certificate, to keep you paying. We wrote about this exact behaviour in our guide to switching your UAE setup or PRO provider without losing your documents or paying to leave. A clean handover looks different: no NOC extraction fees, one company record you can open, and a named operator moving each clearance. That is what a proper provider take-over service is for.
A clear decision path
Match the route to how you actually trade. If you serve mainland clients only occasionally, the temporary permit at AED 5,000 for up to six months is usually the lightest option. If you need an ongoing mainland presence but want to stay zone-based, the dual branch licence at AED 10,000 a year fits.
If the mainland is now your real base, weigh full re-domiciliation against your tax exposure before committing. And whichever route you pick, decide up front who holds the clearances. If you are only changing who administers your licence rather than moving jurisdiction, our note on transferring your trade licence to a new agent, not a new owner explains what actually changes. For a new mainland entity, our company formation service can set it up cleanly.
FAQ
Do I have to close my free zone company to do business on the Dubai mainland?
No. Since Dubai Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025, effective 3 March 2025, a Dubai free zone company can get a DET permit to work on the mainland without dissolving: a branch licence, a dual "branch operated from the free zone" licence (about AED 10,000 a year), or a temporary permit (AED 5,000, up to six months). Full closure only applies if you choose to re-domicile out of the free zone entirely.
What is the deadline if my free zone company is already selling to mainland clients?
Under Resolution No. 11 of 2025, free zone entities already trading onshore in Dubai were given one year from 3 March 2025 to regularize, so the cut-off was 3 March 2026, with a possible one-time extension. If you have been invoicing mainland customers without a permit and missed that window, this is the item to sort first before it becomes an enforcement problem.
Will moving to the mainland cost me my 0% corporate tax?
It can. The 0% rate depends on keeping Qualifying Free Zone Person status. A mainland presence is treated as a domestic permanent establishment taxed at 9%, and if your non-qualifying income exceeds the de minimis, the lower of 5% of revenue or AED 5 million, you can lose QFZP status. That means 9% plus disqualification for the next four tax periods. Model the tax first.
Can I transfer the actual company registration from a free zone to the mainland?
Yes, in principle. Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2025, in force 15 October 2025, added a company-migration provision to the Commercial Companies Law, allowing re-domiciliation between free zone and mainland while keeping the company's legal personality, contracts and history. Some implementing detail is still bedding in, and a clean transfer typically takes several months.
Why do providers make leaving a free zone so painful?
A genuine exit needs clearances the provider often controls: free-zone finance clearance, an FTA tax clearance, visa cancellations, utility and customs clearances, and return of company documents. Cancellation fees vary by zone. Some providers slow-walk this or attach fees to the No Objection Certificate to keep you paying. A clean handover has no NOC extraction fees and a named person moving each clearance.
Deciding your next step
Moving to the mainland is really two questions in one. First, do you need permission to trade onshore, or do you need to move the company itself? Second, what does either choice do to your 0% tax position? Get those two right and the paperwork is manageable. Get them wrong and you risk a five-year tax lock-out or an exit that drags on for months.
The friction almost never comes from the government side. It comes from a provider who controls your clearances and is slow to release them. If that sounds familiar, the fix is a clean handover: a single working file, a named operator, and no fees to leave.
Book a call and we will map your route, model the tax, and hold the clearances so nothing stalls.