UAQ Free Trade Zone company setup

The Umm Al Quwain Free Trade Zone is the emirate's authority for free zone companies. It is placed close to Dubai on purpose: it is on the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, about half an hour from Dubai without going into the city, and the emirate's own port is on the other side.

It gives commercial, industrial and service licences. You can set up an FZE with one shareholder, an FZC with several shareholders, or a branch of a company registered somewhere else. You can own 100% of the company, and the establishment card lets the company sponsor residence visas in the normal way.

The zone also has real property: offices and co-working space on flexible terms, ready-built warehouses with offices, and industrial land on long leases. Being close to Dubai, with land you can keep for a long time at northern emirates prices, is exactly what this zone offers. It is a real benefit, not just advertising.

It suits businesses that need space more than an address: storage, light manufacturing, assembly, distribution, and any business whose profit is eaten up by Dubai rent. It suits companies whose staff and customers are already in the northern emirates. And it suits business owners who want a licence and a warehouse from one authority, not two.

It does not suit a business whose clients will check the address and expect Dubai. In some industries this really matters, and we will not pretend it does not. It does not suit businesses controlled by another authority. And it does not suit anyone who plans to sell directly to customers inside the UAE as a local supplier. That needs a mainland licence, wherever you set up.

The honest test is the drive. If someone in your business will make that trip several times a week, you really save money. If nobody will ever go there and people only see the address, ask us whether it gives you what you think it does.

We apply to the authority directly. The authority's questions come straight to us, not through an agent who adds a fee and slows down every answer.

It also means we compare this zone with all the other zones we could use instead. We work with zones in six emirates, including six in Dubai. So when we suggest going north, we could have sold you a more expensive option, and we did not.

As with every lower-cost zone, check banking first. Which banks accept which activities from which emirate keeps changing, and a licence no bank will accept has not saved you anything.

Our free zone company setup has a confirmed starting price, shown on this page with what is not included. The visa, Emirates ID and medical are charged for each person, not for each company.

We do not publish a separate UAQ licence fee. It depends on your business activity, the number of visas and, most of all, whether you take a desk, a warehouse or land. These are three very different costs and should not share one price. We give you a written price once we know what you need.