Branch Office UAE: Foreign, Free Zone and Inter-Emirate Branches

A branch is not a separate company. If the branch signs a lease, borrows, hires staff or loses a dispute, the claim can be enforced against the parent company and its assets, not only against what the branch holds in the UAE. Banks and landlords know this, which is why a branch of a well-known parent is sometimes easier to open accounts for than a new LLC.

That same fact is the main reason some groups prefer a subsidiary. If your UAE work involves large contracts, warranties or construction risk, an LLC owned by the parent limits exposure to the money invested. Ask your home-country lawyer and tax adviser before you decide; branch profits can also be taxed differently from subsidiary dividends.

Parent documents issued abroad must be made valid for use in the UAE. The usual chain is a notary in the home country, then that country's foreign ministry or competent authority, then the UAE embassy or consulate, and finally attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs once the papers arrive. After that, a licensed legal translator prepares Arabic versions.

The documents normally include the certificate of incorporation, articles or by-laws, a board resolution approving the branch and naming its manager, a power of attorney for the manager, and the latest audited financial statements. Under the 2024 rules, the Ministry can accept temporary registration while attestation is still pending, but the file must usually be completed within about three months.

Tip: sign the board resolution and power of attorney together, in one meeting, using wording we send you first. Re-legalising a document because one line is wrong can cost weeks.

Until recently, a Dubai free zone company that wanted mainland customers usually needed a distributor or a separate mainland company. Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025 changed this: DET can now issue a branch licence to many free zone companies, or a temporary permit valid for up to six months for a defined piece of work. Financial firms licensed in DIFC are excluded.

Conditions reported so far include a valid free zone licence for as long as the branch operates, a no-objection from the free zone authority, approvals from any activity regulator, and separate records for mainland revenue. The 2025 amendments to the Commercial Companies Law also confirm that such branches follow mainland company rules when they work outside their zone.

Worked example: a software firm in a Dubai free zone wins a 12-month contract to install systems in mainland clinics. A one-off temporary permit is too short, so a DET branch is usually the cleaner route. Before applying, we check with a tax adviser how the mainland income affects the parent's free zone corporate tax position.

A licence from one emirate covers activity in that emirate. If a Dubai LLC wants a staffed office in Abu Dhabi, it applies to Abu Dhabi's economic department for a branch licence, usually through TAMM, and registers a local lease through Tawtheeq. The branch shares the parent's trade name and activities and appears on the parent's records.

Worked example: a Sharjah contracting company wins regular work in Dubai and wants five site staff based there. A Dubai branch with its own small office and Ejari lets it hold a Dubai licence for local tenders and sponsor the staff against that office. Because the parent is a UAE company, no foreign legalisation is needed; certified copies and a resolution usually suffice.

Choose a representative office only if no one in the UAE will sell, invoice or sign revenue contracts. It suits a foreign manufacturer that wants a local person to support distributors and attend trade shows. Once you start quoting and invoicing locally, you need a branch or a company.

Worked example: a European machinery maker with three UAE distributors wants one engineer in Dubai for training and after-sales visits. A representative office fits. Two years later, when it wants to sell spare parts directly, it converts to a branch or opens an LLC.