Freelance Permit UAE: Visa, Costs and the Right Free Zone

A freelance permit is issued to you as a person. It confirms that you may offer certain services and, in most free zones, it lets you sponsor your own residence visa. There is no separate company, so contracts, invoices and debts are all in your name.

A one-person free zone company is a separate legal entity, usually an FZE or FZ-LLC. You own all of the shares and you sponsor yourself as the investor. The company signs contracts, can take on a partner, can add visas for staff and builds its own trading history with banks.

In the northern emirates the price gap between the two is often small, and a company sometimes includes more activities. That is why many people who search for a freelance visa end up with a small company. A permit still makes sense when you will always work alone and the zone's freelancer package fits your work exactly.

RAKEZ in Ras Al Khaimah publishes a Freelancer Permit for independent professionals and says it makes the holder eligible for a UAE residence visa. RAKEZ also offers low-cost trade licences and licence and visa plans, which is why it is often the first zone we look at for solo founders.

Creative City Fujairah has long been a home for media and creative freelancers, with a licence in your own name available with or without a visa. Ajman Media City and SHAMS in Sharjah focus on media, marketing and online work and sell entry licences that many freelancers use instead of a personal permit.

In Dubai, GoFreelance is the permit route under the Dubai Development Authority. Several advisers reported in 2026 that some of its communities, including Dubai Media City and Dubai Internet City, had paused or limited new individual permits while renewals continued. We could not confirm this from an official notice, so check the current rule with us before you rely on a Dubai permit.

A freelance permit or a one-person company usually supports one residence visa, for you. The free zone first registers an establishment card with immigration, then issues an entry permit or status change. You complete the medical test and Emirates ID biometrics in person, and the visa is issued for the period your zone offers, often two years.

Once you hold the visa you can rent a home, open personal and business accounts and, if you meet the income and housing conditions, sponsor your family. These conditions are set by the immigration authorities and can change, so check them before you promise anything to your family.

Highly qualified freelancers can also look at the 5-year Green Visa. It needs a freelance or self-employment permit from MoHRE, at least a bachelor's degree or specialised diploma, and proof of income or financial solvency as published by the federal authority. It suits people with an established income rather than new arrivals.

Start with the licence or permit, then add the visa, the medical test and Emirates ID, any health insurance your emirate requires and Work Protection Insurance where it applies. On our packages page, the RAKEZ licence and 2-year visa Basic plan is AED 7,731, and the Standard plan at AED 9,064 adds health insurance, Work Protection Insurance, bank account help and corporate tax registration.

Zone starting prices for a licence without a visa on our free zone pages include Ajman Media City from AED 5,149, SHAMS from AED 5,923 and Creative City Fujairah from AED 7,725. These are starting points, and the visa costs come on top. The cost calculator adds the visa lines for you so you can compare zones on a full first-year figure.

Banks look at freelancers closely because income often arrives as many small payments from abroad. A licence or permit that clearly matches your work, a few signed contracts or invoices and a clean personal bank history make the review shorter. Some freelancers start with a digital business account and move to a larger bank once their income is steady.

For tax, an individual doing business in the UAE becomes subject to corporate tax once turnover from that business passes AED 1 million in a calendar year. A free zone company has its own rules and must register with the Federal Tax Authority. Keep proper books from the first month, whichever route you choose.