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How activities are classified, combined and approved, and why the wording matters.
Most licence problems begin with the activity wording, not the licence type. This guide is for anyone about to choose it or change it.
If you are setting up a company, you will be asked to choose activities before the licence is issued. If you already have a licence, you may want to add an activity, because a new service, product or contract needs one. Either way, the wording on the licence is what the authority, the bank, your customers and a tender document will read.
The Ministry of Economy and Tourism says there are more than two thousand economic activities to choose from in the UAE, and that a licence may include more than one. Its National Economic Registry, called Growth, gives information on more than two thousand activities across the seven emirates and follows the international ISIC4 classification. In practice, an activity is a named line on a published list, grouped under headings, and the licensing authority issues the licence against that list.
Each licensing authority keeps its own list and its own way of grouping. The DWTC Free Zone describes more than one thousand two hundred activities in a searchable database, and DMCC describes more than one thousand approved activities across twenty sectors. Do not carry an activity wording from one authority to another: the same business can be described differently, and the wording is what gets checked.
On the Dubai mainland, the Department of Economy and Tourism offers a portal service for searching business activities, and the portal also lets owners manage their company information, including licence updates and activity changes.
The federal position is simple: a licence may include more than one activity. The limits come from each authority.
Its March 2025 process sheet says only activities under the same licence type can be added, up to 10 activities under one type, with AED 1,500 for each additional parent group. Activities should be closely related, the licence must have more than 30 days left, and the Authority decides at its discretion.
Its guideline says added activities must be from the same licence type: trading, service or industrial. It also says a single-family office, real estate, DGCX and professional traders are standalone activities that cannot be carried out with any other activities, subject to its final decision.
Its page says up to 3 activity groups are included in the base fee, and each activity beyond that costs AED 1,000. It says the combination can span different industries.
Its own pages describe the limit in different ways: one speaks of three activity groups within the standard fee, and another of up to seven activities with the first three included. Ask IFZA which applies to your licence before you plan around either figure.
The lesson is that a licence that looks flexible in one zone may be restrictive in another. Before you choose a zone because it allows many activities, check which of yours can sit together, and what each addition costs.
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Dubai's government portal says some activities or company types need approval from other government departments or agencies. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism gives examples: the Ministry of Interior for transport, driving schools, car rental and safety systems, the Ministry of Justice for legal activities, the health authorities for healthcare, the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority for telecommunications, the Supreme Petroleum Council for oil and gas services, and the Ministry of Economy for insurance.
Free zones add their own lists. DWTC's rules name healthcare, education, retail food outlets and hotels as needing permission from other relevant authorities, and say the licence is issued in those categories only after the licensee obtains that approval. Meydan says education activities may need approval from the education regulator and healthcare from the health regulator, and that approvals may be needed before or after the licence is issued.
The order is not the same everywhere. The Dubai Health Authority says its new facility licence is also known as an initial approval, and that obtaining a trade licence before applying is optional, so healthcare can run the opposite way round from a typical mainland application. Real estate is different again: the Dubai Land Department says a real estate activity licence application is submitted through the Department of Economy and Tourism, and the licence and relevant staff must be registered with the real estate regulator. TDRA says a telecommunications supplier needs either a valid commercial licence with a telecommunications activity or initial approvals from the economic department or free zone, and must register before starting business.
Ask which approvals your activity needs before you pay for a licence, and in what order. A licence issued before a required approval can leave you licensed but unable to trade.
No single federal page defines a regulated activity. The term is used by free zones. DMCC says companies with regulated activities must obtain a third-party no-objection certificate and lists regulated areas such as financial services and investment, virtual assets, healthcare, and oil, gas and energy. IFZA divides its activities into non-regulated activities, which need no outside approval, and regulated activities, which need approval from specified government entities.
Ownership is a separate question. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism says companies and investors of various nationalities may have full ownership of all economic activities, in line with the activities identified by the local authorities and the list of strategic impact activities. Dubai's portal says most activities allow 100% foreign ownership, but certain strategic sectors do not. The Ministry's summary of Cabinet Resolution No. 55 of 2021 lists strategic impact activities, including security and defence, activities of a military nature, banks, exchange houses, financing and insurance companies, telecommunications, Hajj and Umrah services, Holy Quran memorisation centres and fisheries services. Foreign investors submit a licensing request to the competent authority.
That list applies to the licensing of mainland companies. Do not apply it to a free zone without a statement from the zone itself.
Visa allowances are set by the licensing authority and usually follow the facility you take. DWTC's rules, for example, link the quota to the space leased and not to the activity. We found no official statement that a particular activity changes the quota, so plan visas from the facility and confirm with the authority.
Banks compare what you tell them with what your licence says. Meydan makes the same point: if your actual operations do not match the listed activities, issues can arise in banking reviews. Choose wording that matches the invoices you will issue.
For a Qualifying Free Zone Person, the activity decides whether income is qualifying. Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025 sets the qualifying activities and the excluded activities, applies only to Qualifying Free Zone Persons, and requires non-qualifying revenue to stay within the de minimis limit of 5% of total revenue or AED 5,000,000, whichever is lower. Excluded activities include, with exceptions, transactions with natural persons, banking, insurance, finance and leasing, and immovable property. A company that fails the conditions loses the status for that period and the next four.
In other words, the activity you choose and the activity you actually carry out are tax facts, not just licensing facts. We test the activity wording against the tax conditions before you file.
Write down each product and service you expect to bill in the first year, with the customer type.
Find the wording on the authority's published list. Use the authority's own list, not another one's.
Ask whether any activity needs another authority's approval, and which comes first.
Confirm the activities can sit together, and what extra ones cost.
Check strategic-activity limits on ownership, and for a free zone company the qualifying and excluded activity rules.
Amend the licence when the business changes, using the authority's process.
Extra activities cost money and can trigger approvals you do not need. They also invite questions from banks.
A contract for an activity that is not on the licence may not be possible to sign or to invoice.
Limits on combining and adding activities differ between DWTC, DMCC, Meydan and IFZA.
For a free zone company, the activity decides whether income is qualifying. Excluded activities do not qualify.
Fees for adding an activity are set by each authority, and some publish them. We quote the current figure for yours.
Adding or changing an activity
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Depends on the authority and the activity.
Mainland licence
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Depends on activity and office.
Free zone licence
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Each zone sets its own fees.
Illustrative example, not a client
A management consultancy in a free zone wants to add paid training courses. Training for adults may be a different activity from consulting, and education activities can need approval from the education regulator.
We check the zone's own list and rules. We confirm whether the training activity can be added to the same licence type, what the addition costs, and whether an outside approval is needed first.
We also look at tax. If the training will be sold to individuals on the mainland, that income may not be qualifying, and it counts against the de minimis limit. The owners decide whether to add the activity to this company or run it separately.
The Ministry of Economy and Tourism says there are more than two thousand economic activities in the UAE to choose from. Each licensing authority keeps its own list, so the count and the wording differ.
Yes. The Ministry says a licence may include more than one activity. Each authority sets limits: for example, DWTC and DMCC allow additions only within the same licence type.
DMCC says a single-family office, real estate, DGCX and professional traders are standalone activities, subject to its final decision. Other authorities have their own rules, so ask yours.
The Ministry gives examples such as transport, legal activities, healthcare, telecommunications, oil and gas services and insurance. Free zones add education, retail food outlets and hotels, among others.
It depends. A free zone may issue the licence only after the approval, Meydan says approvals may come before or after, and for healthcare the facility licence from the health authority is also called an initial approval.
Not in all. Most activities allow 100% foreign ownership, but strategic impact activities are restricted. Foreign investors submit a licensing request to the competent authority.
For a Qualifying Free Zone Person, yes. The activity decides whether income is qualifying, and excluded activities do not qualify. Non-qualifying revenue must stay within the de minimis limit.
We found no official statement that it does. Visa allowances usually follow the facility, and DWTC's rules link the quota to the space leased. Confirm with your authority.
Through the authority's process. DWTC uses its eServices portal and a board resolution, DMCC asks for questionnaires and undertakings, Meydan uses its portal, and Dubai's mainland portal lets owners manage activity changes.
General information based on UAE rules at the time of writing. It is not tax or legal advice for your situation. Speak to us before you decide.
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