Setup guide
How to start a consultancy in the UAE
A consultancy needs a professional licence, which is the cheapest and fastest category of UAE licence to obtain. Expect a free zone professional licence with one visa in roughly three to seven working days, and a total first-year cost in the region of AED 15,000–30,000 depending on the zone and the visa count.
What it costs
The cost drivers for this trade.
Consultancy is the most commonly issued professional activity in the UAE, which is both the opportunity and the problem: the market is enormous and entry is trivial. Regulatory change has been the sector's best friend — corporate tax, ESR, UBO and data protection all created advisory demand within a few years of each other.
Figures on this page
UAE fintech market around USD 52bn in 2026, forecast USD 90bn by 2031 (11.6% CAGR). Digital payments account for roughly 57% of the market; Dubai holds close to 60% share, supported by DIFC and the VARA regime.
Mordor Intelligence, 2026
How the business makes money here
Day rates or retainers against your own time, which caps revenue at hours available until you hire. The step from sole practitioner to firm is where most consultancies fail — the first employee must be billable almost immediately or the economics break. Retainers beat projects for cash flow; specialisation beats generalism for rate.
What it costs to start
Published "from" prices compare licence fees and ignore everything that actually moves the total. These are the variables that decide what a consulting & professional services business pays in year one.
- Licence
- Professional licences are the cheapest category. IFZA, SHAMS and Meydan all sit at the low end; DMCC costs several times more and buys bank credibility.
- Visa allocation
- The variable that actually moves the total. A one-visa package and a six-visa package can differ by more than the licence itself.
- Professional indemnity
- Not a licensing requirement in most zones, but clients increasingly ask for it, and engineering and legal consultancies need it.
- Qualification attestation
- Engineering, legal and medical consultancies require attested degree certificates, which take weeks and cost more than people budget.
We quote a single all-in figure with every government fee itemised beside our own, before you commit. Ranges published anywhere — including here — are indicative.
Why here
Regional advantages
Regulatory change keeps generating demand
Corporate tax, ESR and UBO created compliance advisory markets essentially overnight, and the pattern continues.
Lowest-cost licence category
Professional licences are the cheapest route in, and a flexi-desk satisfies the premises requirement.
Regional headquarters concentrate budgets
MENA advisory spend is frequently committed from Dubai, putting large budgets within reach of small firms.
And the other side
Regional disadvantages
Trivial barriers to entry
Everyone with a laptop and a licence is a competitor, and the market is genuinely crowded at the generalist end.
Scope creep and payment terms
60–90 day terms are common and enforcement is slow. Consultancies fail on cash more often than on capability.
Licence scope catches people out
Advising is licensed; implementing is a separate activity, and banks compare invoices to the licence.
Approvals
Beyond the trade licence.
- Engineering consultancy
- Municipality and the relevant engineers' society in the emirate — plus proof of the principal's qualifications and experience.
- Legal consultancy
- The emirate's legal affairs department. Practising as an advocate is separate again and generally restricted.
- Health or medical consultancy
- The relevant health authority, even where you never touch a patient.
The sequence
How the setup runs.
Confirm the activity and the licence category
Map what you actually do onto the authority's activity schedule and identify any external approval it triggers, before a name is reserved or a fee is paid.
Choose the jurisdiction
Free zone or mainland, decided by who receives your invoices — then narrowed by visa quota, premises need and cost.
Reserve the trade name and obtain initial approval
Three candidate names checked against the register and the naming rules, then initial approval confirming no objection to you owning this business.
Prepare and notarise the incorporation documents
Memorandum of association, shareholder resolutions, attestations where required, and a power of attorney if you are not in the country.
Take the licence, establishment card and immigration file
The company now exists, can contract and can sponsor residence visas.
Complete residence, banking and registrations
Medical and Emirates ID, corporate bank account, corporate tax registration and any VAT, ESR or UBO obligation the structure carries.
Shortlist
Where to license it.
Four worth looking at for this activity, and why each one is on the list. All 28 are in the finder.
Questions
For general management consultancy, usually not. For regulated professional consultancies — engineering, legal, medical — yes, and the certificate must be attested in the country of issue and legalised at the UAE embassy before it will be accepted.
You can invoice UAE clients for services delivered outside the domestic market, but selling services into the UAE mainland from a free zone is a grey area that depends on the activity and where the work is performed. If most of your clients are UAE-based businesses, a mainland professional licence is the cleaner answer.
Ajman Media City, SHAMS and UAQ FTZ are consistently at the bottom of the range. The saving is real, but bank onboarding is slower with the less recognised authorities — which is a cost that does not appear on the invoice.
One question
Who will be paying your invoices?
Ask the regulator question first. Whether your activity is regulated matters more than where clients sit, because regulated activity needs DFSA, FSRA, Central Bank or SCA authorisation before the jurisdiction question even arises.
Compare the two routesOr just ask usServing UAE retail clients almost always means onshore regulation rather than a free zone licence. The Central Bank and SCA govern that, and a professional licence naming financial consultancy does not substitute.
Compare the two routesOr just ask usFor regulated firms the DIFC or ADGM decision usually settles this before the market question does. Both apply common law with their own regulator, and permissions travel differently from trade licences.
Answer five questions insteadOr just ask us