Licences & changes

The licence, and every change to it.

The six licence categories and what each permits, plus the amendments that come later — name, activity, manager, address, capital, legal form — and what each one costs to file.

There is a great deal written about UAE company formation and almost nothing about what happens afterwards, which is the wrong emphasis. Most businesses will change their trade name, add an activity, replace a manager, move office, take on an investor or open a branch — each of which is a formal filing with its own fee, and most of which require a notarised addendum to the memorandum of association.

The filing is rarely the difficult part. What causes trouble is the cascade: an amended licence has to reach the bank, the immigration file, the UBO register, the tax registration, the customs registration and every counterparty holding your details. Those are what get forgotten, and they surface months later as a rejected payment or a frozen transaction rather than as an obvious consequence of the change.

Bundle amendments rather than filing them one at a time. Several changes submitted together generally attract one set of processing steps and one notarisation appointment. The same changes filed separately over six months each carry their own.

The six licence categories

What each permits, what it does not, and the two decisions that cost the most later — how many activities to put on a commercial licence, and whether a permit will actually do what you need.

The commercial licenceLicence types The professional licenceLicence types The industrial licenceLicence types The tourism licenceLicence types The e-trader and instant licencesLicence types Freelance permit or trade licence?Licence types

Changing the licence

A company is formed once and amended repeatedly. Each of these is a formal filing, most need a notarised addendum, and all of them have a downstream cascade — bank, immigration, UBO register, tax and customs — that is what actually gets forgotten.

Amending a trade licence — what changes and what it costsAmendments Changing a company's trade nameAmendments Changing the company managerAmendments Changing the registered addressAmendments Increasing or reducing share capitalAmendments Changing legal form and converting between jurisdictionsAmendments Opening a branch of an existing companyAmendments

Renewal, closure and blocks

An expired licence freezes visas and banking before the fine becomes significant, there is no dormant status that suspends obligations, and blocks accumulate across authorities that do not talk to each other.

Late licence renewal — fines and what gets blockedLifecycle Cancelling a trade licence properlyLifecycle Keeping a company dormantLifecycle Licence suspension, blocks and blacklistingLifecycle Powers of attorney for company mattersLifecycle

Back to trade licences

Next step

Not sure which of these applies to you?

Describe the situation in two lines. We will tell you which of these you actually need and which you can ignore.

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