Meydan Free ZoneSetup cost, licence types and visa rules
Dubai
Digital-first Dubai free zone with fully remote registration.
Meydan Free Zone is a digital-first zone in the Meydan district near Nad Al Sheba, built around online registration rather than physical premises. It offers a standard digital trade licence, an expedited Fawri licence that the authority states is issued in under 60 minutes, and a non-resident licence for founders who do not hold UAE residency. More than 2,500 activities across 17 categories are available, and the standard office option is a flexi-desk with a registered business address. It is one of the small number of Dubai zones that publishes its licence prices and its visa add-on prices openly, which makes it straightforward to compare. It suits solo founders, freelancers, e-commerce sellers and non-resident owners more than businesses needing warehousing or a client-facing office.
Visit Official Website"Not scored" means we found no evidence for that dimension, not that the zone scored zero. Compare zones against each other, not against 10.
How much does Meydan Free Zone cost?
Meydan Free Zone setup costs from AED 12,500, published by Meydan Free Zone Authority, verified 19 August 2026.
Setup cost
AED 12,500
≈ $3,425 · €3,125
One-time formation cost, as published
Published by Meydan Free Zone Authority, verified 19 August 2026.View the source page
USD and EUR figures are indicative conversions at AED 3.65/USD and AED 4.00/EUR. Only the AED figure is a published price.
What licence types does Meydan Free Zone issue?
Meydan Free Zone publishes 3 licence types: Standard Digital Trade License, Fawri Instant License and Non-Resident License. The licence you hold sets which activities you may carry out, and in most zones it also drives the visa allocation and the workspace you are required to take.
Permitted activities
How many visas does a Meydan Free Zone licence carry?
Meydan Free Zone publishes the visa types it issues but no numeric allocation. Where a zone states no number, treat any figure you see quoted elsewhere as a consultant's assumption.
Visa types available
What office options does Meydan Free Zone offer?
Meydan Free Zone publishes 3 workspace options: Flexi-desk, Registered business address, Mainland office lease (optional). Meydan Free Zone does not require a physical office, so a flexi-desk or virtual package is enough to hold the licence.
Published workspace options: Flexi-desk, Registered business address, Mainland office lease (optional). Important: a virtual address or flexi-desk satisfies the free zone's own licensing rule but is a separate question from the adequate-substance test that a Qualifying Free Zone Person must meet to claim the 0% Corporate Tax rate. Setup timeline as published by the zone: Within one day standard; Fawri expedited licence issued in under 60 minutes. What the published entry price covers, as stated by the source: Standard Digital Trade License: trade licence plus flexi-desk with registered business address as the standard office option. Fawri instant licence is AED 15,000.
Tax and compliance at Meydan Free Zone
Meydan Free Zone publishes no blanket audit obligation of its own. Separately, every free zone company in the UAE falls under Federal Decree-Law 47 of 2022: the 0% rate applies only to the qualifying income of a Qualifying Free Zone Person, and a QFZP must file audited accounts at any revenue under Ministerial Decision 84 of 2025. Non-qualifying income is taxed at 9%.
- Regulatory authority
- Meydan Free Zone Authority (MFZ)
- Zone-level audit requirement
- Not published as a blanket requirement
Tax treatment the authority publishes
- 0% Corporate Tax on Qualifying Income for a Qualifying Free Zone Person (QFZP) - conditional, not automatic
- 9% Corporate Tax on any income that is not Qualifying Income; the AED 375,000 zero-rate band does not apply to a QFZP
- 0% personal income tax in the UAE
- 100% repatriation of capital and profits, with no UAE exchange controls
- QFZP status requires adequate free zone substance, arm's length pricing, transfer pricing documentation, audited accounts and non-qualifying revenue within the de minimis limit (lower of AED 5,000,000 or 5% of revenue)
- Small Business Relief is NOT available to a Qualifying Free Zone Person
Substance requirements
Federal position (applies to every UAE free zone): to claim the 0% Qualifying Free Zone Person rate a company must maintain adequate substance in the free zone - core income-generating activity carried out there, plus adequate assets, an adequate number of qualified full-time employees and adequate operating expenditure relative to that activity (Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2023, Art. 8). Under Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 every Qualifying Free Zone Person must prepare audited financial statements regardless of revenue; a free zone company that is not a QFZP needs audited accounts only where revenue exceeds AED 50,000,000. Economic Substance Regulations notifications and reports were cancelled for financial years ending after 31 December 2022 by Cabinet Decision No. 98 of 2024, so ESR is no longer a live annual filing. UBO disclosure under Cabinet Decision No. 109 of 2023 does still apply. Zone-level audit position: no primary source stating this zone's own audit requirement was retrievable during research. The audit_required flag is recorded as false because the field cannot express 'unknown'; do not read it as confirmation that no audit is required. The federal rules above apply in any case.
Customs treatment
This zone does not appear on the compiled VAT Designated Zone list and was not explicitly excluded from it, so its Designated Zone status is recorded as unknown rather than as 'no'. Goods held inside a customs-controlled free zone area are generally not subject to UAE customs duty until they enter the mainland, at which point 5% import VAT and any applicable duty arise. Verify Designated Zone status with the FTA before relying on it for goods movements.
Profit repatriation
The UAE imposes no exchange controls and no restrictions on repatriating capital or profits from a free zone company, and there is no personal income tax on distributions to individuals. Corporate Tax is assessed on the company, not on the remittance.
Ownership
100% foreign ownership is permitted. No UAE national shareholder, local sponsor or service agent is required.
- Minimum shareholders
- 1
- Local partner
- Not required
Why there is no banking section
We publish no per-zone bank lists, acceptance rates or account-opening timelines, here or anywhere else on the site. No bank and no regulator publishes that data by free zone. Account opening is a decision each bank makes on your shareholders and your activity — it is not a property of the zone you register in, and any site that scores it per zone is inventing a fact.
Who Meydan Free Zone suits
Every line below is a restatement of something Meydan Free Zone publishes, not a recommendation we were paid to make. We are not a reseller for any zone on this site, which is why the right-hand column exists at all.
Consider it if
- You want to hold a licence without leasing physical space — no physical presence is required.
- You want 100% foreign ownership with no local partner.
- You want a price you can check against the authority's own page before you commit.
- Your activity spans more than one licence category — 3 are published.
Key benefits, as Meydan Free Zone states them
These are the selling points the authority publishes about itself. We reproduce them; we do not endorse them.
Common questions about Meydan Free Zone
How much does it cost to set up in Meydan Free Zone?
Meydan Free Zone setup costs from AED 12,500, published by Meydan Free Zone Authority, verified 19 August 2026.
What licence types does Meydan Free Zone issue?
Meydan Free Zone publishes 3 licence types: Standard Digital Trade License, Fawri Instant License and Non-Resident License.
Can a foreign investor own 100% of a company in Meydan Free Zone?
100% foreign ownership is permitted. No UAE national shareholder, local sponsor or service agent is required.
What tax treatment applies to a Meydan Free Zone company?
Meydan Free Zone publishes the following: 0% Corporate Tax on Qualifying Income for a Qualifying Free Zone Person (QFZP) - conditional, not automatic, 9% Corporate Tax on any income that is not Qualifying Income; the AED 375,000 zero-rate band does not apply to a QFZP, 0% personal income tax in the UAE, 100% repatriation of capital and profits, with no UAE exchange controls, QFZP status requires adequate free zone substance, arm's length pricing, transfer pricing documentation, audited accounts and non-qualifying revenue within the de minimis limit (lower of AED 5,000,000 or 5% of revenue) and Small Business Relief is NOT available to a Qualifying Free Zone Person. The 0% federal rate applies only to the qualifying income of a Qualifying Free Zone Person; other income is taxed at 9%.
Where is Meydan Free Zone located?
Meydan Free Zone is a free zone in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Compare Meydan Free Zone against
- JAFZA - Jebel Ali Free ZoneAlso in Dubai · AED 10,000 – AED 20,000
- d3 - Dubai Design DistrictAlso in Dubai · AED 7,500 – AED 7,520
- DAFZA - Dubai Airport FreezoneAlso in Dubai · AED 7,500
- UAQ FTZ - Umm Al Quwain Free Trade ZoneSimilar published setup cost · AED 12,500
- Ajman Media City Free ZoneComparable cost bracket · AED 4,999
Guides that cover Dubai and this zone's situation
- UAE Free Zone Total Setup Cost Breakdown: The Seven Line Items Behind the Licence Price
Licence fee, establishment card, e-channel, visa, medical, Emirates ID, deposit. What each UAE free zone bundles and what it charges separately.
- 0% Free Zone Corporate Tax: The Eight QFZP Conditions as a Checklist
Free zone 0% corporate tax has eight conditions, and all must be met. The full checklist, including the audit rule with no revenue threshold.
- Ministerial Decision 229 of 2025: Qualifying Activities, and Why MD 265 Content Is Stale
Ministerial Decision 229 of 2025 repealed MD 265 of 2023 retroactively from June 2023. The current qualifying activities list and what expanded.
Cost data for Meydan Free Zone was last checked against Meydan Free Zone Authority's own site on 19 August 2026. Figures are reproduced in the currency the authority publishes them in, and are never converted, averaged or estimated. We do not charge to be listed, to be listed accurately, or to be ranked. If something here is wrong or out of date, send us the page that says so and we will correct it and re-date the record.