twofour54Setup cost, licence types and visa rules
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi's creative media free zone, centred on Yas Creative Hub.
twofour54 is Abu Dhabi's creative-industry free zone, centred on Yas Creative Hub and licensed by the Creative Media Authority within the ADNEC Group. It covers gaming, film and television production, content creation and broader media and entertainment, and it issues new company, branch expansion and freelancer or sole-proprietor licences. Space is tiered from Co-lab hot desks through Co-create and Co-quip to fully customised private studio build-outs, so a solo creator and a production company can sit in the same ecosystem. No minimum capital is required. Abu Dhabi's incentive programmes for film and gaming production are the practical reason most studios choose it over a Dubai media district. twofour54 publishes no pricing on its own site.
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 twofour54 cost?
twofour54 does not publish its pricing. That is the finding, not a gap in our data.
twofour54 does not publish its pricing
We checked on 22 August 2026 and found no published figure. That is a finding about twofour54, not a gap in our data: every "from AED …" number you will see for this zone elsewhere is a consultant's quote presented as an authority price. We would rather show you nothing than show you that.
What its site does show: The AED 15,000 widely quoted for twofour54 appears nowhere on twofour54's own site — not for company licences, not for freelance permits, not for facilities. The zone advertises "no minimum capital required" and flexible licensing options, without publishing numbers. The same AED 15,000 also attaches to Dubai Internet City across the same consultancy material, while DIC's only official published figure is AED 7,500. We treat it as recycled boilerplate rather than a real quote from either zone, so we do not carry it.
Get a quote for twofour54What licence types does twofour54 issue?
twofour54 publishes 3 licence types: New Company License, Branch Expansion License and Freelancer / Sole Proprietor 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 twofour54 licence carry?
twofour54 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 twofour54 offer?
twofour54 publishes 4 workspace options: Co-lab (hot desk), Co-create, Co-quip, Co-customize (private office). twofour54 requires a physical presence in the zone, so the workspace cost is part of the real entry price rather than an optional extra.
Published workspace options: Co-lab (hot desk), Co-create, Co-quip, Co-customize (private office). 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. What the published entry price covers, as stated by the source: Indicative 'from' figure advertised by third-party consultant sites; twofour54's official business-setup pages publish no AED pricing. Treat as indicative only.
Tax and compliance at twofour54
twofour54 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
- Creative Media Authority, Abu Dhabi (ADNEC Group) (CMA)
- 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.
- 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 twofour54 suits
Every line below is a restatement of something twofour54 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 100% foreign ownership with no local partner.
- Your activity spans more than one licence category — 3 are published.
Don't pick this if
- You are not ready to lease space: a physical presence in the zone is required.
- You want a firm number before you talk to anyone: this zone publishes none, so you will have to request a quote.
Key benefits, as twofour54 states them
These are the selling points the authority publishes about itself. We reproduce them; we do not endorse them.
Common questions about twofour54
Does twofour54 publish its setup cost?
twofour54 does not publish its pricing. That is the finding, not a gap in our data. The AED 15,000 widely quoted for twofour54 appears nowhere on twofour54's own site — not for company licences, not for freelance permits, not for facilities. The zone advertises "no minimum capital required" and flexible licensing options, without publishing numbers. The same AED 15,000 also attaches to Dubai Internet City across the same consultancy material, while DIC's only official published figure is AED 7,500. We treat it as recycled boilerplate rather than a real quote from either zone, so we do not carry it.
What licence types does twofour54 issue?
twofour54 publishes 3 licence types: New Company License, Branch Expansion License and Freelancer / Sole Proprietor License.
Can a foreign investor own 100% of a company in twofour54?
100% foreign ownership is permitted. No UAE national shareholder, local sponsor or service agent is required.
What tax treatment applies to a twofour54 company?
twofour54 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 twofour54 located?
twofour54 is a free zone in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Compare twofour54 against
- ADAFZ - Abu Dhabi Airports Free ZoneAlso in Abu Dhabi · Not published
- ADGM - Abu Dhabi Global MarketAlso in Abu Dhabi · Not published
- KEZAD - Khalifa Economic Zones Abu DhabiAlso in Abu Dhabi · AED 1,000
- Dubai CommerCityAlso publishes no pricing · Not published
- Dubai Production CityAlso publishes no pricing · Not published
Guides that cover Abu Dhabi and this zone's situation
- UAE Free Zone Hidden Costs: The 19 Zones That Won't Tell You What They Charge
We tried to price all 40 UAE free zones. Nineteen still publish nothing usable. Here is exactly what blocks each one, and how to get a written quote.
- 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 twofour54 was last checked against Creative Media Authority, Abu Dhabi (ADNEC Group)'s own site on 22 August 2026. We publish no figure for this zone rather than repeat one we cannot source. 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.