Plots, warehouses and labour accommodation for actual manufacturing — food, building materials, machinery. Licence economics only make sense with a physical operation.
LAST VERIFIED: 21 JUL 2026 · The authority publishes no public tariff — figure is a market-indicative estimate, confirmed in writing on application.
Dubai Industrial City (DIC) is a TECOM manufacturing district near Al Maktoum International, not a desk-and-licence shop. It is organised around heavy production sectors — food and beverage, base metals, machinery and mechanical equipment, transport equipment, chemicals and mineral products — and sells land plots, pre-built warehouses and on-site worker accommodation rather than shared offices.
It fits a company that will physically make, assemble, process or store goods at volume. It does not fit a consultant, an online trader, a holding vehicle or anyone who just wants a cheap flexi-desk and a visa. The AED 15,000 headline licence only earns its keep once a plot or warehouse sits behind it — with no production and no inventory, almost any mainstream option in our free-zone index will cost you less.
The figure in the spec table is the industrial/commercial licence — not the cost of operating here. The real budget is dominated by property: a warehouse or land lease priced per square foot and signed for several years, plus fit-out and the Civil Defence and municipality approvals any manufacturing line needs. The licence is the smallest line in the plan.
| Cost layer | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Industrial / commercial licence | from AED 15,000 per year (the spec-table figure) |
| Land plot or warehouse lease | the dominant cost — per sq ft, multi-year commitment |
| Fit-out + Civil Defence / EHS approvals | per project, before production starts |
| Establishment card + immigration file | one-off, then renewals |
| Residence visas | per person, quota tied to facility size |
Nothing here contradicts the headline price — it simply sits inside a much larger capital plan. Model it before you commit with our setup-cost calculator.
An office is mandatory and it is not a desk — the requirement here is a plot or warehouse. DIC leases serviced land for build-to-suit factories, pre-built warehouse units, and — unusually for the UAE — staff accommodation inside the district, which matters when a production line needs dozens of workers living close by.
Visa quota is not a fixed number. It is allocated against the size of your facility and accommodation, which is why the spec table shows it as plot-based rather than capped — a large plant can carry far more residence visas than a single warehouse bay. Setup runs 14–30 days once the lease and approvals are in place. See residence visas for the per-person mechanics.
The honest comparison. JAFZA is the heavyweight — adjacent to Jebel Ali Port, a deeper industrial ecosystem and a bigger overall budget; if your goods leave by sea, it usually wins. Dubai South sits around the same Al Maktoum airport with cheaper land and a logistics and e-commerce tilt rather than heavy manufacturing.
DIC's niche is between them: genuine factory land plus integrated labour housing, without JAFZA's port premium. If you are actually manufacturing and housing staff near the new airport, DIC earns its place; if you only need fulfilment space, Dubai South is lighter, and if sea freight dominates, JAFZA. Whichever way you lean, the tax picture is the same — check the 9% corporate tax and Free Zone qualifying-income rules early.
Pick licensed activities and reserve a trade name. Activity choice drives approvals, banking and whether your income can be QFZP-qualifying.
Passports, application forms and a clean source-of-funds story. No local sponsor is needed — free zone companies are 100% foreign-owned.
The zone issues your licence (typically 14–30 business days), then the immigration establishment card that unlocks visa processing.
Entry permit, medical, Emirates ID for each visa holder; corporate account opening runs in parallel — this is usually the slowest step.
We reply with numbers — a line-by-line setup estimate for your case. Not a call script, not a brochure.