What is a trade licence in UAE? Who issues it and what it covers

The UAE government portal lists the issuing bodies for mainland businesses, including the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism and Sharjah's Economic Development Department. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism groups licences into six types: industrial, commercial, professional, tourism, agricultural and crafts. Individual emirates offer their own variants, such as freelancer or instant licences.

Free zone licences are applied for online through the zone authority's website, and the portal says they are issued within 14 working days after review and approval.

• Commercial
• Professional
• Industrial
• Tourism
• Agricultural
• Crafts

The licence is the first document any bank, landlord, supplier or the FTA will ask for. It sets your legal form, your trade name and your permitted activities. A Sharjah company licensed for general trading that starts offering IT consulting may need its activities amended, and that change can also affect how its income is treated for tax.

Timing matters too: the portal notes that the trade licence fee must be paid within 30 days of the payment voucher, or the application is cancelled.

When you set up HelloBooks, your legal name, licence details and address go on your invoices, and the chart of accounts is shaped around your activities. A professional services firm gets service revenue and work-in-progress accounts; a trading company gets inventory and cost of goods sold. The AI agent can store the licence copy and its expiry date as an attachment so renewal is not forgotten.

Businesses with several licensed activities can ask for revenue accounts or classes that mirror each activity by booking a call at /book-a-demo.

Licence vocabulary.

• Mainland company
• Free zone company
• Trade name
• Memorandum of association