Names & Details of Free Zones in Dubai

Explore all the different free zones operational in Dubai & the kinds of businesses they cater to.

• Dubai Airport Free Zone

Company formations allowed:

Free zone company (FZCO), a branch of an existing foreign company, a subsidiary company

Licenses provided:

Trade license, service license, Industrial license, e-commerce license, general trading license, and Dual license with the Department of Economic Development.

Open a free zone company in the UAE

• Dubai Design District

Specially dedicated to people/businesses in art & creative industries. It is home to some of the biggest brands as well as upcoming people in the field.

• Dubai Healthcare City

Focused on the healthcare industry, the free zone has 4 major divisions; healthcare, education & research, regulatory & investment.

• Dubai International Academic City

Also known as Academic city, the city is a hub for all things educational; schools, universities & colleges. The city consists of more than 27 colleges and universities and many more are expected to move in there soon.

• Dubai Internet City

An IT & business park, it operates as a free economic zone. As a free economic zone, Dubai Internet city allows businesses to have 100% foreign ownership, tax benefits and customs benefits. The city boasts of housing tech giants like META, Google, Dell, Linkedin, Cisco among others.

• Dubai International Financial Centre

DIFC is an independent jurisdiction and free economic zone with its own civil and commercial laws, regulations, and courts. DIFC offers licenses to financial institutions and offers benefits like zero tax, 100% ownership, unlimited capital/profit repatriation & other facilities. They also house hotels, restaurants, art galleries & retail malls.

• Dubai Media City

This 22-year-old Free zone is focused on media companies and is a hub in the region for media companies, news channels, etc. The free zone provides world-class internet infrastructure, easy visa & operational procedures.

• Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC)

The largest free zone in the UAE, the free zone focuses on 4 main commodities; e.g., gold, diamonds); energy; steel and metals and agricultural commodities (e.g., tea, cotton). The free zone now also offers crypto asset trading licenses & plays an important part in UAE’s overall mission to establish the country as a crypto hub. 

• Dubai Production City

DPC is a community for businesses focused on printing, packaging, publishing, and production. The free zone offers the infrastructure for business and residential complexes. You can avail of commercial places, freelance licenses, boutique studios, retail, warehouses, and sound stages among other things. Setting up a business in DPC is easy and comes with multitudes of benefits.

• Dubai Science Park

DSP is aimed to encourage science and research and establish the region as a hub for it. It is a community for businesses in the environment, health, and energy.

• Dubai Silicon Oasis

The DSOA boasts of housing more than 72,000 startups in the free zone. You can get a service license, trade license, and industrial license. The DSOA sprawls over a vast land and offers great residential complexes for people as well. It is quite suitable for startups and entrepreneurs. The DSOA also allows the opening of branches of an international or national company there along with traditional FZCO.

• Dubai World Trade Centre

The first real sky scrapper in the country, it was built to host events and exhibitions. Now, along with being a center for events, DTC is aiming to become a regulator of cryptocurrencies in the country and has signed a contract with Binance to set up a virtual asset ecosystem.

• International Humanitarian City

IHC is a hub & logistical center for humanitarian aid & relief. The free zone hosts around 9 UN agencies & 100s of not-for-profit organizations.

• Jebel Ali Free Zone

JAFZA is the flagship free zone of DP world & is home to more than 8,700 companies. It is located in close proximity to Jebel Ali Port, Al Maktoum International airport and provides a home to companies in the following industries: logistics, electronics, automobile, F&A, agriculture, etc.