PRO Services in Dubai in 2026: What They Cost, What You Actually Get, and How to Read the Invoice

Nobody publishes a rate card for PRO services in Dubai. Not the government, not the free zones, not the industry. Advertised monthly retainers run from roughly AED 800 to AED 30,000, and that span is wide because no two quotations describe the same scope. Any article giving you a single "PRO services cost AED X" figure is making it up.

There are two numbers on every PRO engagement, and confusing them is the most expensive mistake buyers make. The first is the PRO's fee, paying a private company for labour, queue time and knowing which counter to stand at. The second is the government fee for the transaction itself. How those two appear on your invoice quietly decides whether you also pay 5% VAT on top of the government's own charges.

BusinessDubai has handled Dubai company formation since 2013, with more than 700+ registrations completed, so we have signed, argued about and rewritten a lot of PRO scopes. This is a buyer's guide, not legal or tax advice. Where a figure is confirmed on a government page we cite it. Where it is not, we say so, which is why this article carries far fewer confident numbers than the pages ranking above it.

What Are PRO Services, and What Are You Actually Paying Someone to Do?

PRO stands for public relations officer, which in the UAE means government relations rather than press. A PRO files your company's applications with immigration, labour, licensing and attestation authorities. In Dubai it is a licensed activity: Documents Clearing Services sits under DED activity code 8299.85, and holders are explicitly "not permitted to provide legal advice or legal consultancy" [8].

That restriction is the cleanest description of the job anyone has written. A PRO is an administrative processor: they lodge, collect, translate, type, queue, chase and deliver. If a PRO is giving you legal opinions on your structure or a labour dispute, they are working outside the licence you are paying them under.

A PRO deals with at least five separate authorities, each with its own portal, fee logic and processing time, which is the entire reason the role exists. "PRO services" is not one product, so the only useful question about any monthly figure is which of those rows it covers.

If you are researching this from the other direction, because you want to set up a PRO firm rather than hire one, our guide to starting a PRO and document clearing company in Dubai covers the licensing side. Everything below is written for the buyer.

Why Does the Shape of Your PRO Invoice Decide Whether You Pay 5% VAT on Government Fees?

Because UAE VAT treats a recharged cost differently depending on whether your PRO paid it as your agent or as principal in its own right. The Federal Tax Authority sets this out in public clarification VATP013, "Disbursements and Reimbursements" [4]. Get it wrong and you pay 5% VAT on money that was only ever a government charge.

The deciding question is not what the invoice is called. It is whether your PRO acted as your agent or as the principal. If the PRO paid a government fee purely on your behalf, as your agent, and recharges it at exactly cost on a separate line, that recharge is a disbursement and sits outside the scope of VAT. No 5% is added to it. If the PRO incurred the cost as principal, meaning it was the contracting party in its own right, or folded the fee into a lump-sum package, or added any margin at all, the recharge forms part of the PRO's own supply of services to you and is standard-rated at 5%.

We are deliberately not reproducing a numbered checklist of conditions as the FTA's own wording. Several sites do that, and their lists disagree with each other. VATP013 is short, and it is the only place the exact conditions live, so read it before you rewrite a supplier contract around this [4]. The wider library of FTA guides sits on the authority's references page [5].

Real Talk: If your PRO invoice shows one lump sum with no itemised government fees, you are almost certainly paying 5% VAT on top of your own government charges. If it itemises each government fee at exact cost on its own line, with the receipt attached, you are not. Ask for the itemised version. Providers who resist usually resist because the government fee line has a margin baked into it that itemisation would expose.

Itemisation is also the only way you find out what the government actually charged, which is the number a bundled quote is designed to hide.

Quick Math: Take a status amendment, where the confirmed government fee on an individual file is AED 535 [1]. Say a PRO charges AED 3,000 all-in. As a single lump sum, VAT at 5% applies to the whole thing: AED 150. Itemised as AED 535 disbursement plus AED 2,465 service fee, VAT applies only to the service: AED 123.25. The difference on one transaction is AED 26.75. Across forty government transactions a year, several with far larger fee components, the annual figure stops being trivial.

If your company is VAT registered, how this is recorded flows through to what you file, and our guide to the UAE EmaraTax portal covers that side. If you are not registered, the 5% is a cost you never recover.

Which Government Fee in This Whole Topic Can You Actually Verify?

Exactly one, in our research: the GDRFA Dubai Status Amendment service. Its page publishes an AED 500 service fee, AED 10 Knowledge Dirham, AED 10 Innovation Dirham, and a file-opening fee of AED 15 for an individual or AED 50 for an establishment, with a stated 48 hour processing time [1].

Be clear about what that means. Every other government fee circulating on PRO services pages, entry permit costs, Emirates ID tiers, labour card bands, medical test prices, establishment card totals, is provider-advertised or blog-repeated. None could be confirmed on the issuing authority's own page. That does not make them wrong. It makes them unverified, and we will not launder unverified numbers into a table that looks authoritative.

Notice what this fee is not. Status amendment changes a person's status inside the country rather than sending them out and back on a new entry permit. It is one link in a chain that also involves a medical, an Emirates ID application and the residence stamp, each with its own charge. We can verify this link and not the rest.

Common Mistake: Reading a published government fee as the total cost of the outcome. AED 535 is what GDRFA charges for one service on one file. Your PRO's fee, the medical, the Emirates ID and the visa are all separate. A provider quoting AED 535 and one quoting AED 3,500 may both be honest, because they are quoting different things.

What Do PRO Services Actually Cost in Dubai?

There is no official answer, because no government body publishes PRO service pricing. Everything below is provider-advertised, gathered from what firms publish on their own sites. Treat every row as a marketing figure rather than a market rate, and expect the scope behind each to differ.

Look at the top and bottom of that AED 800 to 30,000 span and ask what is common to both. Nothing. At AED 800 a month you are buying availability and a name on a WhatsApp thread. At AED 30,000 you are buying a dedicated team handling several hundred employees. Presenting those as points on one scale is how the industry keeps pricing opaque.

Based on our experience: The useful question is not "how much per month" but "how much per transaction, and which transactions sit inside the retainer". A retainer of AED 2,000 covering two visa renewals a year is expensive. The same retainer covering unlimited renewals, amendments and a tracked expiry calendar is cheap.

The range is this wide because nobody publishes a rate card and the scope behind every figure is different. Next time you see a page stating a specific PRO price, check whether it says where the number came from. It will not.

Why Is the Government Fee Not Included in Your Retainer?

Because the PRO cannot predict it. Government charges vary by visa type, by your company's MOHRE establishment classification, by whether you choose urgent or standard processing, and by the Emirates ID validity period you select. A fixed retainer cannot absorb a variable the provider does not control.

We are not publishing figures for the individual bands. The labour card amounts by category, Emirates ID tier prices, entry permit costs and medical test ranges circulate widely, often quoted to the dirham, and none could be confirmed on a government fee page. The mechanism is solid. The numbers attached to it are not.

Pro Tip: Ask for the government fee estimate in writing before each transaction, with the assumptions stated: which category, which urgency tier, which Emirates ID period. Compare it against the receipt afterwards. A provider who estimates accurately is worth more than one who is cheaper per month and surprises you every time.

Should You Put a PRO on Payroll or Outsource the Work?

Below roughly 20 employees, or with irregular visa activity, outsourcing almost always wins on cost. Above that, or with constant churn, an in-house PRO starts to pay for itself in speed and continuity rather than in fees. The break-even is commonly cited around 20 or more staff, and it is a rule of thumb, not a rule.

Now the workings, using the advertised figures above, shown as arithmetic rather than assertion so you can substitute your own quotes.

Quick Math: A company with 12 employees. In-house, a standard PRO at the midpoint of the advertised AED 6,000 to 12,000 all-in range is AED 9,000 a month, or AED 108,000 a year. Outsourced, a retainer in the advertised 6 to 15 employee band at the midpoint of AED 3,000 to 5,000 is AED 4,000 a month, or AED 48,000 a year. The gap is AED 60,000 before you add the in-house hire's own residence visa, gratuity accrual, leave cover and recruitment cost. Government fees sit outside both columns and are identical either way.

Run the same exercise at 30 employees and it changes, because retainers scale with headcount while a salary does not. If the retainer for 30 staff lands near AED 9,000 a month, you are paying in-house money for shared attention. That is where the calculation flips.

Pay per transaction, at the advertised AED 1,500 to 7,000 per visa, suits companies filing two or three things a year. At AED 2,500 a visa, 15 transactions annually is AED 37,500, beating the AED 48,000 retainer on paper. What it does not buy is anyone watching your renewal calendar, and one missed establishment card renewal blocks every filing behind it.

The in-house route also carries a consequence founders miss: you become the PRO's sponsor, so their visa, contract, gratuity and Emirates ID all sit on your file. Our guide to the UAE establishment card explains the two files that must be open before you employ anyone, and our guide to hiring employees in Dubai covers the offer, contract and permit sequence.

Real Talk: The strongest argument for an in-house PRO is not cost. It is that the person is yours on the day something goes wrong. When an application is rejected at 4pm and the counter closes at 5pm, an employee goes. An outsourced provider with eleven other clients schedules it for tomorrow. Price that difference against the AED 60,000 above and decide where it lands for your business.

Does a Documents Clearing Licence Mean Your PRO Can Actually File Anything?

Not necessarily, and this is the nuance almost nobody explains. A Documents Clearing Services licence under DED activity 8299.85 authorises the business activity [8]. Operating an Amer centre is a separate GDRFA approval with its own vetting, which is not the same thing as holding that licence.

Here is what GDRFA assesses when someone applies to run an Amer centre. The authority vets the applicant on "rehabilitation of the center, level of service delivery, center management, human resources management, Emiratization, systems management, information confidentiality, and financial resources management" [2].

Read that list again. Systems management. Information confidentiality. Emiratisation. Those are not the criteria you apply to a licence category. They are the criteria you apply to an organisation you are about to give access to a government system holding personal data. GDRFA is approving a channel, not licensing an activity.

The reasonable inference is that holding a documents clearing licence does not by itself grant direct access to the Amer or Tas-heel systems. Access is a separate approval, granted to approved centres. Be precise about the status of that statement: it is an inference from published vetting criteria, not something we can quote from a government page. We think it is sound, and it explains a great deal about how the market works.

This matters because it determines who is really doing your work and how many hands your documents pass through. A firm subcontracting every submission adds a layer, a margin, and a point where nobody can tell you where your file sits. That is a longer chain than you thought you were buying, and it shows up as vague status updates.

Common Mistake: Treating "licensed" as the end of the diligence. The licence says the company may legally do this work. It says nothing about whether they file directly, how long they have done it, or whether your documents leave their office. Ask about Amer and Tas-heel access in writing, and put the answer in the scope agreement.

Do Free Zone Companies Need PRO Support at All?

Less, but not none. Free zones absorb much of this work into their own portals. DMCC members, for example, "apply, renew or cancel visas" and submit Emirates ID and medical form typing requests directly inside the member portal [7]. That removes the queue-standing a mainland company pays a PRO to do.

The structural difference is simple. A free zone company deals mainly with one counter, its zone authority, which coordinates with immigration behind the scenes. A mainland company deals separately with the Department of Economy and Tourism, MOHRE, GDRFA and ICP [1] [6]. Four relationships against one explains most of the price gap.

The framing that matters is less, not none. A single-shareholder consultancy with two visas may genuinely never need an external PRO. The same company with 40 staff across nine nationalities, dependants and foreign degree attestations will need help, portal or no portal, because portals handle the simple path well and the complicated path not at all.

Zones differ from each other more than founders expect. The DMCC arrangement above is confirmed on DMCC's own page [7] and is not a description of every free zone. If you are comparing options for a free zone company setup, ask which visa transactions are self-service, which need a counter visit, and what the zone charges for the ones that do. On the mainland side, our guide to the documents required for mainland business setup lists what you should already hold before a PRO's first invoice, and our mainland company setup page covers the licence itself.

What Does Attestation Cost, and Should Your PRO Handle It?

Providers advertise AED 100 to 250 per document for attestation handling. That is the PRO's fee only. Ministry, embassy, notary and translation charges sit underneath it, vary by country of origin and document type, and make up the larger part of the bill on almost every job.

Attestation is where itemisation matters most, because the chain has the most links. A foreign degree may pass through a notary, a home authority, the UAE embassy abroad and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with a legal translation in the middle. Every link carries its own charge. A single handling figure covering all of it is not a price, it is an estimate with a margin inside it.

Pro Tip: Ask for attestation to be quoted as a handling fee per document plus pass-through charges at cost, with receipts. That is exactly the disbursement structure described earlier [4], and attestation is the easiest place to test whether a provider will work that way. A firm that itemises attestation will usually itemise everything.

Country of origin drives most of the variation, and the UAE's position outside the Hague Apostille framework changes what a document from an apostille country needs. Our guide to Dubai apostille and document attestation sets out the chain, including why an apostille alone does not clear a document here.

How Do You Read a PRO Quotation Line by Line?

Take the quote apart into three buckets: the PRO's service fee, the government fees passing through, and VAT. If the quotation does not let you do that, it is not a quotation, it is a number. Ask for the breakdown before you compare it against anyone else's.

The exclusions row is where most disputes start. A retainer that lists inclusions but never states exclusions gives the provider unlimited discretion to bill extras. Insist on a written scope agreement defining what counts as a billable extra.

If you would rather not manage the relationship, ongoing compliance is what our post-setup services team exists for: licence renewals, immigration and labour file tracking, and government transactions with the fees itemised.

What Are the Warning Signs of a PRO Scam, and What Should You Demand?

Three patterns account for most of the damage: no valid trade licence, a low headline price followed by mounting "hidden" government fees, and requests to pay government fees in cash into a personal bank account. The third is the single biggest red flag in this industry.

A legitimate documents clearing company never asks for government fees in cash to an individual. Government transactions produce receipts. The moment someone wants an envelope or a personal transfer for a "government fee", the money has left any traceable path and you hold no evidence you paid it.

Before you pay anyone, demand seven things: the trade licence verified on the issuing authority's own licence-check tool rather than an emailed PDF, the VAT certificate and TRN, itemised invoices with government fees at exact cost [4], payment only to the company account matching the licence name, a written scope agreement with exclusions named, confirmation of Amer and Tas-heel access rather than "we're licensed" [2], and a named account manager. A well-run firm has most of it ready, and the reaction to the request tells you as much as the answer.

If you have been defrauded, the Dubai Police eCrime platform at ecrime.ae takes reports, and the police call centre number is 901. Report it even if the amount is small. Small amounts are how these operations scale.

What Do Buyers Most Often Get Wrong About PRO Services?

Six myths, each costing money in a different way. The most expensive is believing the government fee and the PRO's fee are the same thing, because it makes every quote look cheap and every invoice look like an overcharge.

That last row deserves attention, because it is where buyers get hurt in a way that is not about money. A PRO telling you which structure to use or how to handle a termination is operating outside the licence they hold. The advice may even be correct. It carries no professional accountability, and you have no recourse against a documents clearing company for advice it was never permitted to give.

Real Client Stories

These are real situations from companies we have worked with. Details have been changed for privacy.

The agency paying VAT on its own government fees (Dubai mainland)

A 14-person creative agency from Manchester had used the same PRO firm since incorporation, on a flat retainer with visa work billed as a single per-person figure. Every invoice was one line with VAT on the total. Reviewing twenty-two months of billing, we found no government fee had ever been itemised, so 5% had been applied to every government charge passing through, and the client held no receipt for any of them. Modest per transaction, unpleasant in aggregate. The bigger finding was that nobody had ever seen what the government actually charged. Their finance lead put it simply: "We were not being defrauded. We were being kept in the dark, and we paid 5% for the privilege."

The logistics operator who hired a PRO eight employees too early (Dubai mainland)

A Bangalore-based logistics operator with 11 mainland staff hired a full-time PRO at AED 9,500 a month, having read that in-house is cheaper at scale. At 11 employees it was not. Against a retainer in the advertised AED 3,000 to 5,000 band for that headcount, they were paying roughly AED 60,000 a year more, plus the hire's own visa and gratuity. The decision was not wrong forever, it was wrong for that year. We modelled the crossover against their hiring plan and they moved to a retainer, with a commitment to revisit at 25 employees. Their comment: "I bought the answer for the company I wanted to be in three years, and paid for it in the year I was in."

The two-founder studio whose documents were held hostage (Dubai free zone)

A two-founder design studio from Melbourne engaged a provider found through a social media ad, quoted well below every other proposal, and paid a deposit in cash. The provider then produced a series of "government fees" totalling several thousand dirhams, none itemised, none receipted, and held the founders' original degree certificates pending payment. The trade licence they had been emailed as a PDF matched nothing on the issuing authority's register. They reported it through Dubai Police eCrime and started again with a licensed firm, paying twice. Their lesson, in their words: "The cheapest quote was the only one that would not show us a licence we could check ourselves. We noticed, and signed anyway."

Frequently Asked Questions

What does PRO stand for in Dubai?

Public relations officer, though it has nothing to do with press or marketing. In the UAE a PRO handles government relations: filings with immigration, labour, licensing and attestation authorities. The licensed activity behind it in Dubai is Documents Clearing Services, DED activity code 8299.85 [8].

How much do PRO services cost per month in Dubai?

There is no official figure, because no government body publishes PRO pricing. Provider-advertised retainers run about AED 1,500 to 2,500 a month for 1 to 5 employees and AED 3,000 to 5,000 for 6 to 15. The broadest advertised span is AED 800 to 30,000.

Are government fees included in a PRO retainer?

Generally not. A retainer buys the PRO's labour, not the government's charges. Fees vary by visa type, MOHRE establishment classification, urgency tier and Emirates ID validity period, so a fixed monthly figure cannot absorb them. Confirm this explicitly in the scope agreement before signing.

Do I pay 5% VAT on government fees my PRO pays for me?

It depends on the structure. Under the Federal Tax Authority's public clarification VATP013, a fee your PRO paid as your agent and recharges at exactly cost on a separate line is a disbursement, outside the scope of VAT. Bundled or marked up, it is standard-rated at 5% [4].

What is the difference between a disbursement and a reimbursement?

The deciding question is agent or principal. A disbursement is a cost your PRO paid purely on your behalf, as your agent, recharged at exact cost. A reimbursement is a cost the PRO incurred as principal. The first sits outside VAT, the second is standard-rated [4].

How do I tell which one my invoice is?

Look at its shape. A single lump sum with 5% on the total is a reimbursement structure, so you are paying VAT on your government fees. Separate lines naming each government fee at exact cost, with receipts attached, is a disbursement structure. Ask for itemisation.

Can I ask my PRO to itemise government fees?

Yes, and ask at proposal stage rather than after the first invoice. It affects your VAT position, shows what the government actually charged, and removes any margin hidden inside a "government fees" line. Providers who resist itemisation generally have a reason for resisting it.

Which government fee in this topic is actually verified?

One: the GDRFA Dubai Status Amendment service, published as an AED 500 service fee plus AED 10 Knowledge Dirham, AED 10 Innovation Dirham and a file-opening fee of AED 15 for an individual or AED 50 for an establishment, processed in 48 hours [1].

What does a status amendment cost in total?

The GDRFA government component for an individual file is AED 535, being 500 plus 10 plus 10 plus 15 [1]. An establishment file is AED 570. Your PRO's service fee sits on top and is set by the provider, not by the government.

Why will you not publish the Emirates ID or labour card fee tables?

Because we could not confirm them on the issuing authority's own fee page. The tiered Emirates ID prices, labour card bands by category, entry permit costs and medical test ranges circulate everywhere, often quoted to the dirham. Unverified is not the same as wrong, but nor is it confirmed.

Is a PRO the same as a business setup consultant?

Not necessarily. Some consultancies hold a documents clearing licence and file directly, others subcontract the filing to a partner. The licence category and the actual system access are separate questions [2] [8]. Ask which one describes the firm you are talking to.

Does a documents clearing licence give a firm Amer system access?

Not by itself, as far as we can determine. GDRFA vets Amer centre applicants separately on service delivery, centre management, human resources, Emiratisation, systems management, information confidentiality and financial resources [2]. That is approval of a channel, not a licence category. We present it as reasoned inference.

Why does it matter whether my PRO has direct access?

Because it determines how many hands touch your file and how fast anyone can tell you where it sits. A firm subcontracting every submission adds a layer and a margin. That is not fraud, but you should know you are buying it.

What is Tas-heel?

Tas-heel centres handle Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation transactions, the labour side, in the same way Amer centres handle GDRFA immigration transactions [2]. A provider strong on one is not automatically strong on the other, so ask about both if you employ people.

Do free zone companies need a PRO?

Less than mainland companies, but not never. Zones absorb much of the work into their portals: DMCC members apply for, renew and cancel visas and submit Emirates ID and medical typing requests directly [7]. Complex cases with dependants or large headcount still benefit from help.

Why are mainland PRO retainers higher than free zone ones?

Because a mainland company deals separately with the Department of Economy and Tourism, MOHRE, GDRFA and ICP [1] [6], while a free zone company deals mainly with one counter that coordinates the rest. Four relationships instead of one explains most of the difference.

At what headcount should I hire an in-house PRO?

Around 20 or more employees, or wherever visa churn is constant, is the commonly cited break-even. It is a rule of thumb. Run the arithmetic: an in-house PRO at the advertised midpoint of AED 9,000 a month is AED 108,000 a year against roughly AED 48,000 outsourced.

What does an in-house PRO cost all-in?

Market and provider sources advertise AED 6,000 to 12,000 a month for a standard PRO and AED 12,000 to 20,000 for a senior one, all-in. Those exclude the employee's own residence visa, gratuity, leave cover and recruitment. We are not publishing a salary survey figure.

Is pay per transaction ever the right choice?

Yes, for companies filing two or three things a year. At an advertised AED 1,500 to 7,000 per visa, occasional users pay less than a retainer costs. What it does not buy is anyone tracking renewal dates, and one missed renewal blocks everything queued behind it.

What is the biggest hidden cost in PRO services?

The extras that were never excluded in writing. A retainer listing inclusions but not exclusions gives the provider unlimited discretion. Insist the scope agreement defines what counts as a billable extra, specifically enough that a disagreement would be short rather than an open negotiation.

How much does document attestation cost?

Providers advertise AED 100 to 250 per document as their handling fee. Ministry, embassy, notary and translation charges sit underneath and vary by country of origin and document type. On most jobs the pass-through charges exceed the handling fee, which is why itemisation matters.

What is the single biggest scam warning sign?

Being asked to pay government fees in cash, or by transfer to a personal bank account. A legitimate licensed firm never takes government fees in cash to an individual. Government transactions produce receipts. With no traceable path there is no evidence you ever paid.

How do I verify a PRO company's trade licence?

Take the licence number and check it on the issuing authority's own licence-check tool. Do not accept a PDF the vendor emails you, because a PDF proves nothing. The activity is licensed [8], so a genuine firm has no reason to object.

Where do I report a PRO services fraud?

Through the Dubai Police eCrime platform at ecrime.ae, or by calling 901. Report it even if the amount is small. Small transactions are how these operations scale, and a filed report creates a record that helps investigators connect separate cases.

Should my PRO be VAT registered?

If they are charging you 5%, they must be registered to do so. Ask for the VAT certificate and the tax registration number, then check it. A provider adding VAT without being registered to charge it is a problem for your records too.

Can a PRO give me legal advice?

No. Documents Clearing Services licence holders are explicitly "not permitted to provide legal advice or legal consultancy" [8]. A PRO advising you on structures, shareholder arrangements or terminations works outside the licence, and you have no professional recourse if the advice turns out wrong.

Does the government publish PRO service prices anywhere?

No. Government bodies publish their own transaction fees, patchily and across many separate pages. Nobody publishes what private firms may charge for handling those transactions. Any page presenting a single authoritative PRO price is presenting a market observation as though it were a rule.

Why do PRO prices vary so much between providers?

Because the scope behind each quote differs and there is no standard unit of PRO service. One firm's AED 2,000 covers two renewals a year. Another's covers unlimited filings, direct system access and a tracked expiry calendar. Compare scope tables, not monthly numbers.

What should be in a PRO scope agreement?

Inclusions, exclusions named specifically, per-transaction pricing for anything outside the retainer, turnaround commitments in working days from a defined start point, the itemisation requirement for government fees, confirmation of Amer and Tas-heel access, and a named account manager rather than a shared inbox.

Buy the Scope, Not the Monthly Number

PRO pricing in Dubai is opaque by default, and it stays opaque only as long as buyers accept lump-sum invoices. Ask for itemised government fees, verify the licence yourself, get the exclusions in writing, and confirm system access rather than accepting "we are licensed". Four requests, all reasonable, and together they remove most of the ways this goes wrong.

Our team handles government transactions with the fees itemised at cost, tells you which figures we can source and which we cannot, and tracks the renewal dates that quietly block everything else when they lapse. Ongoing compliance sits inside our post-setup services, and if you are still choosing where to incorporate we can price the PRO burden for a free zone company setup against a mainland company setup before you commit. Talk to a setup expert→ and bring your last PRO invoice with you.

References

[1] General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, Dubai. Status Amendment service page: AED 500 service fee, AED 10 Knowledge Dirham, AED 10 Innovation Dirham, AED 15 file-opening fee for an individual and AED 50 for an establishment, 48 hour processing time, digital channel available 24/7 or through an Amer centre. This is the only government fee figure in this topic that we could confirm directly on an official page. https://www.gdrfad.gov.ae/en/services/63c69432-585e-11ea-0320-0050569629e8

[2] General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, Dubai. Apply for a new Amer centre. Sets out that Amer centre operation is a distinct GDRFA approval, with applicants vetted on rehabilitation of the centre, level of service delivery, centre management, human resources management, Emiratisation, systems management, information confidentiality and financial resources management. https://www.gdrfad.gov.ae/en/apply-for-new-amer-center

[3] General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, Dubai. Customer Happiness Centres, the authority's own in-person service channel alongside Amer centres and digital submission. https://www.gdrfad.gov.ae/en/customer-happiness-centers

[4] Federal Tax Authority. VAT Public Clarification VATP013, Disbursements and Reimbursements. The governing guidance on whether a recharged cost sits outside the scope of VAT as a disbursement or forms part of the supplier's own standard-rated supply. Read the clarification itself for the exact conditions rather than any numbered list reproduced on a third-party site. https://tax.gov.ae/DataFolder/Files/Pdf/VATP013%20-%20Disbursements%20and%20Reimbursements.pdf

[5] Federal Tax Authority. VAT guides, references and public clarifications library. https://tax.gov.ae/en/taxes/vat/guides.references.aspx

[6] Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security. The federal authority handling immigration, Emirates ID and residency transactions outside Dubai's GDRFA. https://icp.gov.ae/en/

[7] DMCC. Visa services for existing members, confirming that members apply for, renew and cancel visas and submit Emirates ID and medical form typing requests directly through the member portal. https://dmcc.ae/free-zone/already-a-member/visa-services-1

[8] Meydan Free Zone. Documents clearing services licence in Dubai, confirming DED activity code 8299.85 and that holders are not permitted to provide legal advice or legal consultancy. https://www.meydanfz.ae/activity-hub/documents-clearing-services-license-in-dubai