Guide · updated 16.10.2026 · 9 min read · Lucent Legal team

Moving a company between the UAE mainland and a free zone

Until October 2025 the answer to "how do I move my company from the mainland to a free zone" was simple: open a new one and close the old one. The 2025 amendments to the Commercial Companies Law let a company move its registration from one registrar to another and keep its legal personality. In practice it works only where both registrars allow the move. Below is what the law and zone rules already provide, and the route founders use today.

What changed in 2025

Article 15 bis of Law No. 32/2021 says a company may, by special resolution of the general assembly or with the approval of an absolute majority of partners, transfer its registration in the commercial register from one registrar to another while keeping its legal personality. It states separately that a company may move its registration from a free zone to a mainland registrar and the other way round.

The conditions:

• the rules of both registers allow the move;
• no entry on the register blocks it (a freeze order, for example);
• both registrars approve;
• the decision is published.

A company moving to the mainland brings its MOA and structure into line with the Commercial Companies Law. The Cabinet will set separate rules for the financial free zones.

In practice the law gives you a basis, but each registrar still has to launch the service. On 16 October 2026 we found no official page with the procedure and fee at DET or at any free zone apart from DMCC and ADGM. Before you decide, ask both registrars to confirm in writing that they will process the move.

Continuation in DMCC and ADGM

DMCC. The DMCC Company Regulations (10 October 2024 edition) allow a company to move in by a continuation application and to move out to another jurisdiction by special resolution. The application costs AED 1,035. The company keeps its original incorporation date and receives a Certificate of Continuance. Under the 2024 update you need a 75% resolution, and you file the certificate of discontinuance from the old jurisdiction within 90 days.

ADGM. The ADGM Companies Regulations 2020 cover continuance into ADGM (ss. 100–107) and out of ADGM (ss. 108–116). Once a company continues elsewhere, it stops being an ADGM company.

We did not find continuation rules for DIFC, RAKEZ or JAFZA on their official sites.

The usual route: a new company, then close the old one

Until registrars launch the move, founders use three steps:

1. Open the new company in the right jurisdiction: how to open a company in the UAE.
2. Move the business: client and supplier contracts, staff (new visas and work permits under the new establishment card), assets, bank accounts, permits and registrations.
3. Close the old one: cancel visas and the lease, liquidate, cancel the licence, deregister for tax. The FTA lists "domiciliation of business" among the grounds for corporate tax deregistration. Steps: liquidating a company in the UAE.

The downside: the new company has no history. The bank checks it from scratch, and counterparties re-sign contracts.

Tax when you move assets

Moving assets from the old company to the new one counts as a sale for corporate tax. The law offers two reliefs that let you avoid tax on the gain:

• Transfers within a qualifying group (Art. 26). Both companies are taxable persons with at least 75% common ownership, neither is a QFZP or an exempt person, and their financial years and accounting standards match. If the asset or a company leaves the group within two years, the FTA claws the relief back.
• Business restructuring relief (Art. 27). You transfer the whole business or an independent part in exchange for shares, for valid commercial reasons, and the transferor elects the relief. A QFZP cannot use it; a free zone company without QFZP status can.

The result: a free zone company on the 0% rate cannot move assets to the mainland under these reliefs while it remains a QFZP. Plan such a move with a tax adviser in advance.

An alternative to moving, for Dubai

If your company sits in a Dubai free zone and your target is Dubai mainland clients, Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025 gives you three options without moving:

• a branch in the emirate;
• a licence for a branch operating out of the free zone, AED 10,000 a year;
• a temporary permit for specific activities, AED 5,000 for up to 6 months, renewable.

DET issues the permit to Dubai Unified Licence holders through Invest in Dubai. Mainland revenue is taxed at 9%, and you keep separate accounts for it. JAFZA requires a physical office in the zone for its companies. More on the choice: free zone or mainland.

Topic: Doing Business in the UAE

Get a lawyer's help: Company formation in the UAE

This material is for information only and is not legal advice. UAE law changes — a lawyer will assess how it applies to your situation.