A mainland company is a registered entity licensed by the Department of Economic Development (DED) which is allowed to do business freely whether it is Mainland or Free Zone and inside or outside the country of UAE.

A UAE National is mandatory in all mainland licenses either as a Local Partner or a Local Service Agent.

LLC Structure: 51% shares are held by a UAE National and 49% shares go to the expat Partner.

Professional License: 100% shares are held by expat partner and one UAE National is appointed as a Local Service Agent.

Note: Local Partner/Local Service Agent is responsible for signing all government applications while expat partner is the whole and sole for business operations with no input from the Local Partner/Service Agent unless agreed.

In every Mainland License, there is a minimum requirement of 200 sq. ft. to be leased out on annual basis. Only then the Department of Economic Development (DED) will issue the license. Ejari Certificate issued from the land department makes the annual tenancy contract, legal and presentable in DED for the issuance of the license.

There is no limitation on the visa eligibility for a mainland entity, An Electronic Quota is issued to every company by the Ministry of Labor(MOL) which shows their visas eligibility and this can be increased by increasing the size of your office space. Per 80 square foot of office space gives you the allocation of 1 visa. If you also have staff who are not in the office, like sales, pro’s and drivers then you can apply for a separate quota for them and this will not affect your office space quota.

1. A mainland license does require standard approvals for the license. For example, Department of Economic Development(DED), Dubai Municipality (DM), Ministry of Labor (MOL), Ministry of interiors or Immigration (MOI).

2. There are also third party governing approvals that will be needed, depending on your business activities: Knowledge and Human Development Authority(KHDA) for all Education related activities, Dubai Health Authority(DHA)/Health Authority Abu Dhabi(HAAD) for all medical related business activities, Food Control Department of Municipality for all food-related license, Civil defense for all security-related activities, Real Estate Regulation Authority(RERA) for all real estate regulated business activities.