Minimum Capital Required to Start a Company in Dubai

For most companies in Dubai, there is no fixed minimum capital. That surprises people, usually because they have run into an AED 300,000 figure somewhere online. That figure came from the old 1984 companies law and has not applied for well over a decade.

What applies now is Article 76 of Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 on Commercial Companies, as amended by Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2025. It says a limited liability company must have capital “sufficient to achieve the object of its incorporation.” No number. Just a test of adequacy against what you actually intend to do.

One caveat worth carrying through the rest of this article. The same clause gives the Cabinet power to set a minimum capital by resolution, on the Minister’s proposal. None has been set. So the accurate statement is not “there is no minimum,” it is “no minimum has been prescribed,” which is a different thing and could change.

Share capital requirements by entity type

How much capital you need depends almost entirely on which structure you pick. The gap between the cheapest and the most demanding is enormous.

Mainland LLCs

No fixed minimum. You declare a figure in your Memorandum of Association, and it has to be defensible against your licensed activity.

In practice, small service businesses and consultancies commonly declare somewhere between a nominal amount and AED 50,000 to 100,000. A trading company holding stock will usually declare more, because a figure that is obviously too small for the activity invites questions at licensing and, later, at the bank. If you want the wider process rather than just the capital question, we have a full guide to LLC company formation that covers the rest of mainland company formation.

Private joint stock companies

A PrJSC has a real floor: AED 5,000,000, paid in full. The Ministry of Economy adds a qualifier that gets left out of most write-ups, which is that the figure applies “unless the company’s activity requires higher capital.” Registration requires a bank certificate evidencing the full deposit.

You may have read that PrJSCs registered before the law came into force are exempt from the AED 5,000,000 minimum. Be careful with that one. It was true under the previous companies law, Federal Law No. 2 of 2015, which expressly exempted existing private joint stock companies when it raised the floor from AED 2 million. It is not a feature of the 2021 law, whose transitional rule ran the other way: companies in existence at commencement were given twelve months to bring their documents into line. The exemption is a 2015 rule that has outlived its statute in a lot of published guidance.

Public joint stock companies

The highest floor of the standard structures: AED 30,000,000 in issued capital.

PJSCs exist to offer shares to the public and list on an exchange, so the number reflects that purpose. This is not a structure any normal SME will touch.

There is a related claim worth correcting, because it circulates widely. Banking and insurance business must generally be conducted through a public joint stock company, but that does not mean AED 30,000,000 is what a bank needs. A bank incorporated in the UAE must maintain fully paid-up capital of at least AED 2 billion under the Central Bank’s Minimum Capital for Banks Regulation, with AED 300 million for a specialised bank. Insurance companies sit at AED 100 million and reinsurers at AED 250 million. The AED 30,000,000 is a floor for the corporate form, and the prudential regime overtakes it many times over.

Free zone companies

Free zones set their own rules, and the spread is wide.

JAFZA is the clearest example of the direction of travel. Before its 2016 Companies Implementing Regulations, an FZE needed AED 1,000,000 and a two-shareholder FZCO needed AED 500,000 per shareholder. Both figures went. What replaced them is not nothing, though: the regulations require share capital “sufficient for the activities permitted under the License,” the same adequacy test the federal law applies to LLCs. Removed, then, but replaced rather than abolished.

One structural point that explains why these numbers are so hard to pin down. Most free zone company regulations deliberately decline to fix an amount, delegating it to the registrar “from time to time.” The figure then lives on a website FAQ that can change without any published amendment. That is why you will find a reputable law firm guide quoting AED 50,000 for Dubai Internet City while DIC’s own FAQ says AED 10,000. Always confirm the current figure with the zone directly, and treat any number in a blog post, this one included, as a starting point rather than an authority. If you are still choosing, our free zone company setup page covers the wider comparison.

What the law requires you to do with the money

This is the part that gets skipped, and it matters more than the declared figure.

Under Article 76(2), contributions must be paid in full at the time of incorporation, whether in cash or in kind. Under Article 76(3), cash contributions must be deposited with a bank operating in the UAE, and the bank may release them only to the company’s managers, only on evidence that the company has been registered, and only within the limits set in the managers’ appointment contract.

So the declared figure is a representation about money that is supposed to exist and be under a controlled release. In day to day practice, a straightforward mainland LLC licence is not usually held up waiting for a paid-up capital certificate. That gap between the statute and the counter is real, but it is not a repeal, and it is not a reason to declare a number you cannot stand behind. Where the figure tends to resurface is at the bank, during compliance review, and in any later dispute between shareholders about who contributed what.

Share capital is not your setup budget

These two numbers get conflated constantly, and they are unrelated.

Declared share capital is a paper value in your Memorandum of Association that defines who owns what. For a mainland LLC it is an internal ownership structure, not a fee paid to anyone.

Setup cost is actual cash out: government licensing fees, an Ejari-registered office lease or a free zone flexi-desk, immigration establishment card, and visa processing including medical screening and Emirates ID. Those costs vary far more by jurisdiction than by capital, which is why the real budget question is mainland against free zones rather than what number sits on your licence.

One more confusion worth naming. Some free zones tie visa eligibility to share capital. Meydan, for instance, states that an investor or partner visa requires AED 50,000 of share capital or more, while describing AED 100,000 as a suggestion rather than a formation minimum. People see the AED 50,000 and report it as Meydan’s minimum capital. It is not. It is a visa threshold, and the distinction matters if you are declaring capital with a residency application in mind.

So what figure should you declare?

There is no formula, but there is a sensible way to think about it.

Start from the activity. A capital figure should look plausible to someone reading your licence next to your trade name. A general trading company declaring a token amount reads oddly; a solo consultancy declaring AED 1,000,000 reads as though someone picked a number to look impressive and will have to justify it later.

Then consider who will read it. Banks look at capital as one input among many when opening an account, though a clean shareholder structure and a coherent business model carry more weight than a large declared figure. If you expect to bring in investors or issue different classes of stake, note that the 2025 amendment to Article 76 now allows LLC stakes to be divided into classes with different rights, with the detailed rules left to a future Cabinet decision. Worth knowing about, not yet worth building a structure around.

And confirm the free zone figure directly if you are going that route, on the day, from the zone.

Start a Dubai company with Aurum

Choosing the entity type and setting the capital figure affect your licence, your bank account approval and your obligations afterwards. Aurum reviews your activity and intended structure, advises what capital figure is defensible for your business, and prepares the Memorandum of Association and incorporation documents to match.

We are a business setup and corporate services firm, not a government authority, and no consultant can promise you a particular licensing or banking outcome. What we can do is make sure the figure on your documents is one you can stand behind.

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Frequently asked questions

How much capital is required for a private limited company in Dubai?

A mainland LLC has no fixed minimum. Article 76(1) of the Commercial Companies Law requires only capital sufficient to achieve the object of incorporation. Small service businesses commonly declare between a nominal amount and AED 50,000 to 100,000.

Is the AED 300,000 minimum capital still required in Dubai?

No. That requirement came from the 1984 companies law and was removed in 2009. It is one of the most persistently repeated outdated figures in UAE business content.

Can a company have no share capital at all?

Every company declares some share capital, even where no minimum is prescribed. The exception is a branch of a foreign or UAE company, which has no share capital of its own because it is not a separate legal entity.

Do I actually have to deposit the capital in a bank?

Article 76(3) requires cash contributions to be deposited with a bank operating in the UAE, releasable to the managers only on proof of registration. In practice, a standard mainland LLC licence is not usually held up for a paid-up capital certificate, but the requirement is in the statute and the declared figure should be one you can support.

What is the minimum capital for a joint stock company in the UAE?

AED 5,000,000 for a private joint stock company, paid in full, and higher where the activity requires it. AED 30,000,000 in issued capital for a public joint stock company.

Are older private joint stock companies exempt from the AED 5 million minimum?

That exemption belonged to the 2015 companies law, not the current one. Under the 2021 law, companies in existence at commencement were given twelve months to bring their documents into compliance. Treat any current claim of a grandfather exemption with caution and check your own constitutional documents.

Which Dubai free zone has the lowest share capital requirement?

Dubai Airport Freezone states AED 1 for an FZCO, and several zones including IFZA and JAFZA prescribe no fixed figure. These are set administratively and change without notice, so confirm with the zone before relying on a published number.

Does share capital affect how many visas I can get?

On the mainland, your visa allocation is driven by your premises and approvals rather than your declared capital. Some free zones do link the two: Meydan, for example, sets AED 50,000 of share capital as an investor visa threshold. Check the specific zone’s rule rather than assuming.

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Not sure what capital figure makes sense for your business, or whether mainland or a free zone is the better fit? Aurum can review your activity, recommend a structure, and prepare your incorporation documents so the numbers on your licence hold up.

Talk to our business setup consultants in Dubai for a free consultation.

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Legal position stated as at 22 September 2026, based on Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 as amended by Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2025, and on the free zones’ published guidance at the time of writing. Free zone capital figures are set administratively and change without notice. This is general information, not legal advice.