A designer with three regular clients, a developer billing a Gulf agency by the month, a strategy consultant between contracts: each reaches the same fork. Take a freelance permit and work in your own name, or form a company and work through it. Both are legal routes to living and earning in the UAE. They lead to quite different places.
The choice shapes the name on your invoices, whether you can hire, how banks see you, how corporate tax applies, and how easily you can grow. Switching later is possible, but it means a new licence, new bank relationships and often new contracts, so it is worth choosing with the next three years in mind rather than the next three months.
This guide sets out the freelance routes that exist in 2026, what each can and cannot do, how the tax rules treat an individual compared with a company, and the signs that it is time to move from one to the other.
The freelance routes that exist in 2026
There is no single UAE freelance licence. There are several, issued by different authorities for different purposes.
- The MOHRE freelance work permit. Issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, it lets an individual on a self-sponsored residence work independently, providing services to individuals or companies without becoming their employee. It is also the permit the Green visa route for freelancers is built on.
- GoFreelance in Dubai. Run by Dubai Media City, Dubai Internet City, Dubai Knowledge Park and Dubai Design District, the TECOM communities regulated by the Dubai Development Authority. It covers approved roles in technology, media, education and design, and the Dubai Development Authority describes it as a licence to trade in your birth name rather than a brand.
- Other free zone permits. Some free zones outside Dubai issue their own. RAKEZ in Ras Al Khaimah, for example, offers a freelancer permit for approved media and education professions, with one activity per permit.
Against these sits the company route: a free zone company such as an FZ-LLC or FZCO, or a mainland company licensed by the economic department of your emirate. Our guide to free zone versus mainland covers that choice in detail.
What a freelance permit can and cannot do
A freelance permit is issued to you as a person. Everything else follows from that.
Your name, not a brand
GoFreelance states plainly that the licence is issued only in your name as it appears on your passport, and RAKEZ requires freelancers to trade in their own birth name rather than a company name. If you want clients to buy from a studio, an agency or a product brand, a permit will not carry it.
No staff
Freelance permits do not allow hiring. GoFreelance says its licence does not allow you to hire or sponsor staff, and RAKEZ says freelancers cannot appoint staff or obtain additional visas under the permit. Subcontracting to other freelancers is one thing. Building a team is another, and it needs a company.
Your visa
Most permits can support a residence visa for the holder. GoFreelance offers one-year or two-year visa options. Established freelancers can also look at the Green visa, a five-year self-sponsored residence. It requires a MOHRE freelance permit, a bachelor's degree or specialised diploma, and annual self-employment income of at least AED 360,000 in each of the previous two years, or proof of financial solvency for the period of residence.
Your bank account and your clients
Because the permit is personal, so is the banking. GoFreelance tells freelancers they may open a personal bank account, with every transaction carried out in their own name. Some corporate clients and procurement teams are comfortable paying an individual. Others prefer, or require, a company counterparty. The federal government's supplier platform does have a freelancer category, but many large private buyers still onboard companies more easily. On client location, GoFreelance allows you to work as an independent contractor for a company from its free zone premises, while the MOHRE permit is built for services to clients across the mainland. Check the terms of your specific permit before you sign a contract.
Freelance permit vs company, side by side
| Area | Freelance permit | Own company |
|---|---|---|
| Legal identity | You, as an individual | A separate company, with limited liability in an LLC or free zone company |
| Name on invoices | Your passport name | Your approved trade name |
| Hiring | Not permitted | Permitted, within the visa allocation of your licence and premises |
| Visa | Residence visa for you; Green visa once eligible | Investor or partner visa for you, plus employee visas |
| Banking | Personal account in your name | Corporate account, subject to the bank's review |
| Corporate tax | In scope only if business turnover exceeds AED 1 million in a calendar year | Must register from the start, whatever its revenue |
| Activities | An approved list, sometimes one activity per permit | Several activities, subject to the authority's rules |
| Growth and exit | Tied to you; cannot take partners or be sold | Can add shareholders, raise investment or be sold |
Tax: the natural person rule
Corporate tax is where the two routes differ most, and where most freelancers are misinformed. The Federal Tax Authority treats a person working on a freelance permit or a sole establishment as a natural person conducting business. That person is subject to corporate tax only if total turnover from business activities in the UAE exceeds AED 1 million in a calendar year. Wages, personal investment income and real estate investment income do not count towards that figure.
Once the threshold is crossed, the individual must register by 31 March of the following year, and taxable income is charged at 0 percent up to AED 375,000 and 9 percent above it. For tax purposes the person and the business are one and the same, and the FTA's guidance notes that the owner of a sole proprietorship carries unlimited liability for its debts.
A company is treated differently. Every juridical person subject to corporate tax must register with the FTA, whatever its revenue. The same rates apply. Resident companies with revenue of up to AED 3 million can elect Small Business Relief, which the Ministry of Finance extended in August 2026 to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029; qualifying free zone persons cannot use it. VAT applies to both routes in the same way: registration is mandatory once taxable supplies exceed AED 375,000 over twelve months, and voluntary above AED 187,500. Our guide to the UAE tax system covers the wider picture, and a licensed tax agent should confirm your own position.
A freelance permit is a licence for a person. A company is a licence for a business. The moment your work needs more than you, the choice has already been made.
When to switch from freelance to a company
Many successful UAE companies began as one person on a permit. The move usually becomes worthwhile when one or more of these is true:
- You need to hire. A permit cannot sponsor staff. The first employee is the clearest signal of all.
- Clients want a company. If procurement teams keep asking for a trade licence in a business name, a corporate bank account or supplier registration as a company, the permit is costing you work.
- Turnover is approaching AED 1 million. Beyond that point you are inside the corporate tax system as an individual anyway, so the simplicity of the permit counts for less.
- You want a brand, partners or investors. A company can own a name, issue shares and be sold. A permit cannot.
- Your work has widened. Adding a second or third activity, or selling products as well as services, usually needs a company licence.
- Liability matters. Larger contracts carry larger risks, and a limited liability company separates them from your personal assets.
If none of these applies, a permit may be the sensible, lean choice for now. There is no prize for forming a company before the business needs one.
How And Again Advisory helps
We start by looking at your clients, your income, your visa plans and where you want to be in three years. Some founders leave the conversation with a clear case for staying freelance. Others are ready for a company, and we compare free zone and mainland routes, coordinate the formation, visas, Emirates ID and corporate bank application with the authorities and licensed partners, and set up corporate tax registration from the first period.
We are registered in Meydan Free Zone, with offices in Meydan and Deira, and we work in English and Amharic. Most of our clients are registered within two to three weeks. For indicative numbers, use our cost estimator, or tell us how you work today.
Final thought: choose for the business you are building
A freelance permit is a clean, legal way to work for yourself in the UAE, and for many independent professionals it is the right place to start. A company is the right place to grow. The mistake is not choosing one over the other. It is staying on the wrong one after the business has outgrown it.
