Amending Your Dubai Trade Licence 2026: Adding Activities, Changing Shareholders and Manager

You do not need a new company to change your business. To amend your Dubai trade licence in 2026, you file a formal amendment with the same authority that issued the licence, submit the supporting documents for the specific change, pay the fee, and receive a reissued licence. This guide walks the full amendment workflow: adding or removing activities, changing shareholders, swapping the manager, updating the trade name, and changing legal form. It also covers the knock-on effects most founders forget, namely your visas and your corporate bank account.

If you are still at the formation stage rather than the amendment stage, this is not your article. Amending an existing licence is a different event from getting your Dubai trade licence in the first place, and it is also different from renewing one. Here we stay strictly on changing a licence you already hold.

What "amend Dubai trade licence" actually means

To amend Dubai trade licence records means to file a legal change to the details printed on your existing licence and held in the commercial register, without dissolving the company. The amendment reissues the licence with the new information. It does not reset your trade name, your bank account, or your visa file unless those specifically change.

Common amendments fall into five buckets:

• Business activities. Add a new activity, remove one you no longer run, or modify your scope.
• Shareholders. Add an investor, remove a partner, transfer shares, or change ownership percentages.
• Manager or general manager. Replace the person named on the licence as manager.
• Trade name. Change the registered company name.
• Legal form. Convert the company's structure, for example from a sole establishment to an LLC.

Each change has its own document set and its own approval path. Amending is not the same as renewing. Renewal keeps the same details and extends the validity for another year, and for free-zone holders the annual renewal bill is a separate cost line. The Dubai licence amendment process changes the details themselves and can happen at any point in the licence year.

First fork: which authority handles your amendment

Before you touch a single form, answer one question. Who issued the licence? That single fact decides where the whole Dubai licence amendment process runs.

• Mainland companies file with the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET, the Dubai government body formerly known as the DED). The digital front door is the Invest in Dubai platform, which now handles ongoing licence management as well as new setup, in line with the UAE's federal guidance on doing business on the mainland.
• Free-zone companies file with their own free-zone authority (DMCC, IFZA, Meydan, RAKEZ, and so on). Each free zone runs its own portal, its own forms, and its own fee schedule.

This is the same mainland versus free zone choice that shaped your original setup, and it shapes your amendment too. You cannot file a mainland amendment with a free zone or the reverse. If you are reading this because you have not actually formed the company yet, start with the Dubai business setup process first and come back here later.

One federal layer sits above both routes. After almost any amendment, you must update your tax records with the Federal Tax Authority within 20 working days of the change. The FTA's own service terms require notification of any change to the company's records, including a change in primary activity, trade name, or trade licence, within that window, as set out on the FTA's tax records amendment service. Missing it risks an administrative penalty, so treat it as part of the amendment, not an afterthought.

Adding or removing business activities

To add activities to a Dubai licence, you select the new activity from the authority's approved activity list, secure any external approval the activity needs, and file the amendment against your existing licence. The new activity prints on the reissued licence. Removing an activity follows the same path in reverse.

Most activities are added quickly. The catch is the regulated ones. Activities in healthcare, education, food, transport, tourism, real estate, finance, and regulated advisory usually need a No Objection Certificate or external approval from the sector regulator before the licensing authority will add them. Plan for that extra step when you scope the change.

If the new activity materially expands what your company does, you may also need to update the purpose clause in your Memorandum of Association so the documents match the licence. Keep the two aligned. A mismatch between your stated activities and your corporate documents creates friction later, especially with banks.

To modify a trade licence Dubai activity set cleanly, do it in one filing rather than several. Adding three activities in one amendment is one fee event. Adding them one at a time over three months is three.

Changing shareholders

To change shareholders Dubai company records, you prepare a shareholder resolution, sign and notarise the amended Memorandum of Association, update the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) register, and file the share transfer with the authority. The reissued licence and amended MoA reflect the new ownership.

This is the most paperwork-heavy amendment, so it deserves a clear sequence:

1. Board or shareholder resolution. The existing shareholders pass a resolution approving the change, whether that is adding an investor, removing a partner, or transferring shares.
2. Amended Memorandum of Association. The MoA is redrafted to show the new shareholders and percentages. Every amendment to the MoA must be notarised before a UAE notary public.
3. UBO update. The Ultimate Beneficial Owner register (the record of who really owns or controls the company) must be revised to match the new ownership.
4. Authority filing. You submit the resolution, the notarised MoA, and shareholder identification documents to DET or your free-zone authority.

Incoming shareholders provide passport copies and, where required, attested documents. If a corporate entity is joining as a shareholder, expect to provide its constitutional documents, often attested and translated. The change shareholders Dubai company workflow is procedurally heavier than an activity change, but it is routine for the authorities and predictable when the documents are in order.

Changing the manager or general manager

To change the manager named on a Dubai licence, you pass a resolution appointing the new manager, file the change with the issuing authority, and reissue the licence with the new name. The outgoing manager is removed from the licence and the commercial register in the same step.

The manager (or general manager) is the individual legally authorised to act for the company. Replacing them is lighter than a shareholder change but still formal. You will typically need a resolution appointing the new manager, the new manager's passport copy, and in some cases a No Objection Certificate from the previous manager or sponsor. Free zones may attach a specimen signature step.

The manager change matters for two reasons most founders underestimate. First, the manager is often the authorised signatory on the corporate bank account, so the bank mandate must be updated when the manager changes. Second, if the outgoing manager held a visa under the company, that visa and the linked establishment card may need adjustment too.

Trade name and legal form changes

To change a trade name, you reserve the new name with the authority, file the name-change amendment, and update the MoA, the licence, and your signage and stationery afterward. The new name must clear the authority's naming rules, which forbid names that conflict with existing companies or breach naming conventions.

Changing legal form is the heaviest amendment of all. Converting a sole establishment into an LLC, or restructuring an LLC, effectively rebuilds the company's legal foundation. It pulls in a new or heavily amended MoA, fresh notarisation, and often a fresh look at share capital and ownership. If you are weighing a legal-form change, treat it as a project rather than a quick filing, and get advice before you commit.

What every amendment costs and how long it takes

Costs vary by authority and by the type of change, so treat the following as indicative ranges as of mid-2026, not fixed prices. Mainland figures reflect DET; each free zone publishes its own schedule.

On top of the authority fee, budget for legal translation and notarisation (roughly AED 500 to AED 1,500) and, if you use one, a PRO or business-setup service fee. Regulated activities that need external approval add both time and cost. Once everything is approved and paid, the reissued licence is usually ready within one to three working days for the simpler changes.

The knock-on effects: visas and your bank account

Two systems sit downstream of your licence, and an amendment can ripple into both. Founders who forget this end up with a correct licence and a frozen bank account.

Establishment card and visa quota. Your establishment card and visa quota are tied to the licence. The Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICP) runs a separate establishment-card amendment service for changes such as trade name, ownership transfer, or adding and removing a partner. A shareholder change, a manager change, or a legal-form change can all require the establishment card to be updated, and that in turn touches your employees' visa sponsorship. Sequence the card update right after the licence reissues.

Corporate bank account mandate. Your bank holds a mandate naming the authorised signatories and the ownership structure. When shareholders or the manager change, give the bank the amended MoA and the updated trade licence promptly. Banks routinely freeze accounts whose registered details no longer match the licence on file. This is the single most common avoidable pain point in the whole Dubai licence amendment process.