Dubai Outsource City in 2026: BPO, call centres and back-office outsourcing — the licence, AED 300,000 capital, tax and the telemarketing rules

Dubai Outsource City (DOC) is a TECOM Group business district in Dubai, part of the free zone administered by the Dubai Development Authority (DDA) and dedicated to outsourcing and shared-service providers: call centres, transaction processing, IT support, document management and disaster-recovery data centres. The DOC licence is issued under a single segment, 17.1 Outsource, with eight activities, costs AED 15,000 a year and requires a minimum paid-up capital of AED 300,000 — thirty times the standard AED 10,000 that applies in most other DDA districts. The district was launched in 2004 as Dubai Outsource Zone; according to TECOM it hosts more than 80 customer companies from the aviation, banking and telecommunications industries.

Alert. Three facts shape the economics of a DOC project more than the licence fee. First: outsourcing services are absent from the closed list of fourteen Qualifying Activities in Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025, so revenue from mainland and overseas clients is taxed at 9 % from the first dirham if the company claims Qualifying Free Zone Person status — the zero rate survives only on income from other free zone companies and within the de minimis threshold. Second: outbound calls to natural persons fall under Cabinet Resolution No. 56 of 2024 on telemarketing, in force since 27 August 2024 — prior approval, calls only between 9:00 and 18:00, call recording, the Do Not Call Registry and fines of up to AED 150,000 under Resolution No. 57 of 2024. Third: the DOC website still promises a “guaranteed 50-year exemption from corporate taxes” — a statement that stopped being federal law on 1 June 2023.

Dubai Outsource City’s key parameters in 2026: the summary table

Parameter	Value	Source
Regulator and licensing authority	Dubai Development Authority (DDA)	Dubai Law No. 15 of 2014, art. 22(a)
District operator	TECOM Group PJSC	tecomgroup.ae
Year launched	2004 (as Dubai Outsource Zone)	Gulf News, 16.06.2004; TECOM Group
Licence segment	17.1 Outsource — eight activities	Decision No. 1 of 2021, Part Two
Annual licence fee	AED 15,000; one activity within the segment	Decision No. 1 of 2021, art. 14.1
Additional segment	AED 10,000 a year (where the segment’s standard fee is AED 15,000)	Decision No. 1 of 2021, art. 10.1
Minimum paid-up capital of an FZ-LLC	AED 300,000 (default for other segments — AED 10,000)	Decision No. 1 of 2021, art. 15.1
Branch capital	none required	DOC FAQ
Registration fee	AED 3,500 plus activity fees; AED 20 Knowledge & Innovation Dirhams per service	Decision No. 3 of 2017
Registration time	7 working days (4 for initial approval, 3 for licence issue)	DOC FAQ
Visa quota	one employee per 80 sq ft of leased space	DOC FAQ
Licence validity	1 year, renewed annually	DOC FAQ
Late-renewal penalty	AED 2,500 (31–60 days), AED 5,000 (61–90 days), AED 10,000 (over 90 days)	Decision No. 1 of 2021, Schedule 4
Corporate tax on non-qua­li­fying income	9 % from the first dirham for a QFZP; de minimis 5 % of revenue or AED 5,000,000, whichever is lower	FDL 47/2022, art. 3(2); MD 229/2025, art. 3
Small Business Relief	revenue up to AED 3,000,000, extended to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029; not available to a QFZP	MD 73/2023; MD 131/2026
VAT	5 %; mandatory registration from AED 375,000; export of services at 0 % subject to art. 31 of the Executive Regulation	FDL 8/2017; CD 52/2017
Telemarketing	prior approval, calls 9:00–18:00, recording, DNCR; fines AED 10,000–150,000	CR 56/2024; CR 57/2024
Operating outside the zone	DET branch, branch “operating out of the free zone” (AED 10,000 a year) or a temporary permit (AED 5,000, up to 6 months)	ECR 11/2025

What Dubai Outsource City is, and which jurisdiction it sits in

Dubai Outsource City is not a free zone in its own right but a commercial district within the single free zone that Dubai Law No. 15 of 2014 calls “the Clusters” and places under the Dubai Development Authority; no Dubai law, decree or Executive Council resolution mentions DOC by name. The district’s name exists on two levels only: in the commercial practice of the operator, TECOM Group, and in Decision No. 1 of 2021 of the DDA Director General on licence categories, which defines DOC as “Dubai Outsource City” and gives it a part of its own — Part Two.

The legal construction of the zone

The free zone was created by Dubai Law No. 1 of 2000 on the Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone. Law No. 15 of 2014 (issued 27 October 2014, Official Gazette No. 380) replaced it, establishing the Dubai Creative Clusters Authority; article 31(a) repealed Law No. 1 of 2000, and article 31(b) preserved instruments made under it “to the extent that they do not contradict” the new law — which is why the Licensing Regulations 2003 remain in force. Law No. 10 of 2018 (19 September 2018) renamed the authority the Dubai Development Authority and the statute itself the DDA law. Law No. 8 of 2023 (6 February 2023, Official Gazette No. 603) replaced article 3 of Law No. 15 of 2014 in full: the free zone is defined as the clusters and plots “whose boundaries and areas are demarcated on the plans attached to this Law”. The plans are not reproduced in the published text, and as at September 2026 Law No. 15 of 2014 has not been amended since 2023.

Article 22(a) of Law No. 15 of 2014: “No person or entity may conduct any Activity in the Clusters without a licence from the DDA.” Every obligation of a DOC participant flows from that provision — from the segment licence to the requirement to lease premises in the zone.

The operator: TECOM Group

The district is operated by TECOM Group PJSC, listed on the Dubai Financial Market on 5 July 2022. The DDA states expressly that TECOM’s districts operate “under the jurisdiction of Dubai Development Authority”: licences, registration and visas are handled by the DDA, while premises are leased by TECOM. The split matters to an investor: the lease is signed with the operator, whereas licensing obligations and sanctions come from the regulator.

History: from Dubai Outsource Zone to Dubai Outsource City

The creation of Dubai Outsource Zone was announced on 16 June 2004 at the Outsource World conference in London by Omar bin Sulaiman, then head of Dubai Internet City, who called it “the region’s first outsourcing centre” with 100 per cent foreign ownership. In October 2004 Khaleej Times described the zone as a project with 250,000 sq ft of leasable space next to Academic City; TECOM Group gives 2004 as the district’s founding year. The renaming to Dubai Outsource City took place in a rebranding of TECOM’s districts without any legal instrument — as with Dubai Production City and Dubai Studio City, legislation recorded neither the old name nor the new one.

What the district is today

According to TECOM Group, DOC’s infrastructure — “call centres, data centres, and digitally enabled workspaces” — serves more than 80 customer companies from the aviation, banking and telecommunications industries; the district’s website speaks of 8,000+ professionals from 150+ countries. The district adjoins Dubai International Academic City and Dubai Knowledge Park, and the operator presents that proximity as a staffing advantage: students of the academic city are a pool for part-time and temporary work. The DOC website, however, cites “28,000+ students”, whereas TECOM’s press release of 15 January 2026 reported more than 38,500 students at DIAC and DKP combined at the end of the 2024/25 academic year — the district’s data lags the group’s.

The normative base: three tiers of regulation that must not be confused

A company in DOC lives under three layers of law at once: federal (corporate tax, VAT, employment, telemarketing, personal data, sector regulators), emirate (Dubai laws on the DDA, on operating outside the zone, on health insurance) and zonal (DDA regulations — licensing, companies, fees, employment). None of the layers replaces another: a DDA licence does not dispense with telemarketing approval, and the federal corporate tax law does not know the name “Dubai Outsource City”. The table below sets out the base as at 1 September 2026.

Tier	Instrument	Dates	Role for a DOC company
Emirate	Dubai Law No. 15 of 2014 on the Dubai Development Authority (as amended by Laws No. 10 of 2018 and No. 8 of 2023)	issued 27.10.2014; art. 3 replaced 06.02.2023	establishes the zone and the DDA; art. 22(a) — a licence is mandatory
Emirate	Dubai Law No. 15 of 2016 on legislation issued by free zone authorities	issued 01.11.2016, in force 30.11.2016	DDA instruments bind 30 days after publication on the authority’s website (art. 5)
Emirate	Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025	issued 03.03.2025, Official Gazette No. 707	three routes for free zone companies to operate outside the zone
Emirate	Dubai Law No. 11 of 2013 on health insurance	issued 24.11.2013	DHA authorisation for claims management companies (article 6(a))
Zone	Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Licensing Regulations 2003	issued 25.09.2003; kept alive by art. 31(b) of Law No. 15 of 2014	the licence, the manager (reg. 8), the bar on business outside the zone (reg. 12.1), the power to publish categories (reg. 3.2)
Zone	Dubai Creative Clusters Private Companies Regulations 2016	in force on website publication (DDA note: 01.02.2017)	FZ-LLC, branch, continuation; capital (reg. 25), registers, accounts
Zone	Decision No. 1 of 2021 on licence categories	undated on its face; replaces Decision No. 1 of 2018	segment 17.1, fees (art. 14), capital (art. 15), penalties (Schedule 4)
Zone	Decision No. 3 of 2017 on fees for PCR 2016 services	issued 06.08.2017	registration AED 3,500 and 24 other tariffs
Zone	Employment Regulations 2004, Employment General Terms and Conditions, Decision No. 3 of 2008	—	employment in the zone, visa sponsorship, sanctions for supplying staff to third parties
Federal	Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 on corporate tax; Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2023; Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025	in force 01.06.2023; MD 229 issued 28.08.2025 with effect from 01.06.2023	the QFZP regime, Qualifying Activities, de minimis
Federal	Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on VAT (as amended by FDL 18/2022, 16/2024 and 16/2025); Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017 (Executive Regulation)	law in force since 01.01.2018; FDL 16/2025 amends it from 01.01.2026	5 %, registration, export of services (art. 31 ER)
Federal	Cabinet Resolution No. 56 of 2024 on tele­marke­ting; Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2024 on penalties	issued 10.06.2024, published 28.06.2024 (Official Gazette No. 778), in force 27.08.2024	outbound-call rules, DNCR, fines up to AED 150,000
Federal	Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on personal data protection	issued 20.09.2021, in force 02.01.2022; executive regulations not issued	processing of client and subscriber data
Federal	Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on employment relations; Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022	in force 02.02.2022	employment contracts; MOHRE licences for staff outsourcing (art. 9 of CR 1/2022)
Federal	Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025 on the Central Bank and insurance business	in force 16.09.2025	licensing of hea­lth-insu­rance admi­nistra­tors as an insu­rance-re­lated profession
Federal	Federal Law No. 15 of 2020 on consumer protection; Cabinet Resolution No. 66 of 2023	law issued 10.11.2020; regulation issued 03.07.2023, in force three months after publication	providers’ duties to consumers, complaint handling

Why the tiers get confused

Three distinctions must be kept in mind. A VAT Designated Zone and a corporate-tax Free Zone are different lists:DOC is not on the Designated Zones list under Cabinet Decision No. 59 of 2017 as amended and cannot join it by definition (a fenced area with customs controls is required, art. 51(1) of the Executive Regulation), but that has no bearing on the corporate tax regime. A DDA licence and telemarketing approval are different documents: the first is issued by the zone, the second by the “Competent Authority” under Resolution No. 56 of 2024, and article 2.15 of Decision No. 1 of 2021 states expressly that a DDA licence does not exempt the licensee from other permits. The DDA free zone and the financial free zones are different employment regimes: DIFC and ADGM have their own employment codes, whereas DDA companies are governed by Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, as the DDA’s own standard employment terms confirm.

Which activities are permitted in DOC: segment 17.1 Outsource

Decision No. 1 of 2021 assigns Dubai Outsource City a single licence segment — 17.1 Outsource — with eight activities, of which the standard AED 15,000 licence covers only one (article 14.1); further activities from the same segment are added without extra fee but only “subject to the per-segment limits set out in Article 14” (article 10.4), that is at the DDA’s discretion (article 10.5). By comparison, the Dubai Internet City segments carry five activities each for the same AED 15,000.

Code	Activity	Description in Decision No. 1 of 2021 (Part Two)	Additional conditions
17.1.1	Customer Care	outsourced customer selection through marketing campaigns, telemarketing and telesales, retention and support, cross-selling and up-selling, technical help desks	outbound calls to natural persons fall under Cabinet Resolution No. 56 of 2024
17.1.2	Transaction Processing	third-party billing and payment services, insurance claims processing, medical prescription processing and general collections; excludes the insurance services of segment 26.1	—
17.1.3	Third Party Administrator (TPA)	processing hea­lth-insu­rance claims and other admi­nistra­tive services under a service contract	DHA permit under Dubai Law No. 11 of 2013; Central Bank licence as an “insu­rance-re­lated profession” under FDL 6/2025
17.1.4	Information Technology Management	remote outsourcing for third parties: system maintenance, technical support, CRM systems	—
17.1.5	Document Management	physical docu­ment-sto­rage facilities for third parties	premises in the zone
17.1.6	Disaster Recovery Centre	fully equipped premises for continuity of operations before, during and after emergencies	—
17.1.7	Operations Support	outsourced offi­ce-ope­rations functions for clients	article 3.8: keep contracts for inspection; no services through employees earning under AED 3,000 a month
17.1.8	Manpower Supply	supply of skilled and semi-skilled workforce within the free zone to other licensees: office boys, security guards, cleaners, electricians, drivers and so on	“restricted to organizations that are currently licensed to undertake this activity by the relevant Department of Economic Development in UAE”

How to read the list

The activity descriptions are part of the instrument, not marketing copy. The wording of 17.1.1 expressly includes telemarketing and telesales, which places a call centre squarely within the perimeter of Cabinet Resolution No. 56 of 2024. The wording of 17.1.2 excludes the insurance services of segment 26.1 — so claims processing is possible as a back-office operation but not as insurance intermediation. 17.1.4 is confined to work “on a remote basis” — an IT outsourcer whose engineers sit at a mainland client’s premises steps outside the description.

Manpower Supply (17.1.8) is not an entry point: the DDA issues it only to organisations that already hold a DED licence for staff outsourcing, and the scope is limited to supplying labour to other licensees inside the zone. A company planning staff leasing for mainland clients will not obtain that licence in DOC; the federal route is a MOHRE temporary-employment and outsourcing licence (discussed below).

The General Segment: what can be added

Article 2.2 of Decision No. 1 of 2021 allows General Segment licences (segment 26) to be issued in every district, DOC included: Service Provider (26.1), Support Services (26.2), Consultancy (26.3), Regional Head Quarters (26.5) and Property Management (26.7) — each at AED 15,000 with one activity. The district’s FAQ names Service Provider, Consultancy, Regional Headquarters, Hotels and Leisure Services, Hotels and Serviced Apartments and Property Management Services as available general categories. But article 7.2 closes the most obvious general activity for an outsourcer — Accounting & Bookkeeping (26.3.4): it is issued only to persons already licensed for “that precise activity” in Dubai or another emirate. Finance-and-accounting outsourcing from a standing start in DOC is structured through 17.1.2 Transaction Processing (billing, payments, collections), not through an accounting consultancy activity.

The overlap with Dubai Internet City

Segment 16.4 IT Services in Dubai Internet City contains activity 16.4.4 Customer Service — “after-sale support to enhance or to maintain the value of a product or service” — and 16.4.5 Support Service Provider. For an IT company supporting its own customers, DIC is the more logical home: five activities for AED 15,000 and the default AED 10,000 capital. DOC is designed for providing outsourced services to third parties as the core business, and its entry price is higher. DIC is covered in our guide to Dubai Internet City 2026: the UAE’s oldest technology hub and its regulator.

What a Dubai Outsource City licence costs, and why the capital is AED 300,000

The annual licence fee for segment 17.1 Outsource is AED 15,000 (article 14.1 of Decision No. 1 of 2021), FZ-LLC registration is AED 3,500 plus activity fees (Decision No. 3 of 2017), and the minimum paid-up capital of an FZ-LLC in DOC is AED 300,000 (article 15.1), whereas every segment not named separately in article 15.1 falls back to the AED 10,000 default. No other DDA district sets so high a threshold for a services segment: Dubai Knowledge Park and Dubai Internet City carry no uplift at all, Dubai Studio City segments sit at AED 50,000, and only broadcasting stations and hotels reach AED 1,000,000 and above.

Cost item	Amount (AED)	Provision
Annual licence fee, segment 17.1 Outsource	15,000	Decision No. 1 of 2021, art. 14.1
Additional segment with a standard AED 15,000 fee	10,000 a year, no pro-rating	art. 10.1
Additional activity within segment 17.1	no fee — within the article 14 limit (one activity) and at the DDA’s discretion	arts. 10.4–10.5
FZ-LLC registration	3,500 + activity fees	Decision No. 3 of 2017, row 1
Knowledge & Innovation Dirhams	20 per service type	Decision No. 3 of 2017, note
Minimum paid-up capital of an FZ-LLC, Outsource segment	300,000	Decision No. 1 of 2021, art. 15.1
Default minimum capital (other segments)	10,000	art. 15.1
Capital for Regional Head Quarters (General Segment)	50,000	art. 15.1
Branch	no capital required	DOC FAQ
Change of company name	2,000	Decision No. 3 of 2017
Transfer of shares	3,000	same
Increase or reduction of capital	3,000	same
Change of General Manager	1,000	same
Voluntary winding up	1,500	same
Certificate of Good Standing	1,000	same
Late licence renewal	2,500 / 5,000 / 10,000 (31–60 / 61–90 / over 90 days)	Decision No. 1 of 2021, Schedule 4
Business without a licence	10,000; repeat — 25,000	Schedule 4
Business outside the licensed segment	10,000	Schedule 4

What AED 300,000 of capital means in practice

Regulation 25.4 of the Private Companies Regulations 2016 requires capital to be subscribed in cash, regulation 25.5 entitles the Registrar to require evidence that the funds come from a verifiable and legal source, and regulation 26.4 requires shares to be fully paid on issue. For an FZ-LLC in DOC this means AED 300,000 actually paid into the company’s account before the licence is issued, not a figure declared in the articles. The district’s FAQ confirms the amount and adds that a branch of an existing foreign or UAE company needs no capital — which is why international BPO operators that already have a legal entity often choose the branch form. The capital remains the company’s money and may be spent on operations after registration: the readable provisions of the PCR 2016 contain no requirement to keep it intact, but confirmation should be obtained from the DDA Registrar before the funds are paid in.

What the DDA and DOC do not publish

Neither dda.gov.ae nor dubaioutsourcecity.ae publishes the cost of a visa, an establishment card, deposits, rents per square foot or “packages” — the FAQ answers the cost question with a sentence about “competitive” pricing “in alignment with prevailing market rates”. A DOC project budget is therefore built from three known amounts (licence, registration, capital) and at least three quoted individually (rent, visas, employee insurance). For comparison, DMCC publishes a full Schedule of Charges — registration AED 9,020, licence AED 20,285 a year, establishment card AED 1,825, flexi-desk AED 16,000–19,000.

Concessional programmes: in5 and Dubai SME

Schedule 1 to Decision No. 1 of 2021 describes two programmes available in any cluster, DOC included. In5 is a platform for early-stage start-ups: no registration fees, a licence at AED 1,000 a year for three years, visas at AED 1,500 each, no visa deposit, deregistration at AED 1,000; admission is by the In5 committee on a scoring system, with no reasons given for refusals; after three years the standard tariffs apply. Dubai SME is for UAE nationals registering an FZ-LLC: no registration fees, no licence fee for five years, visas at AED 525. For a BPO start-up with foreign founders only In5 is realistic, and it does not remove the capital requirement if the segment is 17.1.

Forms of presence and the registration procedure: FZ-LLC, branch, continuation

Three forms are available in DOC under the Private Companies Regulations 2016: a Free Zone Limited Liability Company (FZ-LLC) with one to 75 members, a branch of a foreign or UAE company, and continuation of an existing company into the zone; registration, according to the district, takes 7 working days — 4 for initial approval and 3 for issue of the licence. The licence is valid for one year and renewed annually, and leasing premises in the zone is a condition of holding it.

The FZ-LLC

Regulation 8.1 of the PCR 2016 allows one to 75 members (the Registrar may set a lower limit); regulation 20.2 admits any member, whether a body corporate, a partnership or a natural person, “whether a UAE or non-UAE national”. The name ends in “FZ-LLC” (regulations 12.3.1 and 16.2.5). Capital is in dirhams, of one class and equal nominal value, subscribed in cash (regulation 25); bearer shares are prohibited (regulation 26.5). The company keeps a register of members with changes filed within 14 days (regulation 38) and a register of directors and officers (regulation 77); the registered office must be in the zone at all times (regulation 51.2).

The mandatory licence conditions under article 2 of Decision No. 1 of 2021: a General Manager who is a natural person named on the licence (article 2.5 and Schedule 3), a registered office (2.6), preparation and retention of audited accounts supplied to the DDA on demand (2.8), and beneficial-ownership details on demand (2.11). The General Manager is the only mandatory office; the regulations set no minimum number of directors and no mandatory secretary.

The branch

A branch is registered under the branch section of the PCR 2016: a person authorised to accept service, a place of business in the zone and annual filing of the parent’s annual return (regulation 93.1); records are kept in the zone (regulation 95.1). No capital is required, but a branch has no separate legal personality and the parent is liable for its obligations. For BPO groups with an existing legal entity this is the most common choice, since it removes the AED 300,000 capital requirement. A separate question is whether a branch of a UAE mainland company is admissible: regulation 90.1 speaks of “an overseas company or a company incorporated outside of the zone”, while regulations 91.1 and 97.1 refer only to “an overseas company”, and the term is undefined — the answer must come from the Registrar.

Procedure and timing

The process is run by the DDA: per the district’s FAQ, an investor approaches the DOC sales team, which guides the registration; filings and subsequent transactions go through TECOM Group’s AXS portal. The timing the district quotes — 7 working days (4 + 3) — diverges from the DDA’s general service pages, which allow 10 working days for initial approval and 2 for issue. For planning it is safer to assume 12 working days plus the time needed to open a bank account and pay in the capital. After the licence is issued, the company registers for corporate tax with the FTA (an obligation of every free zone company) and, once the threshold is reached, for VAT.

What to prepare

The DDA service page for an FZ-LLC with natural-person members names four documents: the application form, passport copies of the members, directors and General Manager (with the residence-visa page where held), the resolution for the incorporation of the FZ-LLC and the declaration of appointment as General Manager, plus a notarised power of attorney attested up to the UAE Embassy where a representative acts; the same page states the registration fee of AED 3,500 and AED 10 each of “Knowledge Dirham” and “Innovation Dirham” per transaction. From DDA practice and the PCR 2016 requirements the full package includes an application form, passports and proof of address for members and the General Manager, the articles and the incorporation resolution (for a branch — the parent’s constitutional documents and board resolution, legalised), a business plan, evidence of the source of funds for the capital (regulation 25.5 of the PCR 2016) and a lease in the zone. UBO details have been confirmed through AXS since 2026 under DDA Circular No. 670 of 3 June 2026. Audited accounts and the annual return are filed each year (Circular No. 423 of 17 November 2022). Renewal and the late-renewal penalties are covered in our guide to UAE company trade licence renewal in 2026.

Premises, visas and staff: how many employees can be sponsored

A DOC company’s visa quota is tied to floor area: per the district’s FAQ, a company may sponsor one employee for every 80 sq ft (about 7.4 m²) of leased space, and a DDA commercial licence is issued only against a lease in the zone. For a 100-seat call centre that means at least 8,000 sq ft (about 740 m²) — and rent, not the licence, becomes the main cost line.

Leasing and the operator’s products

TECOM offers office space, D/Quarters coworking, in5 hubs, retail units, warehouses and light industrial units in DOC; the district’s website emphasises “IP contact centre services”, telecommunications infrastructure and 24-hour security. Rents are not published. Per the FAQ, land in the district is also available for purchase. The operator describes the district as a home for both captive centres (corporations’ own shared-service units) and independent providers; for the captive model it matters that the licence is still issued under segment 17.1 — the DDA does not distinguish intra-group from external outsourcing.

Employment law: federal statute, zonal administration

DDA companies are not carved out of federal employment law. The DDA’s standard employment terms define “Labour Law” as Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 and give the Dubai Courts jurisdiction, while the Employment Regulations 2004 still hosted on the DDA website cite the repealed Federal Law No. 8 of 1980. In practice this means a contract in the federal form, a probation period of up to six months, end-of-service gratuity under the federal rules, and visas and work permits issued not by MOHRE but by the DDA through Dubai’s GDRFA. Employee health insurance is mandatory under Dubai Law No. 11 of 2013.

Emiratisation: a structural exclusion

Emiratisation targets apply to employers registered with MOHRE with 50 or more employees (Ministerial Resolution No. 279 of 2022) and, in fourteen sectors, with 20–49 employees (Cabinet Resolution No. 33/5W of 2023, of which MOHRE notified more than 12,000 companies on 30 November 2023, and Ministerial Resolution No. 455 of 2023). A DOC company is not registered with MOHRE, so the quotas do not reach it — a structural rather than express exclusion. The penalties under Cabinet Resolution No. 43 of 2025 (issued 16 April 2025, in force the day after its publication in the Official Gazette; its article 7 repealed Resolution No. 95 of 2022) for the mainland — AED 20,000 to AED 100,000 per worker for sham Emiratisation — indicate what a BPO operator gives up by moving to the mainland for mainland clients. Detail in our guide to Emiratisation 2026: the complete employer guide.

The sanction discovered after the fact

DDA Decision No. 3 of 2008 (which restates regulation 18 of the Employment Regulations 2004; regulation 18.4) sets a fine of AED 5,000 for each employee a licensee supplies to a third party, with cancellation of that employee’s visa; regulation 18.2 adds AED 7,500 for each person employed without the zone’s sponsorship, rising to AED 10,000 if the breach continues. For an outsourcer this is the critical line: the service is delivered by its own staff from premises in the zone; placing its staff at a client’s site as “provided personnel” is not BPO but manpower supply, which requires activity 17.1.8 (unavailable to new companies) or a federal MOHRE licence. Hiring the first employee, the contract, WPS and insurance are covered in our guide to how to hire your first employee in the UAE.

Staff outsourcing versus process outsourcing: where the line runs

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a service a DOC company delivers with its own staff and on its own infrastructure; staff outsourcing (manpower supply) is placing workers under a client’s control, and for that the UAE has a separate federal regime — the MOHRE temporary-employment and outsourcing licence under article 9 of Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022. A DOC licence for 17.1.7 Operations Support or 17.1.1 Customer Care does not replace it.

Criterion	BPO from DOC (17.1.1–17.1.7)	Manpower Supply in DOC (17.1.8)	MOHRE tempo­rary-e­mployment and outsourcing licence
Who directs the worker	the provider	the client licensee in the zone	the client
Where the worker sits	the provider’s premises in the zone	another licensee’s premises within the free zone	the client’s site, including the mainland
Who can obtain it	any applicant meeting DDA requirements	only organisations already holding a DED licence for this activity	mainland companies under MOHRE rules (the service page asks for DED initial approval)
Cost	AED 15,000 a year; capital AED 300,000	within segment 17.1	AED 50,000 issue (tariff on the MOHRE service page) / bank guarantee of at least AED 1,000,000 (CR 1/2022, art. 9)
Salary floor	for 17.1.7 — not below AED 3,000 a month (art. 3.8)	—	—
Sanction for mixing them	Decision No. 3 of 2008: AED 5,000 per worker and visa cancellation	—	FDL 33/2021, art. 6(3): employment mediation without a MOHRE licence is prohibited

Why the DDA restricted 17.1.8

The description of 17.1.8 lists office boys, security guards, cleaners, electricians, drivers and welders — categories for which the federal legislator created licensing of temporary-employment agencies with an AED 1,000,000 guarantee. The DDA does not duplicate MOHRE; it admits an already-licensed mainland provider into the zone to serve the zone’s licensees. Article 6(3) of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 prohibits employment mediation without a MOHRE licence and contains no free zone carve-out; the words “free zone” do not appear in the law, in Resolution No. 1 of 2022 or in Ministerial Decision No. 51 of 2022 at all.

The AED 3,000 floor for Operations Support

Article 3.8 of Decision No. 1 of 2021 requires a 17.1.7 licensee to keep copies of its operations-support contracts with clients for DDA inspection on demand and prohibits supplying such services through employees earning less than AED 3,000 a month. The rule cuts off the “cheap staff dressed as a service” model: a back-office operator in DOC must pay every deployed employee at least AED 3,000 — a level to build into pricing before the first contracts are signed.

What to do when a client wants people on its own site

Three lawful options: (1) deliver the service remotely from the zone — the standard call-centre and back-office model; (2) take a temporary permit or a branch under Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025 to work at a mainland client’s site with the company’s own employees, whose visas remain with the zone (article 8 of the Resolution); (3) set up a mainland company with a MOHRE staff-outsourcing licence. The first keeps the zone’s cost structure; the second is time-limited and requires separate accounts; the third takes the business outside the structural Emiratisation exclusion.

The 2024 telemarketing rules: what a call centre in DOC must do

Since 27 August 2024 any company licensed in the UAE, free zones included, may make marketing calls to natural persons only with the prior approval of the Competent Authority, from local numbers registered under its licence, between 9:00 and 18:00, with the call recorded and the recording announced, with the Do Not Call Registry (DNCR) checked and with periodic reporting — those are the requirements of Cabinet Resolution No. 56 of 2024, and Resolution No. 57 of 2024 sets fines of AED 10,000 to AED 150,000 for breaches, with suspension of activity and cancellation of the licence. Both instruments were issued on 10 June 2024, published on 28 June 2024 in Official Gazette No. 778 and took effect 60 days later; as at September 2026 neither has been amended.

Who is caught

Article 1 of Resolution No. 56 defines a “Consumer” as a natural person and telemarketing as calls by a company or a natural person to a consumer to market, advertise or promote products or services, “including marketing text messages and marketing messages through social media applications”. Article 3 extends the rules to all companies licensed in the State, “including those in free zones”, and bars natural persons from making marketing calls for their own products and services from numbers licensed in their name. Two consequences for DOC: first, calls to legal persons (B2B lead generation) fall outside the consumer definition; second, an outbound campaign run for a client is formally the call centre’s own telemarketing — the approval and the numbers are obtained by the DOC licensee, not only by its client. The text does not distinguish calls to UAE residents from calls to subscribers abroad; the conservative reading is to apply the rules to every call to a natural person from a UAE-registered number.

Requirement (Resolution No. 56 of 2024)	Provision	Fine for breach, AED (Resolution No. 57 of 2024; 1st / 2nd / 3rd)
Prior approval of the Competent Authority	art. 4(1)	75,000 / 100,000 / 150,000
Staff training in telemarketing ethics	art. 4(2)	10,000 / 25,000 / 50,000
Local numbers of licensed operators registered under the company’s licence	art. 4(3)	25,000 / 50,000 / 75,000
No calls to DNCR-listed numbers	art. 4(5)	50,000 / 75,000 / 150,000
Call register kept to the authority’s spe­cifica­tions	art. 4(6)	10,000 / 25,000 / 50,000
Call recording with notification at the start of the call	art. 4(7)	10,000 / 25,000 / 50,000 (no recording); 10,000 / 20,000 / 30,000 (no notification)
Periodic reports within a month	art. 4(8)	10,000 / 20,000 / 30,000
Ide­ntifi­cation of the company and purpose at the outset	art. 4(11)	10,000 / 20,000 / 30,000
Disclosure of the data source on request	art. 4(12)	25,000 / 50,000 / 75,000
No unjustified pressure	art. 5(1)	10,000 / 25,000 / 50,000
No deception or misleading	art. 5(2)	25,000 / 50,000 / 75,000
Calls only between 9:00 and 18:00	art. 5(3)	10,000 / 25,000 / 50,000
No callback after a refusal	art. 5(4)	10,000 / 25,000 / 50,000
No more than one callback a day and two a week if unanswered	art. 5(5)	10,000 / 25,000 / 50,000
Asking for consent to continue before the pitch	art. 5(7)	10,000 / 20,000 / 30,000
Automated systems only in compliance with the Resolution	art. 5(6)	10,000 / 25,000 / 50,000
Unauthorised disclosure of personal data	—	50,000 / 75,000 / 150,000

Beyond fines, article 3(1) of Resolution No. 57 provides for a warning, full or partial suspension of activity for 7 to 90 days, and cancellation of the licence with removal from the commercial register, disconnection of telecommunications and withdrawal of the number; on a repeat breach within six months the authority may impose the maximum measure at once (article 3(3)). An appeal is lodged within 15 days and decided within 30, silence being a rejection (article 6). For natural persons calling from personal numbers: AED 5,000 with disconnection of numbers until paid, AED 20,000 and a three-month block on a repeat within 30 days, and AED 50,000 with a one-year ban on telecommunications services for a third breach.

The Competent Authority for a DOC company

Resolution No. 56 allocates supervision: the Ministry of Economy — overall coordination, the Central Bank — financial and insurance products, the Securities and Commodities Authority — the securities market, local authorities — all other sectors. For a DOC company calling on behalf of a bank, the approval and the rules are set by the client’s regulator, the Central Bank; for calls on behalf of a telecom operator or retailer — the local licensing authority, with the DDA as the zone’s licensing authority in light of article 2.15 of Decision No. 1 of 2021. The DNCR is supervised by the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA); the TDRA reported more than 2,000 fined or blocked violators by early October 2024.

Personal data and sector regulators: what else a BPO operator needs

A call centre or back office processes the personal data of its client’s customers, and in the UAE that is governed by Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the protection of personal data (PDPL), in force since 2 January 2022, whose executive regulations have still not been issued as at September 2026; for certain DOC activities sector approvals are added — the DHA and the Central Bank for health-insurance administrators, the client’s regulator for banking and insurance campaigns. A DDA licence replaces none of these requirements (article 2.15 of Decision No. 1 of 2021).

The PDPL: a law without its regulations

Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 was issued on 20 September 2021, published on 26 September 2021 (Official Gazette No. 712) and took effect on 2 January 2022. The law covers the processing of data of data subjects in the UAE and controllers and processors located in the country, and imposes duties on processors — and a BPO operator processing data on a client’s instructions is precisely a processor. According to the Chambers and Partners guide of 10 March 2026, the executive regulations have not been issued and the UAE Data Office, created by Federal Decree-Law No. 44 of 2021, “has not yet become fully operational”; the practical effect is limited enforcement activity. On uaelegislation.gov.ae the law lists no related instrument, and its card shows an effective date of “2 January 2021” — an evident misprint, since it precedes the issue date. For a DOC company this means the client contract itself must define the controller and processor roles, cross-border transfers and incident notification, because there is no subordinate standard. The law is analysed in our guide to the UAE Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL): the complete business guide.

Free zones with their own data regimes

DIFC and ADGM have their own data protection laws with functioning regulators; DOC does not (the financial centre is analysed in our guide DIFC 2026: the complete breakdown). A DIFC client passing data to a processor in DOC assesses that transfer under DIFC rules as a transfer outside its jurisdiction — a condition to plan for when targeting financial clients from the financial free zones.

Health-insurance administrators: two permits on top of the DDA licence

Activity 17.1.3 Third Party Administrator requires, in Dubai, a Dubai Health Authority authorisation under article 6(a) of Dubai Law No. 11 of 2013 on health insurance (issued 24.11.2013): the DHA publishes a list of “Permitted Health Insurance Claims Management Companies (TPAs)” — sixteen companies in unconditional compliance, including one FZ-LLC. From 16 September 2025 Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025 on the Central Bank, the regulation of financial institutions and insurance business classes “health insurance third party administrators” as an “insurance-related profession” subject to Central Bank licensing. A TPA in DOC is therefore three tiers: the DDA licence (zone), the DHA permit (emirate) and the Central Bank licence (federal).

Banks and insurers as clients

A DOC company making collection calls, selling credit products or processing claims for a bank or insurer operates within the Central Bank’s oversight of its supervised entities’ outsourcing: under article 9(2) of Cabinet Resolution No. 56 of 2024 the Central Bank is responsible for marketing calls concerning the services of banks, other financial institutions, insurance companies and related professions licensed by it, “in the manner stipulated in this resolution and the regulations issued by the Central Bank in this regard”. The practical consequence is that the contract with a bank client will carry the regulator’s requirements on data retention, audit and localisation, which become the BPO provider’s obligations.

Consumer protection

Federal Law No. 15 of 2020 on consumer protection (issued 10 November 2020) and its Executive Regulation — Cabinet Resolution No. 66 of 2023 (issued 3 July 2023, in force three months after its publication in the Official Gazette — from October 2023) — address the provider of goods and services, not its contractor; but a call centre receiving complaints and claims on a provider’s behalf must build its process so that the client meets its duties under the regulation, including written warranty-service mechanisms (article 16) and complaint handling (article 35). Liability to the regulator stays with the client; liability to the client is a matter of contract.

Corporate tax for a BPO company in DOC: why the zero rate is almost out of reach

Outsourcing, call-centre and back-office services are absent from the closed list of fourteen Qualifying Activities in article 2(1) of Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025, so a DOC company’s income from UAE mainland and overseas clients is non-qualifying and taxed at 9 % from the first dirham if the company claims Qualifying Free Zone Person status (article 3(2) of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022); the zero rate applies only to income from transactions with other Free Zone Persons (article 3(1)(a) of Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2023) and to other income within the de minimis threshold — 5 % of revenue or AED 5,000,000, whichever is lower. For a typical BPO operator with international and mainland clients the QFZP regime does not work, and the practical answer is Small Business Relief for revenue up to AED 3,000,000 or the general regime with its nil band up to AED 375,000.

The four categories of qualifying income

Article 3(1) of Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2023 treats as qualifying: (a) income from transactions with a Free Zone Person, except from Excluded Activities; (b) income from transactions with a Non-Free Zone Person — only for Qualifying Activities that are not Excluded; (c) Qualifying IP income; (d) any other income within the de minimis. The key asymmetry: the activity filter operates only in paragraph (b). A call-centre service rendered to a company in DMCC or Dubai Internet City is qualifying income regardless of activity; the same service to a mainland bank or a client in Germany is non-qualifying. The free zone counterparty must be the Beneficial Recipient (article 3(2)–(3)): an agent, a nominee or a free zone intermediary of a mainland brand fails the test.

Client	Income category	Rate under QFZP status
A UAE free zone company (legal entity, end recipient of the service)	qualifying, art. 3(1)(a) of CD 100/2023	0 %
A UAE mainland company	non-qua­li­fying (outsourcing not on the MD 229/2025 list)	9 % from the first dirham; within de minimis — 0 %
A foreign client	non-qua­li­fying	9 % from the first dirham; within de minimis — 0 %
Natural persons (B2C)	Excluded Activity, art. 2(2)(a) of MD 229/2025	9 %; the income counts towards de minimis
The company’s own mainland branch (ECR 11/2025)	Domestic Permanent Establishment income, art. 5(1) of CD 100/2023	9 %; excluded from the de minimis computation (art. 4 of CD 100/2023)

The cost of failure

Breach of any condition of article 18(1) of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 — adequate substance (article 8 of Decision No. 100 of 2023: core activities in the zone, assets, qualified staff, expenditure), compliance with transfer pricing under articles 34 and 55, audited financial statements under Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 with no revenue threshold — or a breach of the de minimis removes QFZP status from the beginning of that tax period and for the four subsequent periods (article 5 of Decision No. 229 of 2025). A QFZP has no access to the 0 % band up to AED 375,000: the 9 % runs from the first dirham of non-qualifying income. The regime’s conditions are covered in our guides to the Qualifying Free Zone Person regime in 2026 and how companies in free zones lose 0 % corporate tax.

What a small BPO chooses

Small Business Relief under Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023 — revenue not exceeding AED 3,000,000 — was extended by Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026 of 29 July 2026 to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029; article 3 excludes QFZPs and constituent companies of multinational groups. A DOC company with revenue up to AED 3,000,000 chooses between electing QFZP (0 % only on free zone clients, 9 % on everyone else, mandatory audit) and Small Business Relief (no tax computed at all, but no QFZP status) — the conditions are set out in our guide to UAE Small Business Relief 2026: last chance for 0 % corporate tax. An operator above the threshold is left with the general regime: 0 % on the first AED 375,000 of taxable income and 9 % above (Cabinet Decision No. 116 of 2022) — with no substance conditions and no tax-driven audit where revenue is below AED 50,000,000.

Registration and deadlines

FTA registration is mandatory for every free zone company regardless of rate; the penalty for late registration is AED 10,000 (Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023 as amended by Decision No. 10 of 2024); the EmaraTax application procedure is described in our guide on how to register for corporate tax in the UAE. The return is filed within nine months of the end of the tax period (article 53 of Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022). The DOC website’s promise of a “guaranteed 50-year exemption from corporate taxes” belongs to the period before 1 June 2023 and has no legal effect: a zone’s website is not a source of federal tax law.

VAT for a call centre and back office: 5 %, export of services and the reverse charge

Services supplied by a DOC company to UAE clients are subject to VAT at 5 %; services to foreign clients are zero-rated as an export of services only where the conditions of article 31 of the Executive Regulation (Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017 as amended) are met together, and registration is mandatory once taxable supplies exceed AED 375,000 in 12 months and voluntary from AED 187,500. Designated Zone status is irrelevant for services: DOC is not on the list, and article 51(6) of the Regulation treats the place of supply of services inside a Designated Zone as inside the State.

Export of services: the three conditions of article 31

The zero rate under article 31(1)(a) applies where, cumulatively: the recipient has no place of residence in an Implementing State and is outside the UAE when the services are performed; the services are not directly connected with real estate in the UAE or with movable assets located in the UAE; and the services are not treated as performed in the State under articles 30(3)–(8) and 31 of the Decree-Law. Under article 31(2) a recipient is “outside the State” only if its presence in the UAE is shorter than 30 days and not effectively connected with the supply — a foreign client’s managers visiting DOC to launch a project can break the zero rate for the relevant period. Article 31(3) adds a separate bar: no zero-rating where the services are in fact received in the UAE by another person whose input tax is not fully recoverable. For a BPO with overseas clients this means documenting the location of the client and its representatives on every contract.

Situation	VAT treatment	Provision
Services to a client on the UAE mainland or in a UAE free zone	5 %	FDL 8/2017, art. 3
Services to a foreign client with no presence in the UAE	0 % subject to art. 31	CD 52/2017, art. 31
Services to a foreign client whose staff are in the UAE for 30 days or more in connection with the project	5 %	art. 31(2)
Purchases of software, licences and services from foreign suppliers	reverse charge by the DOC company	FDL 8/2017, art. 48
Registration	mandatory from AED 375,000, voluntary from AED 187,500	CD 52/2017, arts. 7–8

Changes in 2025–2027

Federal Decree-Law No. 16 of 2025 amended the VAT law from 1 January 2026: the self-invoice under the reverse charge was abolished, a five-year limit on claims for refund of excess tax was introduced, and the FTA gained the power to deny input tax on supplies forming part of a tax-evasion arrangement; thresholds, Designated Zones and the export-of-services rules were untouched. E-invoicing starts on 1 January 2027 for companies with revenue of AED 50,000,000 or more, and the deadline to appoint an accredited service provider was moved by Ministerial Decision No. 66 of 2026 to 30 October 2026. Registration, refunds and penalties in practice are covered in our UAE VAT: the complete business guide 2026.

Can a DOC company serve mainland clients? Resolution No. 11 of 2025

A DOC licence is valid only within the free zone (regulation 12.1 of the Licensing Regulations 2003; the district’s FAQ: “the license is valid only for operating a business inside the Free Zone territory”), but serving mainland clients remotely from premises in the zone does not breach that rule; for work at a client’s site, Dubai Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025 (issued 3 March 2025, Official Gazette No. 707) offers three routes — a branch in the emirate, a branch “operating out of the free zone” at AED 10,000 a year, and a temporary permit at AED 5,000 for up to six months. All three are issued by the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) with the DDA’s prior approval.

What is prohibited, and what is not

Regulation 12.1 prohibits carrying on business in the UAE outside the zone on the strength of a zone licence alone. A call centre serving mainland clients from DOC by telephone and digital channels carries on business in the zone — its seats, servers and staff are there. The line is crossed when the company’s employees physically work at the client’s premises, when the company opens a point of presence outside the zone, or when it contracts in the name of an office outside the zone. Resolution No. 11 of 2025 was created for exactly those cases.

Route (art. 4(a) of ECR 11/2025)	What it provides	Term	Fee	Conditions
(1) Branch licence in the emirate	a mainland branch without separate legal personality (art. 5)	1 year, renewable	DET’s ordinary tariff (art. 5(a)(6))	DDA prior approval (art. 5(a)(2)); separate financial records (art. 3(b))
(2) Licence for a branch operating out of the free zone	activity outside the zone from the existing office in the zone (art. 6)	1 year, renewable	AED 10,000 a year (art. 12)	DDA approval; emirate legislation including admi­nistra­tive penalties (art. 10)
(3) Temporary permit	specific activities outside the zone (art. 7)	up to 6 months	AED 5,000 (art. 12)	DDA approval; the list of activities the DET was to publish within six months (art. 9)

The article 9 list was due within six months of the Resolution’s entry into force — its publication in Official Gazette No. 707 (March 2025) — that is, by September 2025 at the latest, and has not been published as at September 2026, while article 7(6) makes the temporary permit textually dependent on that list. The mechanism itself is live: on 8 October 2025 the Dubai Business Registration and Licensing Corporation (DBLC), part of the DET, together with the Dubai Free Zones Council announced the Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit “under the Dubai Executive Council Decision No. 11 of 2025” — a six-month permit for AED 5,000, renewable for the same fee, applied for through the Invest in Dubai platform by companies holding a Dubai Unified Licence; the first phase covers non-regulated activities — technology, consultancy, design, professional services and trading — with plans to extend to regulated sectors (Government of Dubai Media Office release). A first-phase sector description is not the list of “activities and the model each requires” that article 9 prescribes, so for BPO services not named expressly the DET’s position should be obtained in writing. Article 8 preserves the visas and privileges of employees registered on the zone’s portal when working outside the zone; article 13 gives a one-year transition from the Resolution’s entry into force, extendable once by decision of the DET Director General — no extension has been announced.

The tax consequence

A mainland branch is a Domestic Permanent Establishment: its income is taxed at 9 % (article 5(1) of Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2023), but article 4 of the same Decision removes permanent-establishment income from both sides of the de minimis fraction. The regime’s paradox: a formalised mainland presence protects QFZP status on the remaining revenue, whereas unformalised servicing of mainland clients from the zone destroys it — because that income stays non-qualifying and accumulates towards the de minimis. The models are compared in our guides to mainland vs free zone in 2026: the new rules and Dubai mainland: DET, licences, visa quotas and taxes.

DOC versus DIC, DKP, DMCC and the mainland: where a BPO is better placed

For an outsourcing operator the choice of a Dubai location comes down to four variables: how many activities the licence covers, how much capital must be paid in, whether Emiratisation applies, and how income from mainland and foreign clients is taxed; on the first two DOC loses to its sister DDA districts, on the third it beats the mainland, and on the fourth all free zones are equal. The table is built on published tariffs as at September 2026.

Criterion	Dubai Outsource City	Dubai Internet City	Dubai Knowledge Park	DMCC	Dubai mainland (DET)
Regulator	DDA	DDA	DDA	DMCC Authority	DET
Core activities	17.1 Outsource: 8 activities (call centre, transaction processing, TPA, IT support, documents, DR centre, operations support, manpower)	16.4 IT Services and others: 5 activities each, including Customer Service 16.4.4	HR consultancy 21.8, Executive Search 21.12, training	service and trading activities on the DMCC list	any licensable activity, including a call centre with telemarketing approval
Annual licence fee	AED 15,000 (Decision No. 1 of 2021, art. 14.1)	AED 15,000	AED 15,000	AED 20,285 (Schedule of Charges)	DET tariff, activi­ty-de­pendent
Activities in the base licence	1	5	1 or 3	per package	per licence
Registration	AED 3,500 + activity fees	AED 3,500 + fees	AED 3,500 + fees	AED 9,020 + application AED 1,035 + articles AED 2,020	DET tariff
Minimum FZ-LLC capital	AED 300,000	AED 10,000 (default)	AED 10,000; AED 100,000 deposit for Executive Search	AED 50,000 (DMCC Share Capital Deposit Guideline)	no requirement
Visas	1 per 80 sq ft (DOC FAQ)	by area	1 per 80 sq ft (DKP FAQ)	by product (flexi-desk AED 16,000–19,000)	DET quota by area and activity
Emiratisation	not applicable (stru­ctu­rally)	not applicable	not applicable	not applicable	applies from 20 employees in 14 sectors and from 50 elsewhere
Corporate tax on mainland and foreign income	9 % for a QFZP from the first dirham; SBR up to AED 3,000,000	the same	the same	the same	0 % up to AED 375,000, 9 % above
Work at a mainland client’s site	ECR 11/2025	ECR 11/2025	ECR 11/2025	ECR 11/2025	no restriction

What the comparison shows

The only objective reason to choose DOC over DIC or DKP is the match of activity descriptions: a third-party call centre, transaction processing, TPA and a DR centre are described only in segment 17.1, and Schedule 4, paragraph 3 of Decision No. 1 of 2021 fines AED 10,000 for business outside the licensed segment. An IT company supporting its own customers saves AED 290,000 of capital in DIC; an HR provider that does not supply staff belongs in DKP. An operator whose clients are mainland companies with a permanent presence on their sites gains, other things being equal, from a DET mainland licence — but pays for it with Emiratisation and the general MOHRE regime. The DMCC comparison is developed in our guide to DMCC 2026: a complete breakdown of the UAE’s largest free zone.

What the table does not show

Rent. None of the DDA districts publishes rates, and rent is what sets the budget of a 50–200-seat call centre. For DOC the operator emphasises “purpose-built” infrastructure and IP contact-centre services; for DIC and DKP, proximity to technology and education companies. The second hidden factor is DDA practice under article 10.5: the possibility of obtaining more than one activity in segment 17.1 without extra fee depends on the Registrar’s discretion and is not guaranteed by the text.

District and operator statistics: what is known and what is not published

According to TECOM Group’s FY2025 figures, the group’s ten districts serve more than 12,200 customers and more than 147,000 professionals at 97 % overall occupancy; in the first half of 2026 group revenue exceeded AED 1.5 billion (+11 %), net profit was AED 805 million (+9 %), 61 new licences were issued through the in5 incubator and occupancy held at 97 %; for DOC itself TECOM cites “more than 80 customers” from aviation, banking and telecommunications, and the district’s website “8,000+ professionals from 150+ countries”. None of these figures is dated on the district’s pages, and the group’s H1 2026 report does not mention DOC individually.

Indicator	Value	Source and date
TECOM Group customers, all districts	12,200+	tecomgroup.ae (FY2025 data)
Professionals in TECOM districts	147,000+ (the districts page shows 137,000+, a 2024 figure)	tecomgroup.ae
Occupancy	97 %	TECOM, H1 2026 results (30 July 2026)
Group revenue, H1 2026	over AED 1.5 billion, +11 %	Zawya, TECOM press release, 30.07.2026
Net profit, H1 2026	AED 805 million, +9 %	same
New in5 incubator licences, H1 2026	61	same
Interim dividend	AED 440 million	same
DOC customers	more than 80	teco­mgrou­p.ae, business districts page
DOC professionals	8,000+ from 150+ countries	dubaiou­tsource­city.ae
Leasable area at launch	250,000 sq ft	Khaleej Times, 07.10.2004
Year launched	2004	Gulf News, 16.06.2004; TECOM Group

How to read the operator’s numbers

TECOM publishes three “vintages” at once: 2023 (11,000+ customers, 124,000+ professionals, 89 % occupancy), 2024 (11,900 / 137,000+ / 94 %) and 2025 (12,200+ / 147,000+ / 97 %), and different group and district pages show different pairs. The TECOM districts page that states “more than 80 customers” for DOC combines the 2025 customer base with the 2024 headcount. For the district itself this means “80+ customers” is the only official measure of DOC’s size, and it cannot be reconciled with “8,000+ professionals” without average headcount data: a hundred people per customer is plausible for call centres, but the operator offers no such calculation.

What is not published

Neither the DDA, nor TECOM, nor the district publishes the number of licences under segment 17.1, the split of customers by activity, rents, visa costs or occupancy by district. The news feed on the DOC website as at September 2026 consists of Dubai Internet City press releases from October–December 2023, and the FAQ still refers to the “Dubai Creative Clusters Authority” — a name abolished by Law No. 10 of 2018. An investor assessing the district should ask the DOC sales team for the current list of segment 17.1 tenants and actual building occupancy: there are no public sources for either.

Defects and inconsistencies in the current instruments and on the zone’s website

As at September 2026 the DOC regulatory base and the zone’s public materials contain at least ten discrepancies — from outdated regulator names inside Decision No. 1 of 2021 to a promise of tax exemptions abolished by federal law. None of them invalidates the licence, but each is a reason to obtain written confirmation before signing the lease and paying in the capital.

No.	Discrepancy	Where	Significance for the company
1	Decision No. 1 of 2021 has no issue date, signature or commencement article; it binds through article 5 of Dubai Law No. 15 of 2016 (30 days after website publication)	Decision No. 1 of 2021	cite without a date; check currency in the DDA database
2	Decision No. 1 of 2021 defines the “Authority” as the Dubai Creative Clusters Authority and refers to the NMC, although the body was renamed the DDA by Law No. 10 of 2018 and the NMC has been replaced by the National Media Authority	Decision No. 1 of 2021, art. 1.1	terminology, no legal consequence
3	Article 2.5 refers to Schedule 3 “issued under Regulation 14.1 of the Licensing Regulations”, whereas regulation 14 concerns notification of a change of manager and confers no sche­dule-ma­king power (that is regulation 31.1)	Decision No. 1 of 2021	broken citation; the duty to appoint a General Manager survives through regulation 8.1
4	Paragraph 6 of Schedule 4 cites “Article 2.10” for UBO, whereas UBO is article 2.11 and 2.10 concerns segment 27 permits	Decision No. 1 of 2021	the AED 5,000 penalty for failing to provide UBO applies in substance
5	The DOC website promises a “guaranteed 50-year exemption from personal, income and corporate taxes”	DOC FAQ	inconsistent with FDL 47/2022 since 01.06.2023
6	The DOC FAQ lists five segment activities, omitting TPA, Disaster Recovery Centre and Manpower Supply, and still refers to the “Dubai Creative Clusters Authority”	DOC FAQ	rely on Part Two of Decision No. 1 of 2021
7	Registration time: 7 working days (4 + 3) per the DOC FAQ versus 10 + 2 on the DDA service pages	DOC FAQ; dda.gov.ae	plan on 12
8	The Employment Regulations 2004 on the DDA website cite Federal Law No. 8 of 1980, repealed by FDL 33/2021; the DDA’s standard employment terms already define the Labour Law as FDL 33/2021	dda.gov.ae	apply FDL 33/2021
9	The card for Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on uaelegi­slatio­n.gov.ae shows an effective date of “2 January 2021” — before the issue date; the law took effect on 2 January 2022	uaelegi­slatio­n.gov.ae	portal misprint
10	The DOC website cites “28,000+ students” at neighbouring DIAC against 38,500+ students at DIAC and DKP at the end of the 2024/25 academic year per TECOM’s press release of 15 January 2026; the district’s news feed ends in December 2023	dubaiou­tsource­city.ae	the district’s data lags the group’s
11	The article 9 activity list under Resolution No. 11 of 2025 was not published by the deadline; the temporary permit under article 7(6) textually depends on it, although the Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit has been issued since 8 October 2025 on a first-phase sector description	DET	obtain the DET’s position in writing
12	Regulation 25.5 of the PCR 2016 refers to Federal Law No. 10 of 1980 on the Central Bank, repealed back in 2018; the current act is Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025	PCR 2016	the legal-sou­rce-o­f-funds requirement is applied under the current law

What this means for the contract and the budget

Three items in the table carry a monetary weight. The tax-exemption promise (No. 5) must stay out of the financial model: a BPO operator with mainland and foreign clients plans for 9 % corporate tax or Small Business Relief. The timing discrepancy (No. 7) affects the date of paying in capital and starting the lease. The missing DET list (No. 11) means a project involving work at mainland clients’ sites cannot rely on the temporary permit as a guaranteed instrument — while the list remains unpublished, a BPO operator is safer with the route-(2) branch at AED 10,000 a year or with the DET’s written confirmation that the permit applies to the specific service.

Step-by-step algorithm: from choosing the activity to the first call

Launching a BPO company in DOC takes four to eight weeks: 7–12 working days for the DDA licence, in parallel the lease, bank account and payment of the AED 300,000 capital, then visas, FTA registration and — for a call centre — telemarketing approval, without which outbound calls to natural persons are unlawful. The order below reflects the dependencies between the steps.

1.        Match the business model to the segment 17.1 descriptions. Identify which of the eight activities describes the core revenue: inbound support and sales — 17.1.1; billing, collections, claims processing — 17.1.2; health-insurance administration — 17.1.3 (plus DHA and the Central Bank); remote IT support — 17.1.4; document storage — 17.1.5; a DR site — 17.1.6; office functions — 17.1.7 (salaries not below AED 3,000). Remember that the base licence covers one activity (article 14.1) and further ones are at the DDA’s discretion (article 10.5).

2.        Check the alternatives. If the customers are the group’s own clients rather than third parties, compare 16.4 IT Services in DIC (five activities, AED 10,000 capital); if the model is providing personnel, accept that it is unavailable in DOC (17.1.8 only for DED licensees) and consider a MOHRE licence on the mainland.

3.        Choose the form. An FZ-LLC requires AED 300,000 paid in cash with evidence of the source of funds (regulations 25.4–25.5 of the PCR 2016); a branch of an existing company needs no capital but has no separate legal personality. For a mainland parent, confirm with the Registrar that a branch is admissible (regulations 90.1 and 91.1 of the PCR 2016).

4.        Build the tax model before leasing. Split forecast revenue into free zone, mainland and foreign clients and natural persons; if non-qualifying revenue exceeds 5 % or AED 5,000,000, QFZP does not work — choose between Small Business Relief (up to AED 3,000,000, for periods ending by 31 December 2029) and the general regime.

5.        Size the premises by the visa quota. One employee per 80 sq ft: multiply the headcount by 80 and add headroom for growth; ask TECOM for the rent of the specific building, since none is published.

6.        File with the DDA through the DOC sales team and the AXS portal: application form, members’ and General Manager’s documents, business plan, source-of-funds evidence, lease. Await initial approval (4 working days per the FAQ, 10 per the DDA), open the account, pay in the capital, obtain the licence (3 or 2 working days).

7.        Obtain the establishment card and visas through the DDA and the GDRFA; sign employment contracts in the FDL 33/2021 form and arrange health insurance under Dubai Law No. 11 of 2013.

8.        Register with the FTA for corporate tax (late-registration penalty AED 10,000) and — if supplies are forecast above AED 375,000 — for VAT; define how the export of services under article 31 of the Regulation will be evidenced for foreign clients.

9.        Obtain telemarketing approval if the model involves outbound calls to natural persons: the Competent Authority for the client’s sector (the Central Bank for financial products), local numbers registered under the DOC licence, staff training, call recording, a DNCR-checking procedure, a reporting calendar.

10.    Build the personal-data framework: a processor agreement with each client (roles, cross-border transfers, incidents), since the PDPL has no executive regulations; for DIFC and ADGM clients — their own transfer requirements.

11.    Formalise work at mainland clients’ sites, if planned: a route-(2) branch under Resolution No. 11 of 2025 (AED 10,000 a year) with separate accounts; a temporary permit (the Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit, AED 5,000 for six months via Invest in Dubai) for the first-phase activities the DET announced on 8 October 2025, with the DET’s written confirmation for BPO.

12.    Set the annual compliance calendar: licence renewal before expiry (penalty from AED 2,500 from day 31), audited accounts and the annual return through AXS, UBO confirmation, the corporate tax return within nine months, VAT returns, periodic telemarketing reports.

Typical mistakes when launching a BPO in Dubai Outsource City, and what they cost

The ten mistakes below recur in outsourcing projects more often than any others, and each has a price — in dirhams of fines, in a lost tax rate or in months of idle time.

1.        Budgeting on the standard AED 10,000 capital. Segment 17.1 is the only DDA services segment with AED 300,000 capital (article 15.1 of Decision No. 1 of 2021), paid in cash before the licence is issued. Cost: AED 290,000 frozen beyond plan, or a switch to the branch form with the loss of separate legal personality.

2.        Counting on a zero corporate tax rate “as in a free zone”. Outsourcing is not a Qualifying Activity; income from mainland and foreign clients is taxed at 9 % from the first dirham for a QFZP. Cost: 9 % of profit, and where QFZP is elected and the de minimis breached — loss of status for five tax periods and a mandatory audit for nothing.

3.        Outbound calls without telemarketing approval. Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2024: AED 75,000 for a first breach, AED 150,000 for a third, suspension of activity for 7–90 days, cancellation of the licence and withdrawal of numbers. The cost of one unapproved campaign — up to AED 150,000 plus a halted business.

4.        Calls from agents’ personal mobile numbers. Numbers must be local and registered under the company’s licence (article 4(3) of Resolution No. 56 of 2024); a natural person calling from a personal number is fined AED 5,000–50,000 with disconnection for up to a year. Cost: fines on the company (AED 25,000–75,000) and on the agents at once.

5.        Placing staff at a client’s site as a “service”. Decision No. 3 of 2008: AED 5,000 per worker supplied and cancellation of the worker’s visa; with 20 staff — AED 100,000 and the loss of the team. The lawful alternative is a branch under Resolution No. 11 of 2025 at AED 10,000 a year or the Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit at AED 5,000 for six months, with the DET’s written confirmation that it covers the service.

6.        Operations support by staff earning under AED 3,000. Article 3.8 of Decision No. 1 of 2021 prohibits this outright for 17.1.7, and the contracts are kept for inspection on demand. Cost: activity outside the licence conditions — an AED 10,000 fine under Schedule 4 and the risk of refused renewal.

7.        Zero-rating exported services without evidence of the client’s location. Article 31(2) of the Regulation: presence of the client’s representatives in the UAE for 30 days or more, connected with the supply, defeats the zero rate. Cost: an assessment of 5 % VAT for the audited period plus penalties — on AED 10,000,000 of call-centre revenue that is AED 500,000 of tax.

8.        Late licence renewal. Schedule 4: AED 2,500 on renewal on days 31–60, AED 5,000 on days 61–90, AED 10,000 later, plus the DDA’s right to refuse government services including visa sponsorship. Cost: the fine and a freeze on visa operations in the middle of a hiring drive.

9.        Client contracts without a data-processor role. With no executive regulations to the PDPL, the processor’s duties are defined by contract; missing terms on cross-border transfers and incidents leave the BPO operator exposed under the general provisions of the law to a DIFC client or a bank supervised by the Central Bank. Cost: termination of the contract at the client regulator’s demand.

10.    Trusting the zone website’s marketing promises. A “guaranteed 50-year exemption from corporate taxes”, “7 working days”, “28,000+ students” — figures that do not match federal law, the DDA’s service pages or TECOM’s reporting. Cost: a financial model built on non-existent benefits.

Who Dubai Outsource City suits, who it does not, and when a professional review is needed

DOC suits operators for whom outsourcing to third parties is the core business, who need turnkey contact-centre and data-centre infrastructure, and who have AED 300,000 of capital or an existing legal entity for a branch; it does not suit IT companies serving their own customers, staff-provision businesses or start-ups for whom the segment 17.1 capital is an insurmountable threshold. The district’s tax neutrality relative to its sister DDA zones means the choice is driven by activity descriptions and rent, not by tax.

It suits

International BPO groups opening a regional service centre for Gulf clients: the branch form removes the capital requirement, and segment 17.1 describes a call centre, transaction processing and IT support precisely. Captive centres of corporations from aviation, banking and telecommunications — the profile TECOM calls the district’s core. Health-insurance administrators prepared to pass three tiers of approval (DDA, DHA, the Central Bank). Operators of DR sites and document storage that need premises in the zone specifically.

It does not suit

Companies whose model is providing personnel to clients (17.1.8 is unavailable to new licensees; a MOHRE licence on the mainland is needed). IT service companies supporting their own customers — DIC gives five activities for the same money without the capital uplift. Start-ups with a budget below AED 500,000 — the AED 300,000 capital plus rent and visas make DOC one of the most expensive DDA services districts to enter. Call centres focused on outbound B2C campaigns without readiness for the telemarketing regime: approval, local numbers, recording and the DNCR are mandatory costs, not options.

When a professional review is needed

A professional review is essential in four cases: when choosing between QFZP, Small Business Relief and the general regime for an operator with revenue around the AED 3,000,000 threshold or with free zone clients above half of revenue; when working at mainland clients’ sites — to choose between a branch and a temporary permit under Resolution No. 11 of 2025 and to assess the permanent-establishment effect; when serving banks and insurers — to reflect Central Bank and DHA requirements in contracts and licences; and when exporting services — to document the conditions of article 31 of the VAT Regulation. If the project starts with the choice of a jurisdiction inside the UAE, the registration procedure and the comparison of free zones and the mainland are set out on our UAE business registration page.

Frequently asked questions about Dubai Outsource City

How much does a Dubai Outsource City licence cost in 2026? The annual licence fee for segment 17.1 Outsource is AED 15,000 for one activity (article 14.1 of Decision No. 1 of 2021), FZ-LLC registration is AED 3,500 plus activity fees (Decision No. 3 of 2017), plus AED 20 Knowledge & Innovation Dirhams per service. Rent, visas and the establishment card are not in the published tariffs and are quoted individually.

What minimum capital is required for a company in Dubai Outsource City? AED 300,000 of paid-up capital for an FZ-LLC under the Outsource segment (article 15.1 of Decision No. 1 of 2021); the district’s FAQ confirms the figure. A branch of an existing foreign or UAE company needs no capital.

Which activities are permitted in Dubai Outsource City? The eight activities of segment 17.1: Customer Care, Transaction Processing, Third Party Administrator, Information Technology Management, Document Management, Disaster Recovery Centre, Operations Support and Manpower Supply; the last is issued only to organisations already holding a DED licence for that activity. The general segments — Service Provider, Consultancy, Regional Headquarters and others — are also available.

Does a company in Dubai Outsource City pay corporate tax? Yes. Outsourcing is not a Qualifying Activity, so income from mainland and foreign clients is taxed at 9 % from the first dirham for a Qualifying Free Zone Person; the zero rate survives only on income from other free zone companies and within the de minimis (5 % of revenue or AED 5,000,000). With revenue up to AED 3,000,000, Small Business Relief is available for periods ending by 31 December 2029.

Does a call centre in a free zone need telemarketing approval? Yes. Cabinet Resolution No. 56 of 2024 applies to all companies licensed in the UAE, “including those in free zones”: prior approval of the Competent Authority, local numbers registered under the company’s licence, calls between 9:00 and 18:00, recording and DNCR checks. Fines under Resolution No. 57 of 2024 run from AED 10,000 to AED 150,000.

How many employees can be sponsored in Dubai Outsource City? One employee for every 80 sq ft of leased space, per the district’s FAQ. A 100-seat call centre needs at least 8,000 sq ft.

Can a Dubai Outsource City company serve clients on the Dubai mainland? Remotely from premises in the zone — yes; the licence is valid only inside the zone, but the service is delivered where the seats are. Work at a client’s site requires a branch or a temporary permit under Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025: AED 10,000 a year for a branch operating out of the zone, or AED 5,000 for a permit of up to six months.

Can a DOC company provide staff to clients? Only under activity 17.1.8 Manpower Supply, which the DDA issues solely to organisations already licensed by a DED, and only within the zone. Supplying one’s own employees to third parties without that activity is penalised under Decision No. 3 of 2008 with AED 5,000 per worker and visa cancellation; the mainland route is a MOHRE temporary-employment and outsourcing licence (AED 50,000 issue, AED 1,000,000 guarantee).

Are call-centre services to foreign clients subject to VAT? Zero-rated as an export of services where the conditions of article 31 of the Executive Regulation are met together: the client is outside the UAE with no place of business in the country, its representatives’ presence in the UAE is shorter than 30 days and unconnected with the supply, and the services are not connected with real estate or movable assets in the UAE. Services to UAE clients — 5 %.

How long does company registration in Dubai Outsource City take? Per the district’s FAQ — 7 working days: 4 for initial approval and 3 for issue of the licence; the DDA service pages give 10 and 2 working days. A realistic plan is 12 working days plus opening the account and paying in the capital.

Does Emiratisation apply to a company in Dubai Outsource City? No. The targets are set for employers registered with MOHRE (from 50 employees, and in fourteen sectors from 20); a DOC company registers its employees through the DDA, so the quotas do not reach it.

Does a health-insurance administrator (TPA) in DOC need additional permits? Yes: a Dubai Health Authority permit under Dubai Law No. 11 of 2013 and — since 16 September 2025 — a Central Bank licence, as Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025 classes health-insurance administrators as an insurance-related profession.

Key takeaways

Dubai Outsource City is a specialised DDA district for third-party outsourcing with precise activity descriptions and the highest capital threshold of any services segment in the zone; it offers no tax advantage over other free zones, and for a call centre it adds the federal telemarketing regime.

•          DOC is a commercial district of the free zone under Dubai Law No. 15 of 2014 (article 3 as replaced by Law No. 8 of 2023), regulated by the DDA and operated by TECOM Group; launched in 2004 as Dubai Outsource Zone; no Dubai law names the district.

•          The licence is segment 17.1 Outsource, eight activities, AED 15,000 a year for one activity; registration AED 3,500 plus fees; minimum FZ-LLC capital AED 300,000, a branch needs no capital.

•          Manpower Supply (17.1.8) is available only to DED-licensed organisations and only within the zone; Operations Support (17.1.7) not through employees earning under AED 3,000; Accounting & Bookkeeping in the general segment only to those already licensed (article 7.2).

•          Outsourcing is not a Qualifying Activity: a QFZP’s income from mainland and foreign clients is taxed at 9 % from the first dirham, with the zero rate only on free zone clients and within the de minimis; Small Business Relief up to AED 3,000,000 is extended to periods ending by 31 December 2029.

•          VAT is 5 % for UAE clients; 0 % on exported services under the three conditions of article 31 of the Regulation, including the client’s representatives being present in the UAE for less than 30 days.

•          Telemarketing to natural persons is governed by Cabinet Resolutions No. 56 and 57 of 2024 since 27 August 2024: approval, local numbers, 9:00–18:00, recording, the DNCR, fines up to AED 150,000 and licence cancellation.

•          The visa quota is one employee per 80 sq ft; employment law is the federal FDL 33/2021; Emiratisation does not apply structurally; supplying staff to third parties costs AED 5,000 per person under Decision No. 3 of 2008.

•          Work at a mainland client’s site requires a branch or a temporary permit under Resolution No. 11 of 2025 (AED 10,000 a year / AED 5,000); the permit has been issued through Invest in Dubai since 8 October 2025, but the article 9 activity list under the Resolution is unpublished.

•          The PDPL operates without executive regulations; a TPA needs a DHA permit and a Central Bank licence; the zone’s website carries an outdated promise of a 50-year tax exemption.

Summary 

Dubai Outsource City (DOC) is a TECOM Group business district inside the Dubai Development Authority free zone (Dubai Law No. 15 of 2014 as amended by Laws No. 10 of 2018 and No. 8 of 2023), launched in 2004 as Dubai Outsource Zone for BPO, call centres and shared-service centres. The licence is issued under segment 17.1 Outsource of DDA Decision No. 1 of 2021 (eight activities: Customer Care, Transaction Processing, Third Party Administrator, IT Management, Document Management, Disaster Recovery Centre, Operations Support, Manpower Supply) at AED 15,000 a year with one activity; FZ-LLC registration is AED 3,500 plus fees (Decision No. 3 of 2017); the minimum paid-up capital of an FZ-LLC is AED 300,000 (article 15.1), a branch needs none; registration takes 7–12 working days; one visa per 80 sq ft; the licence runs for one year, with late-renewal penalties of AED 2,500–10,000. Corporate tax: outsourcing is not a Qualifying Activity under Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025, so a QFZP’s income from mainland and foreign clients is taxed at 9 % from the first dirham, with the zero rate on income from Free Zone Persons and within the de minimis of 5 % or AED 5,000,000; Small Business Relief up to AED 3,000,000 is extended to periods ending by 31 December 2029. VAT is 5 %, exported services 0 % under article 31 of the Executive Regulation. Telemarketing: Cabinet Resolutions No. 56 and 57 of 2024, in force since 27 August 2024, fines AED 10,000–150,000. Manpower Supply is available only to DED licensees; supplying staff to third parties costs AED 5,000 per person (Decision No. 3 of 2008). Operating outside the zone is governed by Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025. Prepared by UPPERSETUP, September 2026.

Sources

Links lead to the official texts of instruments on the Dubai Legislation Portal (dlp.dubai.gov.ae), the portal of Dubai’s Supreme Legislation Committee (slc.dubai.gov.ae), the Dubai Development Authority legal database (dda.gov.ae), the UAE federal legislation portal (uaelegislation.gov.ae) and the websites of the Ministry of Finance, the Federal Tax Authority, MOHRE, the Central Bank and the DHA (tier 1), and — for the district’s history and market data — to Gulf News, Khaleej Times, Zawya, Clyde & Co and Chambers (tier 2, marked). Texts were verified as at 1 September 2026.

Dubai legislation

1.        Dubai Law No. 15 of 2014 Concerning Creative Clusters in the Emirate of Dubai (now the Law of the Dubai Development Authority) — issued 27 October 2014; articles 3, 22(a), 31.

2.        Dubai Law No. 10 of 2018 Changing Names Related to the Dubai Creative Clusters Authority — issued 19 September 2018.

3.        Dubai Law No. 8 of 2023 Amending Law No. 15 of 2014 Concerning the Dubai Development Authority — issued 6 February 2023; legislation card on the Supreme Legislation Committee portal.

4.        Dubai Law No. 15 of 2016 Concerning the Regulatory Legislation Issued by Free Zone and Special Development Zone Authorities — issued 1 November 2016; article 5.

5.        Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025 Regulating the Conduct of Free Zone Establishments’ Activities within the Emirate of Dubai — issued 3 March 2025; text on the DDA website; Government of Dubai Media Office release of 8 October 2025 on the launch of the Free Zone Mainland Operating Permit.

6.        Dubai Law No. 11 of 2013 Concerning Health Insurance in the Emirate of Dubai — issued 24 November 2013; articles 2, 5, 6, 14.

Dubai Development Authority instruments

7.        Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Licensing Regulations 2003 — issued 25 September 2003; regulations 3.2, 8, 12.1, 31.

8.        Dubai Creative Clusters Private Companies Regulations 2016 — regulations 8, 12, 20, 25, 26, 38, 51, 74, 77, 90–98; DDA note “About the PCR 2016” — in force 1 February 2017.

9.        Decision No. 1 of 2021 — Licensing Categories (DDA licence categories) — articles 2, 3, 7, 10, 14, 15, Part Two (segment 17), Schedules 1, 3, 4.

10.    Decision No. 3 of 2017 on fees for services under the Private Companies Regulations — issued 6 August 2017.

11.    Decision No. 3 of 2008 Concerning Penalties for Breach of the Employment Regulations.

12.    Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Employment Regulations — the text refers to Federal Law No. 8 of 1980.

13.    DDA Employment General Terms & Conditions — “Labour Law” defined as Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021.

14.    DDA Circular No. 670 of 3 June 2026 on the Ultimate Beneficial Owner declaration process and Circular No. 423 of 17 November 2022 on the deadline for audited financial statements.

15.    DDA legal database — laws and regulations and DDA page on TECOM Group — statement that TECOM’s districts operate under the jurisdiction of the DDA.

16.    DDA — setting up a Free Zone Limited Liability Company — timelines and documents as stated by the authority.

Federal legislation: tax

17.    Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 on the Taxation of Corporations and Businesses — Ministry of Finance consolidated text (January 2026) — articles 3, 18, 51; legislation card on uaelegislation.gov.ae.

18.    Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2023 on Qualifying Income — articles 1, 3, 4, 5, 8.

19.    Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025 Regarding Qualifying Activities and Excluded Activities — issued 28 August 2025; articles 2, 3, 5.

20.    Ministerial Decision No. 84 of 2025 on Audited Financial Statements — issued 25 March 2025.

21.    Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023 on Small Business Relief and Ministerial Decision No. 131 of 2026 extending the relief to Tax Periods ending on or before 31 December 2029 — issued 29 July 2026.

22.    Cabinet Decision No. 116 of 2022 on the AED 375,000 threshold for the 0 % rate.

23.    Cabinet Decision No. 75 of 2023 on administrative penalties for corporate tax (as amended by Cabinet Decision No. 10 of 2024).

24.    Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on Value Added Tax (consolidated text) — articles 3, 30–31, 48; Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2017 — Executive Regulation — articles 7, 8, 31, 51.

25.    Ministry of Finance — announcement that the Federal Decree-Law No. 16 of 2025 amendments to the VAT law apply from 1 January 2026 — dated 3 December 2025.

26.    Ministerial Decision No. 66 of 2026 amending the e-invoicing implementation timelines.

27.    Federal Tax Authority — list of Designated Zones under Cabinet Decision No. 59 of 2017 as amended.

Federal legislation: telemarketing, data, consumers, employment, insurance

28.    Cabinet Resolution No. 56 of 2024 Regulating Telemarketing — issued 10 June 2024, in force 27 August 2024; articles 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11.

29.    Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2024 on violations and administrative penalties for telemarketing — articles 3, 6 and the penalty table.

30.    Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data — issued 20 September 2021; Federal Decree-Law No. 44 of 2021 Establishing the UAE Data Office.

31.    Federal Law No. 15 of 2020 on Consumer Protection — issued 10 November 2020; Cabinet Resolution No. 66 of 2023 — Executive Regulation — articles 16, 35.

32.    Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Employment Relations — articles 3, 6; Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 — Executive Regulation — article 9.

33.    MOHRE — issuance of a new licence for a temporary employment and mediation agency — fees AED 25,000 / 50,000 / 75,000, bank guarantee of at least AED 300,000 and AED 1,000,000, initial approval of the Department of Economic Development; MOHRE news of 24 February 2022 on the ministerial decision licensing employment agencies.

34.    MOHRE — Emiratisation targets and MOHRE news of 30 November 2023 on extending the targets to companies with 20–49 workers; Cabinet Decision No. 43 of 2025 Concerning Administrative Violations and Penalties Related to Emiratisation.

35.    Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025 Regarding the Central Bank, the Regulation of Financial Institutions and Insurance Business — Central Bank of the UAE Rulebook.

36.    Dubai Health Authority — list of permitted health insurance claims management companies (TPAs).

The zone, the operator and comparative data

37.    Dubai Outsource City — official website, FAQ section and about the district — AED 300,000 capital, one visa per 80 sq ft, seven working days, the “50-year exemption” wording, “8,000+ professionals from 150+ countries”, “28,000+ students”.

38.    TECOM Group — business districts — DOC description, “more than 80 customers”; TECOM Group — Investor Relations — 12,200+ customers, 147,000+ professionals.

39.    TECOM Group — press release of 15 January 2026 on the DIAC and DKP student body exceeding 38,500.

40.    DMCC — Schedule of Charges — tariffs used for comparison; DMCC — Share Capital Deposit Guideline (version of 8 January 2026) — minimum share capital AED 50,000.

Tier 2

41.    Zawya — TECOM Group reports 9 % net profit growth in H1 2026 to AED 805 mln — group press release of 30 July 2026 (tier 2).

42.    Gulf News — Dubai’s latest IPO, TECOM Group, hits DFM in full tilt on debut (5 July 2022) — first day of trading in TECOM Group shares on the Dubai Financial Market (tier 2).

43.    Gulf News — Dubai sets up region’s first outsourcing zone (2004) — announcement of Dubai Outsource Zone (tier 2).

44.    Khaleej Times — DOZ sees huge increase in outsourcing business (2004) — 250,000 sq ft and location (tier 2).

45.    Gulf News — UAE fines and bans over 2,000 for misusing personal numbers in telemarketing (3 October 2024) — TDRA figures (tier 2).

46.    Clyde & Co — UAE tightens telemarketing regulations (July 2024) — publication and entry-into-force dates of Resolutions No. 56 and 57 (tier 2).

47.    Chambers Practice Guides — Data Protection & Privacy 2026: UAE Trends and Developments — status of the executive regulations to the data protection law (tier 2).

Disclaimer

This material is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, investment or consulting advice. Before taking any decision, obtain individual professional advice that takes account of the specific situation, jurisdiction, company status and current regulatory requirements. The information is current as at September 2026.