Jafza is DP World's free zone beside Jebel Ali Port in Dubai, built around customs-bonded trade, industry and logistics. It is premises-first: a licence runs alongside a lease and is renewed only while that lease is active. Formenzo does not file in Jafza and publishes no price for it.
JAFZA (Jebel Ali Free Zone) — what it is and who it is built for
DP World's customs-bonded zone beside Jebel Ali Port, built for physical trade, industry and logistics. Facts from the authority's own pages — and no price, because Formenzo does not file here.
How Formenzo covers this zone ↓Jebel Ali Free Zone, known as Jafza, is DP World's flagship free zone in Dubai, built around Jebel Ali Port and aimed at physical trade, industry and logistics. It is a premises-first zone: a licence here runs alongside a lease, and it is renewed only while that lease is active. Everything below comes from the authority's own published information, checked on the dates shown; where Jafza publishes nothing, this page says so rather than filling the gap.
Formenzo publishes verified prices for the 9 free zones we actually file: Ajman NuVentures, Fujairah Creative City, SRTIP, SPC, RAKEZ, Masdar, Meydan, IFZA and DMCC. That is not a list of every UAE free zone. JAFZA (Jebel Ali Free Zone) is not one of the nine, so this page carries facts about the zone and no price — we only publish a price for a zone we can set up and confirm in writing before payment. Jafza publishes a starting licence figure of its own, and we have deliberately kept it off this page: it is the floor of one line item in a premises-linked structure, and repeating it would mislead more than it informs.
- What Jafza is, where it is and who it is built for
- Licence and activity types, the visa model and the facilities on offer
- Where it sits next to the nine zones we file, in plain terms
- The authority sources behind every fact, with the date we checked them
- Quote a setup price for Jafza — we have not verified one
- Estimate, infer or "start from" a figure to fill the gap
- Repeat a package price we cannot confirm in writing before payment
- Ask you for a call, a form or your documents to see a number
No sales calls, ever. If you ask about Jafza we will tell you plainly whether we can file there — and if we can't, we will say so rather than steer you.
What Jafza is
Jebel Ali Free Zone — Jafza — sits on the western edge of Dubai, wrapped around Jebel Ali Port. Its own history dates the zone to 1985: construction of the port began in 1979, it reached official operating status in 1985, and the free economic zone was created by decree of the Ruler of Dubai. Jafza grew from 19 companies in 1985 to more than 500 by 1995.
The scale it publishes today: over 11,000 businesses, including more than 100 Fortune Global 500 companies, drawn from over 150 countries, and 130,000+ jobs. Jafza states it attracts 23.9% of Dubai's foreign direct investment. In its logistics sector alone it counts 650+ companies from 60+ countries and a workforce of over 16,000.
The defining feature is customs, not address. Jafza describes itself as the largest customs-bonded zone in the Middle East, and describes Jebel Ali Free Zone as the Arab world's first and largest free zone. That bonded status is the practical reason companies choose it: goods can sit, be handled and be re-exported without clearing into the local market first.
The clusters Jafza names on its own site are all goods-linked: logistics; food and agriculture; retail and e-commerce; petrochemicals; automotive and spare parts; electronics and electrical; FMCG; healthcare distribution; manufacturing; and machinery and equipment.
Administration is centralised. Jafza operates a One-Stop Shop covering formation, licensing, visas, commercial facilities and staffing, and says customers can access over 156 administrative and commercial services through it, including visa applications and renewals and lease and licence renewals. Company formation is 100% digital, and the authority estimates 3 to 14 business days from the point all required documents are submitted, depending on formation type, licence and activity categories.
Who Jafza suits
Jafza is built for companies that move physical goods and need space to do it.
Who it is not for. A solo consultant, a freelancer or a desk-only service company. Jafza can license service activities, but the zone is organised around premises and port access, and its licence renewal depends on an active lease. If you need a licence and one or two visas and nothing more, the zones further down this page will fit the shape of your business better.
Licence and activity types at Jafza
Jafza separates two decisions: the formation type (the legal structure of the company) and the licence type (what it is permitted to do). It publishes four named licence types, and states on its own licensing page that it offers five licence types in total — counting general trading separately from the trading licence.
| Licence type | What it covers | How Jafza tiers it |
|---|---|---|
| Trading licence | Trade in physical goods — import, export, re-export, distribution and storage — and the provision of services. Jafza calls this its most common licence type. | Tiered by number of activities. Type 1: up to seven activities within one group. Type 2: up to twelve activities from two groups. Type 3: unlimited activities from three or more groups, which Jafza also classifies as a general trading licence. |
| Service licence | Services, consulting and knowledge-transfer models. The distinguishing feature is that the business does not trade in or hold stock of physical products. | Type 1: up to seven activities per group. Type 2: up to twelve activities from two groups. |
| Industrial licence | Manufacturing and production — from assembling components to chemical or biological processing, including collection, segregation and packaging. | Not activity-tiered. The production facility and warehouse must be inside the free zone, and licensees are audited regularly by the HSE authority. |
| Logistics licence | Storage, transportation, distribution, sorting, forwarding and clearing, and order and inventory management. | A distinct licence created for the logistics services category. |
Formation types
- › Free Zone Establishment (FZE) — a single shareholder, who may be an individual or a company. Structured as a limited liability company within the free zone.
- › Free Zone Company (FZCo) — from two to fifty shareholders, individuals, non-individuals or a combination.
- › Public Listed Company (PLC) — a public offering company.
- › Branch of a company — any company established outside Jafza may open one. The branch must be 100% owned by the parent, operate under the same name and conduct the same business activities.
- › Offshore company — permitted to conduct lawful business activities as allowed by the Registrar.
Share capital, validity and reporting
Jafza no longer prescribes a minimum share capital for an FZE or an FZCo. It removed the requirement in 2017; the company must instead hold share capital sufficient for the activities it is licensed for, in line with the UAE Commercial Companies Law.
Every licence issued at Jafza is valid for one year from the date of issue and must be renewed each year. The first requirement for renewal is an active lease contract — with that in place, renewal is a payment through the Jafza portal.
Jafza states that, under Ministerial Decision No. 100 of 2020, all companies must submit an Economic Substance Report, and that this applies to companies set up in the free zone from that date onward.
A Dubai mainland company cannot be transferred into Jafza. Jafza's own guidance is to dissolve the mainland company and apply for a new formation and licence, or to keep the mainland company as a parent and open a branch in Jafza instead.
Activities
Jafza does not publish its own activity catalogue on the licensing page. It directs applicants to the UAE government business activity list and asks them to confirm which activities apply before choosing a licence type. Because trading and service licences are priced and structured by activity group, the activity list you choose is what determines your licence tier — confirm the exact activity with the authority before committing.
How the visa quota works at Jafza
Jafza does not publish a visa quota formula. We checked its business setup, business licence, company formation, office space and offerings pages and found no ratio, no per-package allocation and no square-metre rule. This page therefore states no number, because there is no authority figure to state.
What the authority does say:
- › Visas are handled through the Jafza One-Stop Shop, which covers visa applications and renewals alongside lease and licence renewals.
- › After forming a company at Jafza you may issue the necessary visas for shareholders, directors and employees — the entitlement follows the company, not a published package tier.
- › Licence renewal requires an active lease contract, so residence sponsorship is in practice tied to holding premises in the zone.
The honest reading: entitlement at Jafza is facility-linked and confirmed by the authority at application. Anyone quoting you a fixed Jafza visa allowance before you have chosen premises is not reading it off Jafza's own site. Ask the authority, or your agent, to confirm the allocation in writing against the specific unit you are leasing.
Facilities and premises at Jafza
Jafza leases space rather than selling desk-only packages, and the range runs from a workstation to a plot of land.
Two things follow from this. First, your premises choice is not separable from your licence: setup runs formation, then lease, then payment, then keys. Second, because renewal depends on an active lease, the premises decision is an annual commitment rather than a one-off setup line.
How Jafza compares to the nine zones we file
Formenzo files nine free zones and publishes a verified licence-only price for each of them. Jafza is not one of the nine, so what follows is a comparison of what each zone is built to do — never a cost comparison. Prices for the nine are published on their own pages — we keep every figure in one place so it can only ever say one thing.
| Free zone | Emirate | Best known for | Formenzo files here |
|---|---|---|---|
| JAFZA (Jebel Ali Free Zone) (this page) | Dubai | Customs-bonded trade, industry and logistics beside Jebel Ali Port | No — information only, no price |
| Ajman NuVentures Centre | Ajman | Lowest-cost lean licence | Yes — price published |
| Fujairah Creative City | Fujairah | Media and creative permits | Yes — price published |
| SRTIP | Sharjah | Research, tech and industry | Yes — price published |
| SPC Free Zone | Sharjah | Wide activity lists | Yes — price published |
| RAKEZ | Ras Al Khaimah | Warehousing and industrial space | Yes — price published |
| Masdar City | Abu Dhabi | Abu Dhabi address, sustainability cluster | Yes — price published |
| Meydan | Dubai | Dubai address for service companies | Yes — price published |
| IFZA | Dubai | Dubai licence with broad activities | Yes — price published |
| DMCC | Dubai | Commodities and flagship Dubai presence | Yes — price published |
Formenzo publishes verified prices for nine free zones — Ajman NuVentures, Fujairah Creative City, SRTIP, SPC, RAKEZ, Masdar City, Meydan, IFZA and DMCC. Jafza is not one of them, and the difference is not a small one.
Jafza is a goods-and-warehouse zone. Most of the nine are licence-and-visa zones. At Jafza the premises come first: the licence is tiered by activity groups, it is valid for a year, and it is only renewable while a lease is active. Several of the nine will issue a licence against a flexi-desk or a shared-desk arrangement, which is a different kind of commitment and a different kind of business.
Customs-bonded status beside Jebel Ali Port has no substitute among the nine. If your business depends on holding stock in bond next to a deep-water container port, on Dubai-side re-export flows, or on a production facility that has to sit inside the same zone as its warehouse, then Jafza is doing something none of the nine does in the same way. We would rather say that than pretend otherwise.
Who should look at the nine instead:
- › Consultants, agencies and other desk-based service companies. Meydan and IFZA give a Dubai address without a warehouse lease; Ajman NuVentures and Fujairah Creative City are the leaner end of the same idea. A service business does not need bonded space and should not pay for the infrastructure that supports it.
- › Founders who need warehousing or light industry but not a Dubai port address. RAKEZ is the closest analogue among the nine for warehousing and industrial space; SRTIP covers research, technology and industry in Sharjah. Both are zones we file and price.
- › Anyone who wants an Abu Dhabi presence. Masdar City is the Abu Dhabi zone on our list.
- › Companies wanting a flagship Dubai commodities or trading presence without port-side premises. DMCC is the comparison to make.
- › Founders with a long or mixed activity list. SPC publishes wide activity lists; Jafza's tiering by activity group means a broad list changes your licence tier.
One structural point in Jafza's favour. It is the only zone on this page that offers an offshore company alongside free zone entities, and it takes branches of existing companies. If you are placing a holding vehicle or a branch of a foreign parent rather than starting a trading company, that is a genuine reason to look at Jafza that has nothing to do with warehouses.
We publish a price only for a zone we file and can confirm in writing before payment. For Jafza we cannot, so there is no figure on this page — not ours and not a repeated one. If you tell us what you are setting up, we will say plainly whether one of the nine fits, and if none of them does, we will say that too.
- Jafza — home — jafza.ae checked 4 Sep 2026
- Jafza — about the zone — jafza.ae/about checked 4 Sep 2026
- Jafza — business setup and One-Stop Shop — jafza.ae/business-setup checked 4 Sep 2026
- Jafza — business licence types — jafza.ae/business-setup/business-license checked 4 Sep 2026
- Jafza — company formation types — jafza.ae/business-setup/company-formation checked 4 Sep 2026
- Jafza — office space and facility solutions — jafza.ae/offerings/solutions/office-space checked 3 and 4 Sep 2026
Two items from an earlier research pass — named estates within the zone and a warehouse leasing rate — could not be re-confirmed in Jafza's visible page text, so they were dropped rather than carried forward. Nothing on this page rests on them. Free-zone rules change. If anything here has moved on, tell us and we will correct the page.
Jafza — frequently asked questions
Does Formenzo set up companies in Jafza?
No. Formenzo publishes verified prices for nine free zones it files — Ajman NuVentures, Fujairah Creative City, SRTIP, SPC, RAKEZ, Masdar City, Meydan, IFZA and DMCC. Jafza is not one of them, so this page carries facts about the zone and no price. If you ask us about Jafza we will tell you plainly that we do not file there rather than steer you into a zone that suits us.
What licence types does Jafza issue?
Four named types: trading, service, industrial and logistics. Jafza states on its own licensing page that it offers five licence types, counting general trading separately — a general trading licence is a trading licence with unlimited activities from three or more activity groups. Trading and service licences are tiered by how many activities you add and how many groups they span.
How many residence visas can a Jafza company sponsor?
Jafza does not publish a visa quota formula, a ratio or a per-package allocation anywhere on its site, so this page states no number. What the authority does say is that after formation you may issue the necessary visas for shareholders, directors and employees, and that licence renewal requires an active lease. The entitlement is therefore tied to your premises and confirmed by the authority at application. Ask for it in writing against the specific unit you are leasing.
Is there a minimum share capital for a Jafza company?
Not since 2017. Jafza no longer prescribes a minimum share capital for an FZE or an FZCo. It requires instead that the company holds share capital sufficient for the activities it is licensed for, in line with the UAE Commercial Companies Law.
Can I move my Dubai mainland company into Jafza?
No, there is no transfer route. Jafza's own guidance gives two options: dissolve the mainland company and apply for a new company formation and licence at Jafza, or keep the mainland company as the parent and set up a branch of it inside Jafza instead. A branch must be wholly owned by the parent, use the same name and carry out the same activities.
Related
Want a price you can actually hold us to?
We publish verified prices for the nine free zones we file, itemised in writing before payment. Compare them in the open — no form, no call, no follow-up.