In a UAE free zone your workspace can cap how many residence visas your company may hold. Here is how one major zone ties quota to desk, serviced office and floor area.
Before you choose between a flexi desk and an office lease, decide how many people you will need to sponsor. In many free zones the workspace you take sets the number of residence visas the company can hold. This article uses DMCC's published limits as the worked example and tells you what to check with any other zone.
DMCC states its visa quota by workspace type:
These are DMCC's figures. IFZA makes the general point that free zones "may still tie visa quotas to office size", which is why you must ask your own zone for its number rather than assume DMCC's.
At 1 visa for every 9 square metres, a 27 square metre office supports 3 visas, a 45 square metre office supports 5 and a 90 square metre office supports 10. That is simple division on DMCC's published ratio. Whether a zone rounds up or down, and whether it counts only the leased area, we have not verified, so confirm with the authority before you sign a lease.
A flexi desk works if the company will hold one to three residence visas, the founders work remotely or on client sites, and you do not need a private room. Meydan's flexi desk package lists "The flexi desk, a shared workspace you can use when you need it" alongside the licence and a registered address, so the desk is a licence requirement and a shared place to work, not a private office.
DMCC says "a company's visa quota may be eligible for an increase in some instances". It does not set out the steps in the section we read, so treat an increase as something to request and get approved, not as a right. Moving to a larger space is the clearer path, and it is better to plan for it before you hire.
DBC packages start from the following figures with no visa, and the workspace type is part of what you are choosing:
Adding three visas at Ajman Free Zone brings the package to USD 7,049 (AED 25,870). Adding three at Meydan brings it to USD 8,324 (AED 30,550). The full ladder is at /pricing and the calculator at /pricing/calculator.
Start from headcount, not from the desk. If the plan is you plus one employee in year one, a flexi desk with a cap of 3 covers it with room to spare. If the plan is you plus five, the same desk fails the test on the first hire, and you would have to move space mid year. Ask your zone what a move involves and what it costs, because the cheaper desk may cost more over two years than a larger space chosen at the start.
Also count visas, not people. Ask the zone exactly what its quota counts, for example whether your own visa uses a slot, so that your headcount maths matches theirs.
We have verified DMCC's published quota and the general principle from IFZA. We have not verified the quota rules of other zones, so we do not state them. Ask the zone directly.
Tell us how many people you plan to sponsor, and we will show you which zone and workspace fit. Book a Free Discovery Call
More published insights from the same category.
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Dubai now lets free zone companies work on the mainland through a branch licence, a dual licence or a temporary permit. Here is how each option works, what it costs and how tax changes.
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