UAE company search: licence issuer and official registers
Identify the emirate and licensing authority before checking an entity or requesting documents.
Official services open in a new tab. Guidance reviewed: 7 October 2026. Service interfaces and access may change.
Identify who issued the licence
“Dubai company” is not enough to choose a registry. Ask for the legal name, licence number, issuing authority and a copy showing the relevant dates. Establish whether the entity is on the mainland or belongs to a particular free zone. These details are more useful than a brand name or office location alone.
The UAE government portal lists official licence-checking channels, including emirate economic authorities and the National Economic Register. A free-zone entity may require a check through its own authority. The DMCC link is an example of a separate public entity search, not a database of every Dubai company.
Use the correct official channel
- Open the government's directory of licence-verification services.
- Choose the authority named on the counterparty's document.
- Enter the name or number in the format accepted by that service.
- Compare the legal name, identifier, issuer and available activity details.
- For a free-zone business, establish its authority's verification route.
If no result appears, recheck the authority and spelling before drawing a conclusion. Arabic and English names may both appear in the documents. A translated marketing name is not necessarily the entity's registered name.
Read the scope as well as the name
Consider whether the activities shown are relevant to the proposed contract. Do not assign another group company's permissions to your counterparty. A registry or licence entry does not itself verify a bank account, solvency or a particular person's authority to represent the business.
For document assistance, send the emirate, mainland/free-zone position, issuing authority, name and number. Explain who will receive the document and why. If some information is missing, describe what you have; identification should come before any promise to obtain a particular certificate.