Question
What is an establishment card and do I need one?
The short answer
An establishment card, also called an immigration card or immigration establishment file, registers your company with the immigration authority so that it can sponsor entry permits and residence visas. You need one if the company will sponsor anybody, including its own owner. You do not need one if nobody will be sponsored under it. ICP (the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security) issues it against a valid trade licence and lists a completion time of 2 days. On the federal channel, ICP publishes AED 100 to apply, AED 100 per year of issuance and AED 100 for smart services. Cancellation is AED 50 for the card, AED 50 to cancel the electronic-system subscription and AED 100 for smart services. A free zone company applies through its free zone authority, and free zones that run their own immigration channel publish their own charges. Dubai's GDRFA, for example, lists AED 200 to issue a private-sector or free zone card, plus 5% VAT and extra charges.
What the card lets the company do
The card is an electronic record of the trade name, licence number, partners and type of activity. With it, the company can be named as sponsor on entry permits and on residence permits, and it gets an account in ICP's electronic system for establishments, where those transactions are filed.
Without the card, a licensed company can trade but cannot sponsor a visa for an employee, a partner or the owner.
Where the card sits between licence and visa
- After the trade licence, because ICP issues the card only against a valid licence and an Emirates ID or Unified Number for one authorised signatory.
- Before any entry permit or residence visa, because the sponsor has to exist in the immigration system first.
- Alongside, not instead of, the labour registration where the activity and jurisdiction require one. Labour and immigration are different authorities and different files.
- Renewed on its own service, which needs a valid trade licence and fines paid. Amended on another when the trade name, ownership or partners change; unreported changes carry a AED 1,000 fine.
Costs beyond the AED 100 lines
The AED 100 application and yearly fees are small and exact because ICP publishes them that way. They are not the total cost of holding a card.
ICP separately lists a subscription to its electronic system for establishments at AED 2,000 on issuance and AED 1,000 on renewal. One of its fee lists also carries a AED 1,000 system subscription guarantee, and a AED 75,000 financial guarantee for tourism establishments. Amendments are priced separately: AED 100 to add a service category, AED 5,000 to add visit entry visa privilege and AED 500 to increase the number of visit entry visas. Free zones and Dubai's GDRFA bundle or price the card differently, so the figure on one zone's package says little about another's.
Fines are separate from fees. ICP's renewal service charges AED 100 for each month of delay beyond 30 days after expiry, up to AED 1,000, and AED 1,000 for changing establishment details without notifying it. Dubai's channel publishes a late fine on the establishment card of AED 100 per month. ICP also lists AED 2,000 for breaching its instructions or misusing smart services, and AED 20,000 where entry permits are issued for an establishment that is not conducting any business activity.
Where this stops
Related
Questions that come up next
Sources
Where this comes from
- ICP: Issuing an Establishment Card (service fees)
- ICP: Renewal of Establishment Card (service fees)
- ICP: Cancellation of Establishment Card (service fees)
- ICP: Amend/Add To Establishment Card (service fees)
- Velarozone cost catalogue: establishment-card lines captured per jurisdiction, including the Dubai channel's published late fine
General information drawn from the CBUAE Rulebook, including the Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes Regulation (C 15/2021), and Cabinet Resolution No. (134) of 2025 as published, not legal or tax advice. Rules and guidance change, so confirm the current text and each institution's own requirements before you submit.