RAKEZ activity register
Individual / Professional licence activities in RAKEZ
Get my UAE setup planThe short answer
RAKEZ issues the Individual/Professional licence to one owner against a single named activity, drawn from a defined list of design, data and similar single-practitioner work such as user interface design, statistical analysis or web-hosting. It is built for one person working under one activity, not a company adding staff or several lines of work. The deciding fact is usually whether the work is genuinely one of these activities rather than two described as one, since a second activity or any staff points to a different RAKEZ licence.
Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone ([RAKEZ](https://rakez.com/)) licenses the Individual/Professional category to one owner against one activity, drawn from a short, specialist list rather than the zone's general commercial register. RAKEZ's own licence-types page states the category plainly: one owner, one activity, in a specific specialty or expertise. That is narrower than a Professional licence, which can cover firms offering expertise such as consulting or engineering, and different again from the [Freelancer Permit](/zones/rakez/freelance-permit), drawn from its own media, education, IT and analyst professions list rather than from this register.
The activities filed here are concrete and mostly design- or data-led: user interface design, logo design, visual design, fashion design, and manufacturing design; data entry, data preparation, and statistical analysis; and others, including web-hosting, business coaching and translation. A holder takes one as the licensed activity, not a bundle of several, so the licence carries that one activity rather than a portfolio of unrelated work. For content, creative and media work, [the RAKEZ Media licence register](/zones/rakez/media-licence) lists its named activities.
Take someone licensed under User Interface Design: the licence covers UI design work and the invoices that go with it, not a general design-agency offering that happens to include UI work. If that same practitioner later wanted to add logo design as a separate paid line, or to employ a second designer, RAKEZ's own classification points toward a [Professional licence](/zones/rakez/professional-licence) or a [Services licence](/zones/rakez/services-licence) rather than stretching this one-owner, one-activity structure.
Velarozone is an advisory and company-formation firm that works alongside RAKEZ and other UAE authorities, as set out in [how Velarozone works](/why-velarozone). We are not RAKEZ, and which activity its register files under this classification is RAKEZ's decision, not ours.
What the Individual / Professional classification covers
This is a compact family of activities the authority files for individual and professional packages: design, data work, digital marketing, analysis, coaching, and similar single-practitioner services.
Each entry names a concrete service that one person sells, such as translation or statistical analysis. The Freelancer Permit draws on a separate professions list, and a Services licence is the route when the work outgrows one activity.
What a individual / Professional licence here is structured for
It suits one owner who sells one defined service in their own name, such as a UI designer invoicing for interface work or a translator. A services licence with wider activity wording is more than this work needs.
Because the list is short, the fit question is binary: either your service is genuinely one of these entries or it is not, in which case the zone's larger service families are where to look next.
From the register
Named Professions on RAKEZ's Freelance List
All 24 activities RAKEZ files under Individual / Professional, exactly as the register names them. Activity names are the authority's own wording and are shown in English in every language; register codes are not published.
- Business Analysis
- Business Coaching
- Business Plans
- Creative Design
- Data Collection from One or More Sources
- Data Entry
- Data Preparation
- Data Storing and Recovering
- Databases Designing
- Digital Designing
- Fashion and Clothes Designing
- Internet Marketing
- Jewellery design
- Landscape Design
- Light Archiving
- Logo Design
- Manufacturing Design
- Photoshop Design
- Social Media Marketing
- Statistical Analysis
- Translation & Languages
- User Interface Design
- Visual Designing
- Web-hosting
What this page does not decide
Decision factors
How the Permit Differs from a Company Licence
Five checks decide whether this licence fits: the number of activities, any outside approval, the workspace package, future hiring, and how clients and banks will read a single-activity licence.
- Whether the work is genuinely one activity from RAKEZ's individual/professional list, or really two lines of work described as one for convenience.
- Whether that specific activity carries an approval from another UAE authority before RAKEZ will licence it: the activity name alone does not say so.
- Which workspace package the application takes, since RAKEZ sets office and visa allocation by the facility chosen rather than by the activity named on the licence.
- Whether the practitioner will ever need to employ someone else or add a second activity, since this category is sized for one owner against one activity.
- Whether the clients and banks you invoice will accept a single-owner, single-activity licence over a company licence with broader wording.
Where the Permit Is a Good Fit
- A solo graphic, UI or logo designer whose invoices are for design work under one named activity.
- A data specialist working alone (data entry, data preparation or statistical analysis) with no plan to hire support staff.
- A translator, business coach or small-scale web-hosting provider who sells one defined service in their own name.
- A practitioner whose one activity matches a register entry word for word, and who expects no second activity and no employees.
When to Choose a Company Licence Instead
- A design studio or agency that will employ a second designer or take on a partner: this category is sized for one owner.
- A business that genuinely sells two or more of these activities as separate paid lines, such as logo design and web-hosting together.
- Work that is really a regulated profession (engineering, legal, financial advisory) where a Professional licence or an external regulator's approval is the relevant route.
- An occupation that actually sits on RAKEZ's Freelancer Permit professions list instead, such as media, education, IT or analyst work outside this specific activity list.
About this listing
Questions
Frequently asked
- Can a RAKEZ Individual/Professional licence cover more than one activity?
- No. RAKEZ licenses this category to one owner against one named activity. A business needing a second activity is usually better served by a Professional or Services licence, which RAKEZ structures to carry more than one.
- What is the difference between this licence and the RAKEZ Freelancer Permit?
- The Freelancer Permit is drawn from a separate RAKEZ professions list covering media, education, IT and analyst occupations, and it is a personal permit rather than an activity-register licence. This licence is drawn from this activity list instead: design, data and similar single-practitioner work.
- Can I employ staff under an Individual/Professional licence?
- RAKEZ sizes this category for one owner and one activity, so staff are not what it is built for. If you plan to hire, ask RAKEZ about a Professional or Services licence before you apply.
- Does my activity need another authority's approval before RAKEZ will licence it?
- Some activities in this family can carry an external approval alongside the RAKEZ licence. Whether yours does is checked against RAKEZ's current rules, not assumed from the activity name.
- What visa allocation comes with this licence?
- RAKEZ sets visa allocation by the workspace package taken, not by the activity named on the licence, and that allocation is confirmed with RAKEZ at application rather than fixed by the licence category.
Check your job title against RAKEZ's freelancer list
Velarozone can check whether your work matches a single RAKEZ individual/professional activity or needs a broader licence instead.
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.