RAKEZ activity register
Professional licence activities in RAKEZ
Get my UAE setup planThe short answer
RAKEZ, the Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone, issues its Professional licence to a company built around one named individual who provides professional services. RAKEZ files 459 activities under Professional, including financial advisory, project management, engineering and company formation services. Commercial covers trading, and Services covers consultancy delivered by a company rather than a named practitioner. Fit often turns on the practitioner's qualifications: for legal consultancy, RAKEZ's own checklist applies before the licence is issued, on top of any sector regulator's requirements.
RAKEZ is the licensing authority for Ras Al Khaimah, running [its own multi-purpose free zone](/setup/free-zones/rakez) across commercial, industrial, educational and professional activity. Its Professional licence is issued for individuals who provide professional services. It is built around one named practitioner, not a service organisation. The company it creates still sits in RAKEZ's company-licence structure, not under its freelance permit.
RAKEZ files 459 named activities under Professional, against 447 under Services. The authority's own examples for Professional include financial advisory, project management, engineering and company formation services. Commercial covers trading in goods and services, Services covers consultancy delivered by a company rather than a named individual, and Industrial covers manufacturing and processing. Professional is for the practitioner whose name and qualifications sit behind the licensed activity. The Professional and Services lists are close in size, so the count alone does not tell them apart.
Some Professional entries carry RAKEZ's own vetting on top of that. Legal consultancy is the clearest published example. RAKEZ's checklist requires the appointed manager to hold an attested law degree and a stated minimum of attested professional experience. The applicant must also sign a Designated Non-Financial Business and Profession declaration before the licence is issued. RAKEZ asks for the same declaration from accounting and investment-consultancy applicants. Other regulated professions carry their own external sign-off, decided activity by activity rather than for Professional as a whole.
RAKEZ also runs a dual licence with Ras Al Khaimah's Department of Economic Development. It can combine Professional with Commercial activity on a single licence and extend trading onto the UAE mainland without a second legal entity. Not every activity combination qualifies, and RAKEZ decides case by case. Velarozone advises on which Professional entry describes the practitioner's work and prepares the application. RAKEZ reviews it, issues it and renews it every year. The split of work between the two is set out in [How Velarozone works](/why-velarozone). Where [office or flexi-desk space](/solutions/office-space-and-flexi-desk) has to be arranged alongside the licence, that sits inside the same engagement.
What the Professional classification covers
RAKEZ's own examples for this family are financial advisory, project management, engineering and company formation services. The register also files accounting, audit, management consultancy and agency or administrative work here.
For legal consultancy, RAKEZ's checklist asks for an attested law degree and attested professional experience. Other entries are assessed for whichever external approval applies. The register entry, the practitioner's qualification and what the business will sign its name to all need to match.
What a professional licence here is structured for
It suits a qualified practitioner whose name sits behind the work, such as a financial adviser, project manager or engineer. The client is buying that person's competence and accountability.
Where the profession is itself regulated, such as audit, engineering, health or legal work, the professional body's or regulator's requirements apply alongside the licence. RAKEZ's legal consultancy checklist adds its own Designated Non-Financial Business and Profession declaration. Plan for both before applying.
From the register
Named Professions on RAKEZ's Freelance List
A sample of the 459 activities RAKEZ files under 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.
- Accounting Records and Books Keeping Organization
- Accounts Auditing
- Administrative Consultancy and Studies
- Administrative Services - Businessmen Services
- Advertisement Agency
- Advertisements Designing and Production
- Agent Services ships and tankers
- Agents titling
- Agricultural Projects Management
- Agricultural Secondary Education
- Agriculture and Agricultural Mechanization Engineering Consultancy
- Agriculture and Animal and Fisheries Wealth Engineering Consultancy
- Air Aviation and Communication Services of Civil Aviation Consultancy
- Air Cargo Agent
- Air-Condition, Ventilations, Air Filtration Systems Installation & Maintenance
- Air-conditioning, Cooling, Heating and Ventilation Engineering Consultancy
- Airplanes Management and Operation
- Airports and Air Transportation Engineering Consultancy
- Alarm Systems Installation, Fitting and Repair
- All Types of Motor Vehicles Outfitting
- Alternative Power and Researches Consultancy
- Aluminium Installation Works
- Analyzing of Accountancy & Auditing System
- Anesthesia & Pain Therapy
- Animal Wealth Engineering Consultancy
- Animals Meats Preparation
- Art Gallery
- Articles Made of Wire Manufacturing
- Auditing, Reviewing &Testing Cyber Risks
- Auto-control and Power Engineering Consultancy
What this page does not decide
Decision factors
How the Permit Differs from a Company Licence
What moves the answer for a RAKEZ Professional licence is less the activity's wording and more who stands behind it: the named practitioner's qualifications, whether RAKEZ's own vetting applies to that entry, and whether the business plans to trade beyond the free zone.
- A number of Professional entries (legal consultancy, accounting and investment consultancy among them) require the appointed manager to meet RAKEZ's own qualification checklist and sign a Designated Non-Financial Business and Profession declaration before the licence is issued; which entries carry this depends on the specific activity.
- RAKEZ licenses a Professional company in its free zone and, separately, as a non-free zone entity able to trade on the UAE mainland; amending the licensed activities on a non-free zone entity needs RAK Immigration's prior approval, under RAKEZ's own amendment checklist.
- RAKEZ's dual licence, run with Ras Al Khaimah's Department of Economic Development, can combine Professional with Commercial activity on one licence and extend it onto the mainland; eligibility is decided by sector and activity, not offered to every Professional applicant.
- A flexi-desk is limited to one visa. A company that downgrades from a physical office to a shared workstation must cancel any extra visas, so settle the workspace and the visa count together.
- Licence renewal with RAKEZ, the immigration file and corporate tax registration with the Federal Tax Authority are three separate obligations on three separate schedules. None is bundled into the original licence fee.
Where the Permit Is a Good Fit
- Independent financial or management advisers registering under their own name rather than as a service company.
- Project management or engineering consultants who want a company-licence structure with themselves as the named professional.
- Company-formation and corporate-services consultants operating as a named practitioner.
- A practitioner prepared to meet RAKEZ's qualification checklist and any external regulator's requirement before applying. Legal consultancy is the clearest published example.
- Someone who wants more than a single personal permit: a Professional licence sits in RAKEZ's company-licence structure, with scope for staff and visas that RAKEZ's freelance permit does not carry.
When to Choose a Company Licence Instead
- Businesses trading, importing or reselling goods. RAKEZ licenses that under Commercial, not Professional.
- A company delivering consultancy or service work as an organisation rather than through one named practitioner. RAKEZ's Services licence is built for that instead.
- Businesses that manufacture, process or package goods. RAKEZ licenses that under Industrial.
- A sole practitioner whose occupation sits on RAKEZ's freelance professions list and who wants a personal permit rather than a company licence. RAKEZ's Freelancer Permit fits that more directly.
About this listing
Questions
Frequently asked
- What is the difference between RAKEZ's Professional licence and its Services licence?
- RAKEZ describes Professional as being for individuals who provide professional services, in a licence built around one named practitioner. Services is for a company conducting services or consultancies across any industry, with no individual practitioner named behind the activity. The lists are separate: 459 entries under Professional and 447 under Services, as recorded on RAKEZ's register.
- Does a RAKEZ Professional licence let me employ staff and sponsor visas?
- A Professional licence sits in RAKEZ's company-licence structure rather than its freelance permit, so it carries the capacity for staff and visa sponsorship that the freelance permit does not. The number of visas available follows the office or flexi-desk package taken alongside the licence, not the licence type on its own.
- Do all Professional activities need RAKEZ's own vetting before the licence is issued?
- No, only some do. Legal consultancy is the published example: RAKEZ's own checklist requires the appointed manager to hold an attested law degree and a stated minimum of attested professional experience, plus a signed Designated Non-Financial Business and Profession declaration. Other Professional activities are assessed individually for whichever external approval, if any, applies.
- Can a RAKEZ Professional licence trade on the UAE mainland?
- Not on its own. RAKEZ licenses Professional companies inside its free zone and, separately, as non-free zone entities able to trade on the mainland, and it also runs a dual licence with Ras Al Khaimah's Department of Economic Development that can combine Professional with Commercial activity and extend onto the mainland. Eligibility for either route is decided by sector and activity, not offered automatically.
- What happens if the licensed activities on a Professional licence need to change later?
- Amending the activities on a non-free zone Professional entity needs RAK Immigration's prior approval, under RAKEZ's own amendment checklist, before RAKEZ will process the change.
- What ongoing obligations come with a RAKEZ Professional licence?
- Licence renewal, the company's immigration file and its corporate tax registration each run on their own annual schedule. Corporate tax sits with the Federal Tax Authority rather than with RAKEZ.
Check your job title against RAKEZ's freelancer list
Tell us what the practitioner actually does and an adviser checks it against RAKEZ's live Professional list, flags any qualification or external-approval requirement, and confirms whether Professional, Services or the freelance permit fits.
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.