Abu Dhabi Global Market
Al Maryah Island & Al Reem Island · Est. 2013 · ADGM Registration Authority (incorporation & licensing); Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA, financial regulation); ADGM Courts (judiciary)
Asset managers, funds, banks, fintech and digital-asset firms, family offices, professional-services firms and holding structures that value common-law certainty, institutional credibility and access to Abu Dhabi's sovereign-wealth capital pool.
Budget-conscious startups, freelancers (no freelance permit), e-commerce/general-trading SMEs, and businesses that need a Dubai presence or warehouse/industrial facilities.
01Capability profile
02Where ADGM sits
ADGM: 3th percentile (AED 36,730) · Licence + registration, AED.
ADGM: 40th percentile (10 days) · Total estimated days from application to operational.
ADGM: 62th percentile (100 visas) · Absolute maximum visa allocation. Values above 500 clipped to the right edge so the bulk of the distribution stays readable.
ADGM: Easy · Corporate bank account opening difficulty. Each cell is one zone.
03Costs
- Base licence
- AED 5,509
- Registration
- AED 0
- Renewal (year 2+)
- AED 5,509
- 3-year total
- AED 47,748
- 2-year visa cost
- AED 4,150
- Establishment card
- AED 1,127
- Visa renewal
- AED 2,310
- Visa cancellation
- AED 357
- Emirates ID (per visa)
- AED 370
- Dependent / spouse visa
- AED 2,607
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04Visas & workspace
- Maximum visas
- 100
- Flexi-desk cap
- 3
- Office cap
- 10
- Family sponsorship
- Available
- Freelancer permit
- Not available
- Golden visa
- Available
- Medical required
- Yes
- Processing time
- ~10 days
- Virtual office
- No
- Flexi-desk
- Yes
- Coworking
- Yes
- Dedicated office
- Yes
- Executive office
- Yes
- Warehouse
- No
- Industrial unit
- No
- Land plot
- No
- Ejari issued
- No
- Parking
- Yes
- Dedicated office cost
- AED 60,000/yr
05Banking & setup
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to account
- ~21 days
- Minimum deposit
- AED 100,000
- Corp tax rate
- 0%
- Audit cost (est)
- AED 8,000
- UBO filing
- Required
- AML / KYC
- enhanced
- Documents & applicationPassport, visa, business plan — ~3–5 days
- Licence issued~5 business days after submission
- Bank account activeAdditional ~21 days · Easy banking
- OperationalTypically ~10 days, up to ~90 days
06Package pricing
All figures in AED, from official fee schedules. Visa and health-insurance costs are additional.
| Package | Visas | Year 1 | Renewal |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPV / Holding CompanyBest value | 0 | AED 10,000 | AED 10,000 |
| Non-Financial Business | 2 | AED 25,000 | AED 20,000 |
| Regulated Financial Business | 3 | AED 55,000 | AED 45,000 |
| SPV / Holding Entity – Registered Agent Only | 0 | AED 22,000 | AED 18,000 |
| Operating Entity – Office – 3 Visas | 3 | AED 85,000 | AED 68,000 |
07Permitted activities
['Asset & fund management (171 managers
244 funds)'
"Digital assets / virtual-asset trading & custody (Binance's first global licence
Dec 2025)"
'SPV & holding structures
foundations incl. DLT Foundations'
'Tech start-ups (US$1
500 incentivised licence)'
'Family offices & private wealth']
08Jurisdiction & ecosystem
This zone is Tier-1 with dedicated office and warehouse options under regulator supervision — substance is straightforward to demonstrate but the bar is high (regulator-grade evidence).
Focus: Asset & Wealth Management, Fintech & Digital Assets, Professional Services, Family Offices & Private Wealth, Funds & SPVs
Binance (first global licence, Dec 2025), KKR, UBS, Julius Baer, Cantor Fitzgerald, DWS, Galaxy Digital, Circle, HarbourVest, Partners Group, DLA Piper, Skadden
QFZP, audit, mainland-permit and substance values are sourced where the zone authority or FTA publishes them, and inferred from published zone characteristics otherwise. How we determine these values.
09Strengths & limitations
- ["Region's only jurisdiction with direct application of English common law
- plus independent courts and arbitration centre"
- "MENA's largest IFC: 12
- 671 active licences
- 3
- 495 operational entities
- deep institutional ecosystem"
- 'QFZP 0% corporate tax on qualifying income; no withholding taxes'
- '2025 fee cuts: non-financial Year-1 total US$5
- 800 (was c. US$10
- 000+) and retail US$2
- 800 - materially cheaper'
- 'Dual licensing with ADDED lets ADGM entities serve onshore Abu Dhabi without a mainland office'
- 'US$1
- 500 tech start-up licence (3-year incentive) and strong digital-assets framework (Binance global licence)']
- Premium positioning: Category A Year-1 RA fees alone are US$17,000, plus FSRA application/supervision fees and mandatory FSRA capital for regulated firms
- Physical office mandatory (no virtual-office-only setups) on premium-island real estate; visa allocation tied to leased space with no published fixed quotas
- FSRA authorisation is slow (3-6+ months) and banking is the critical-path bottleneck for regulated firms
- Not suited to general trading/e-commerce SMEs despite the broader Cat B/C activity list
Not ideal for: Budget-conscious startups, freelancers (no freelance permit), e-commerce/general-trading SMEs, and businesses that need a Dubai presence or warehouse/industrial facilities.
10Recent developments
- February 2025ADGM launched the Digital Assets Framework 2.0 with updated guidance for virtual asset service providers and tokenisation projects.
- June 2024ADGM expanded its Innovation Hub to a 24,000 sq ft dedicated facility on Al Maryah Island, offering subsidised space to startups and scale-ups.
- March 2026ADGM launched a Digital Assets Framework amendment, clarifying the regulatory treatment of tokenised real-world assets under FSRA rules.
11Tax considerations
Does your planned revenue qualify under the QFZP qualifying-income rules?
QFZP 0% only applies to qualifying income. Mainland trading or revenue from non-free-zone clients is generally non-qualifying and taxed at 9%.
How much of your revenue will come from mainland UAE customers, and how does that affect QFZP and 5% VAT obligations?
Mainland revenue beyond ad-hoc levels can disqualify QFZP and triggers full 9% corporate tax plus standard VAT on supplies.
Do any of your customers, suppliers, or shareholders meet the FTA's related-party definition?
Related-party transactions need transfer-pricing documentation and may push otherwise-qualifying income into the 9% bracket.
These prompts are due-diligence questions, not tax advice. Confirm every answer with a UAE-licensed tax advisor before incorporating.
12Frequently asked
13Founder Q&A · 5 questions
14Similar zones in Abu Dhabi
15About this data
ADGM data is sourced from official zone authority publications, government fee schedules, and where available, verified against direct communications with the zone. All figures in AED.
- Location
- Al Maryah Island & Al Reem Island
- Established
- 2013
- Authority
- ADGM Registration Authority (incorporation & licensing); Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA, financial regulation); ADGM Courts (judiciary)
- Last verified
- 2026-07-18
- Confidence
- high
- Methodology
- How we score →
- QFZP eligibility (0% corporate tax)Official · 2026-07-18Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2023 on Qualifying Income ↗
- Audit requirementOfficial · 2026-07-18Primary source ↗
- Economic substanceOfficial · 2026-07-18FTA Free Zone Persons Corporate Tax Guide (CTGFZP1, May 2024) ↗
- Mainland trading permitOfficial · 2026-07-18Dubai DED — mainland trading permits for free-zone companies ↗
16Founder reviews
Founder reviews
“Abu Dhabi's hidden gem. Banking was easy — HSBC opened our account in 4 weeks. ADGM Courts are genuinely world-class for dispute resolution.”
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