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Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) has an automatic renewal service, which reminds business owners to renew their business and trade licence before it expires. Image Credit: Shutterstock

Dubai: If you are a business owner in Dubai, you can easily renew your trade licence within 10 minutes, without having to visit a service centre or file any paperwork.

You can easily complete the process online or even with an SMS.

Here is all you need to know.

How do I know if my company’s trade licence is about to expire?

Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) has an automatic renewal service, which reminds business owners, public relations officers (PROs) and business consultants to renew their business and trade licence before it expires.

Businesses have seven days to settle the renewal fees and renew the licence. If you do not renew the licence, your company will face a Dh200 fine per month.

Two ways to renew a Dubai trade licence

According to DET, you can complete the process through the following platforms:

- Online - Invest in Dubai website - invest.dubai.ae .
- SMS – Message 6969.

You can also renew your trade licence in person, through registered business service centres. Visit this link from Dubai DET to find the complete list of licensed centres in the emirate: https://ded.ae/ServiceCenters/en

How to renew trade licence online - Invest in Dubai

• Visit this link from the Invest in Dubai website - https://app.invest.dubai.ae/license/renew
• Enter your licence number or trade name.
• Enter the email address and mobile number registered with the business.
• Click ‘Submit’.
• Next, your business licence information will be retrieved and you will view the estimated fees for renewal. Click ‘Continue’.
• After that, you will be transferred to a payment channel to pay for the renewal fee with your credit or debit card.

How to renew a trade licence via SMS

When you receive the SMS from Dubai DET, the text message will state that you have one week to renew your licence, also mentioning your trade licence number.

Text your licence number to 6969. You will then be sent an SMS with a payment link.

Tap on the link and pay the renewal fees online.

After you have settled the fees online either via SMS or Invest in Dubai, you will then be notified that your licence is renewed. A digital version of the renewed licence will be sent to the email address linked with the licence number.

Validity of the trade licence

According to Dubai DET, after a licence is renewed, it will be valid for one year.

Cost

There is no fixed cost for the trade licence renewal, as according to Dubai DET it depends on the type of licence and the business activity.

The cost of the licence is for the duration of one year and you will be required to pay the same amount at the time of renewal each year.