Visa Renewal in UAE Free Zones (2026): Itemized Government Fees and Zone Charges

UAE residence visas issued through free zones run on a standard two-year validity, and at renewal five different things can come due — the visa itself, the medical screening, the Emirates ID, and — on their own separate clocks — the establishment card and e-channel registration (see our establishment card guide). Two authorities process all of it: Dubai's GDRFA handles Dubai mainland and Dubai free zones such as Meydan and IFZA, while the federal ICP handles every other emirate and free zones such as SPC, SRTIP, RAKEZ and ANCFZ. Which authority you sit under determines the government line items on your invoice — and because we itemise every government fee in our pricing engine rather than averaging them into one number, the figures below are the actual lines, not estimates.

What the zone itself charges per visa, new and renewal, from our verified partner documents: IFZA — AED 3,750 for both new and 2-year renewal (investor, employment, partner and dependent alike), per its partner agreement dated 5 June 2026. Meydan Free Zone — employment visa AED 3,500, investor/partner visa AED 4,000, dependent visa AED 6,000 (the dependent figure includes entry, change of status, stamping, medical and Emirates ID), identical at renewal. SPC Free Zone — investor/partner AED 2,530 and employment AED 3,700, both including Emirates ID processing and both the same at renewal. SHAMS — AED 4,200 investor and employment, AED 3,500 dependent, renewal-priced the same. Masdar City — visa AED 3,050, with medical and Emirates ID at AED 750 specifically for renewals (AED 800 new), per its channel-partner price list of July 2026. SRTIP — visa renewal AED 5,560 including Emirates ID (new visas are bundled inside the Innovators packages). At RAKEZ, ANCFZ and UAQFTZ, visa costs are bundled inside the package price with no standalone renewal charge published — the renewal you feel is the package renewal, covered in our license renewal guide.

Underneath the zone's charge sit the government's own fees, itemised per line in our visa fee engine. Medical screening for adults: AED 322.50 — payable again at every renewal, for every visa holder aged 18 and over. Emirates ID (2-year): AED 372.50, renewed with the visa. For dependents, the immigration sponsor file opening fee of AED 268.90 applies once on the first dependent transaction, and parent sponsorships carry refundable security deposits of AED 2,500 under Dubai GDRFA and AED 5,000 under ICP — Meydan additionally holds AED 3,000 per dependent under an investor/partner visa and RAKEZ holds AED 3,000 per dependent, both refundable. Zone-level medical and typing charges differ where zones process them in-house: SPC charges AED 365 for the medical test, SRTIP AED 480, with Emirates ID typing at AED 330 and AED 390 respectively. None of these are optional; all of them are budgetable — the failure mode is simply not knowing they exist until the invoice arrives.

Beyond the two-year visa cycle, several immigration items renew annually and are easy to mistake for licence costs. Visa quota allocation: SPC charges AED 1,600 per visa per year for allocations of 1–50 (discounted at scale), and Masdar City charges AED 2,000 per visa per year. E-channel registration, the mandatory processing channel: AED 1,840 per year at SPC and SHAMS, AED 1,200 renewal at Ajman Free Zone (initial registration there is AED 2,300 plus a refundable AED 1,025 guarantee). Meydan's visa allocation renews at AED 1,850. These annual charges exist whether or not you process a visa that year — they price the quota and the channel, not the transaction. When you compare zones on "visa cost," compare the full annual stack (allocation + e-channel + card amortised) alongside the per-visa fee, or the comparison flatters the zones that hide the money in the annual items.

Start renewals 30–60 days before expiry: medical screening appointments, Emirates ID biometrics and stamping queue behind the renewal application, and a visa that expires mid-process puts the holder out of status — with the sponsor company exposed. When someone leaves, cancellation is a paid, mandatory step, and the verified figures are knowable in advance: Meydan charges AED 800 to cancel an employment or investor visa and AED 1,000 for a dependent; its entry-visa cancellation is AED 1,000. Cancelling the sponsorship of the last remaining shareholder at SHAMS requires a refundable AED 2,100 deposit. And when the company itself winds down, visa cancellations must complete before licence cancellation — Meydan's licence-and-formation cancellation is AED 2,000, and SPC's establishment-card cancellation AED 620. Skipping cancellation is not free: an uncancelled visa keeps the sponsor liable for the holder's status, and banks freeze accounts whose signatories fall out of status.

Companies do not renew "a visa" — they renew the investor's, three employees', a spouse's and a parent's, each with its own expiry. Sijil's client portal tracks every stakeholder visa as its own dated obligation: due-soon flags 30 days out, overdue status the day after, and a health score that reflects the whole company, alongside licence, card, e-channel, VAT and tax dates. Renewal season becomes a queue you work down, not a fire you discover. If a visa is already expired or you want this cycle handled for you, the registrations team runs renewal filings end-to-end, including the medical and ID appointments: start on WhatsApp with your zone and visa count.