Aesthetic clinic license in Dubai: Requirements, costs, and steps

Key takeaways

An aesthetic practice in mainland Dubai needs two licenses. DET issues the trade license and DHA issues the health facility license.

DHA covers mainland Dubai. DHCR covers Dubai Healthcare City. MOHAP covers four northern emirates. DoH covers Abu Dhabi.

DHA initial approval costs AED 500, AED 1,000 or AED 2,000. The band depends on your facility category.

No license crosses emirate lines. A second site in another emirate means a fresh application to that regulator.

Renew within 90 days of expiry. Late renewal costs AED 500 to AED 8,000 per month, scaling with tier.

An aesthetic practice in mainland Dubai needs two licenses, not one. The Department of Economy and Tourism issues the trade license. The Dubai Health Authority issues the health facility license. Search for aesthetic clinic license Dubai and most results describe a single permit.

A third layer decides what you may perform. Facility category, device registrations and practitioner specialties set the scope. Injectables, lasers and liposuction are not covered by one blanket permission.

This guide follows both tracks in order, using only fees published by DHA, DHCR and MOHAP. Where a regulator publishes no figure, it says so instead of guessing.

Which authority issues an aesthetic clinic license in Dubai?

The Dubai Health Authority, known as DHA, licenses every aesthetic clinic on the Dubai mainland. Applications run through Sheryan, the DHA online licensing system. DHA states that manual applications, or applications received by email, are not acceptable.

DHA does not sit under the Ministry of Health and Prevention. MOHAP is the federal regulator for four northern emirates. DHA is an emirate-level authority with its own manual, portal and fee schedule.

Dubai Healthcare City is separate again. The free zone answers to DHCR, and Dubai Law 16 of 2024 reaffirmed that independence. DHA does not license facilities inside the cluster.

Pick the regulator before you sign a lease. The premises rules differ, and a unit inside Dubai Healthcare City cannot be licensed by DHA.

How to open a private clinic in Dubai: The two-track roadmap

How to open a private clinic in Dubai has two answers running at once. One track forms the company, the other licenses the health facility. Neither waits for the other.

At the New Facility License stage, DHA lists the trade license as optional. An expected trade name is enough to file. That is why the tracks overlap, and why running them in sequence wastes months.

Track one, the business. This track ends with a document that lets you trade.

1. Choose a legal form. An LLC or a sole proprietorship both work.
2. Reserve the trade name with DET, the Department of Economy and Tourism, formerly the DED.
3. Apply for initial approval on the activity codes you need.
4. Notarize the memorandum of association, then sign a lease and register it with Ejari.
5. Collect the trade license, open a corporate bank account and start visas.

Track two, the health facility. This track ends with a license that lets you treat patients.

1. File a facility proposal on Sheryan and pay the New Facility License fee.
2. Receive an inactive license, valid one year, permitting no clinical activity.
3. Fit out the premises against the layout DHA approved.
4. Pay the license and inspection fees, then book the site visit.
5. Pass inspection. DHA activates the license and treatment may begin.

A third strand runs underneath. Every physician, nurse and technician needs an individual professional license before treating anyone. Free zones often market the bundle as a healthcare operator license. In Dubai the permissions stay separate.

Mainland or a DHCC free zone license: Which route fits

Both routes allow full foreign ownership. The mainland route means a DET trade license plus a DHA facility license. A DHCC free zone license means a Commercial License plus a Clinical Operating Permit, both issued by DHCR under Rule No. 1 of 2025.

Older guides claim a mainland practice needs a UAE national service agent. That requirement no longer applies to healthcare activities. Full foreign ownership is permitted on the mainland and inside the free zone.

Leaving the free zone later is not a transfer. Section 10.7 of the DHA manual requires a no-objection certificate, then registration as a new mainland entity.

How to get trade license in Dubai for an aesthetic clinic

The sequence below covers how to get trade license in Dubai approval for a healthcare activity. DET publishes a DED license activities list, still widely known by the old department name. Healthcare activity codes need DHA sign-off before the license issues.

1. Reserve the trade name on the Invest in Dubai portal.
2. Select your activity codes. Aesthetic services sit among the healthcare activities.
3. Apply for DET initial approval on those codes.
4. Notarize the memorandum of association if you are forming an LLC.
5. Sign a tenancy contract and register it with Ejari.
6. Obtain the Makani number and Dubai Municipality plot certificate.
7. Pay the assessed fee and collect the trade license.
8. Open a corporate bank account in the company name.
9. File investor and employee visas, then labor cards for clinical staff.

DET publishes no flat price for a trade license. The fee is calculated per application from the activity group, legal form, partner count and your annual Ejari rent. The Invest in Dubai calculator produces the figure.

Setup consultancies estimate a healthcare trade license at AED 12,000 to AED 20,000 a year. Treat that as a consultancy estimate, not a published fee.

DHA facility license requirements for an aesthetic clinic

The DHA facility license requirements start with a category, and no DHA category is named aesthetic clinic. Non-surgical cosmetic work, injectables and laser treatment sit under Specialty Clinic. Two or more specialties on one site make it a Polyclinic.

Sedation changes the answer. Any procedure requiring sedation or anesthesia needs a Day Surgical Center license, which sits in the AED 2,000 initial approval band. Liposuction is stricter still. The DHA liposuction standard allows it only in a hospital or a Day Surgical Center, performed by a licensed plastic surgeon.

The premises must satisfy DHA infrastructure rules. Treatment rooms, a dedicated laser room, infection control and medical waste handling are all checked. A named medical director must hold an active license in a relevant specialty.

Devices carry their own paperwork. Lasers, IPL platforms and body contouring equipment need documented FDA or CE registration. Keep the certificates with the device.

DHA also requires an EMR meeting the NABIDH Minimum Data Set and NABIDH standards. Section 7.2.6.10 asks for the approval email confirming tested connectivity. Our explainer on what NABIDH is covers the submission rules.

Facility license document checklist. Company formation paperwork belongs on the trade license track. These are the facility documents.

• Facility proposal covering facility type, services, specialties and the clinical program.
• Trade license details, or the expected trade name if the license is still pending.
• Ejari-registered tenancy contract for the unit you intend to license.
• Makani number and the Dubai Municipality plot certificate for the address.
• Layout and floor plan prepared by DHA-prequalified design consultants.
• Copy of the Civil Defence certificate for the premises.
• Copy of the third-party medical malpractice insurance contract.
• Approval email confirming tested NABIDH connectivity.
• Named medical director, licensed and active in a relevant specialty.
• Drug Control Section clearance, if the practice will hold controlled drugs.

DHA runs no separate drawing approval service. The layout review sits inside the initial application at no extra fee. Medical records, informed consent and published price transparency are inspected once you operate.

The DHA license process, stage by stage

The DHA license process is three services, not four stages. All three run on Sheryan, and our guide to the Sheryan portal covers navigating it. DHA fees are non-refundable at every stage.

1. Apply for DHA license approval. File the New Facility License request with your proposal and premises documents. DHA answers within five working days.
2. Receive the inactive license. The New Facility License DHA issues here carries a facility license number but no permission to operate.
3. Fit out and recruit. Professional licenses filed under an inactive facility license activate automatically with it.
4. Verify your clinicians. Each clears Primary Source Verification with DataFlow, then a Prometric test where one is required.
5. Pay and book. Settle the license fee and the inspection fee, then schedule the site visit.
6. Pass the site inspection. DHA HRS inspectors or DHA-prequalified consultants attend the premises.
7. Activate the license. DHA completes the Activate Facility License service in one working day.

During initial approval you may not treat patients, provide services or advertise. A failed inspection means paying a re-inspection fee and rebooking. Later changes use the Amend Facility License service, which takes five working days.

The inactive license lasts 12 months. That window has to absorb fit-out, hiring and inspection. Overrunning it cancels the application and forces a fresh submission.

Aesthetic clinic setup cost Dubai: What the DHA license fee covers

Any aesthetic clinic setup cost Dubai estimate splits into two halves. One half is published and fixed. The other half is commercial, and it moves with your unit, your fit-out and your equipment list.

The DHA license fee is tiered by facility category, so no single number applies. The table below carries verified figures only, and marks what the regulators do not publish.

The DHCC figures come from the DHCR price list dated 2019, the latest publicly retrievable version. Confirm current pricing with DHCR before committing a budget. Every DHCC license and permit runs for one year and renews annually.

No honest total setup figure exists. Fit-out, equipment, rent and salaries dominate the spend, and none of them is a regulated fee. Price the published items exactly and quote the rest.

Who can perform injectables, lasers and body contouring

A medical license Dubai issues carries a specialty, and the specialty limits the procedure. The DHA Standards for Non-Surgical Cosmetic Procedures took effect on February 18, 2025. They are specific about who may do what.

• Physicians may inject body fillers only in line with their relevant specialty. PRP follows the same rule.
• Other consultants, specialists and general practitioners need documented training before injecting.
• Nurses need documented training and supervision by a dermatologist or a plastic surgeon.
• Laser and IPL work is supervised by a plastic surgeon or dermatologist, or by a trained general, family or internal medicine physician.
• Technicians must hold the DHA licensed technician title.

Every procedure has to happen inside a DHA-licensed facility. That requirement is confirmed in the DHA Standards for Non-Surgical Cosmetic Procedures, reference DHA/HRS/HPSD/ST-05, effective February 18, 2025. Liposuction sits outside clinic scope. It belongs in a hospital or Day Surgical Center, performed by a licensed plastic surgeon.

Advertising is also regulated. Section 19.1.7 of the manual requires prior DHA approval for a temporary media or advertisement permit.

The practitioner route runs through DataFlow verification, Prometric testing and registration under a licensed facility. Our guide to getting a DHA license walks that sequence in full. Note that the DHA new professional license page states no minimum years of experience.

DHA license renewal and staying compliant

DHA license renewal opens within 90 days before expiry. Terms run for one, two or three years. The DHA facility license renewal fee matches the activation tiers, so one year costs AED 5,000 to AED 40,000.

Late renewal is expensive and it scales. The penalty runs from AED 500 to AED 8,000 per month, tracking your fee tier. A clinic on the 5,000 tier pays 500 a month. A facility on the 40,000 tier pays 8,000.

A license expired for more than six months cannot be renewed, and cancelled or revoked licenses are equally ineligible. Renewing an inactive license costs AED 500 to AED 2,000.

DHA renewal also needs a renewed trade license. Dubai trade license renewal fees are calculated per application rather than published, and DET verifies Ejari in real time. An expired tenancy blocks the submission.

A DHA license transfer to another facility applies to practitioners, not premises. The professional license moves with the clinician while the facility license stays with the site. Add-on services cost AED 2,000 a year each, covering a mobile unit, telehealth or home healthcare.

Records retention needs care. Section 18.6 of the manual states no number of years. DHA guidelines on managing health records set 10 years from the last visit, and five for deceased patients. A 25-year federal minimum circulates in legal commentary but is not stated in DHA guidance.

MOHAP license and DoH license: Licensing outside Dubai

A UAE medical license is not one national credential. Each regulator licenses for its own territory only. A DHA facility license does not authorize a second site in Abu Dhabi or Ajman. You apply again to that regulator.

A MOHAP license covers Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain. MOHAP names its stages Initial Approval, then Final Approval for Licensing or Re-licensing Health Facility. Dubai uses New Facility License and Activate Facility License instead.

• Initial approval costs AED 2,000 for hospitals, one-day surgery, fertility, oncology, ambulance and home health.
• Every other facility type pays AED 1,000. Approval lasts one year and authorizes no operation.
• Renewal costs AED 5,000 for a general or dental clinic, a school clinic, a first-aid unit or home health.
• A specialized clinic, specialized dental practice or ambulance service pays AED 6,000.
• Late renewal adds 25 percent per 30 days for up to six months, then cancels automatically.
• Re-licensing a MOHAP facility costs AED 1,000.

A DoH license covers Abu Dhabi. DoH was formerly HAAD, and applications run through TAMM under the Standard for Healthcare Facility Licensure. DoH publishes no consolidated fee schedule, so budget from a quote rather than a table.

Abu Dhabi requires a connection to Malaffi before full inspection. Riayati is the national exchange behind the unified medical record. Sharjah runs its own regulator, the Sharjah Health Authority, and MOHAP does not cover it.

How Pabau supports a newly licensed aesthetic practice in Dubai

Licensing does not end at activation. Inspectors ask for tested NABIDH connectivity, retained records, signed consent and a traceable history of who treated whom.

Practice management software like Pabau keeps those obligations in one system. Patient records, treatment notes, before and after photos and digital consent forms sit against the same client file. An inspector’s request stops being a document hunt. Every subscription includes every feature, so compliance tooling is never a paid upgrade.

Consent is captured digitally and time-stamped before treatment starts. Treatment notes stay attached to the practitioner who wrote them, which matters when a specialty limits who may inject. Reporting shows activity across the practice without exporting records to a spreadsheet.

If you are still choosing a system, our comparison of EMR software in Dubai covers NABIDH readiness by vendor. Onboarding is structured rather than self-serve, with a dedicated client coordinator handling your data migration.

See how Pabau handles NABIDH, consent and records

Book a walkthrough with our team and see the compliance side of a Dubai aesthetic practice in one system.

Book a demo

Conclusion

Two licenses, two regulators, and one sequence that runs in parallel rather than end to end. The fee follows the facility category, and the category follows whether you sedate patients. Price the published fees exactly, and treat fit-out, equipment and staffing costs as a quote.

Choose your software before inspection rather than after, because tested NABIDH connectivity is a checked item. Compare the options in our roundup of aesthetic clinic software, then book a demo to see how Pabau fits a newly licensed Dubai practice.

Continue your research

Which portal handles DHA applications? Sheryan explained covers the services and logins.

What does NABIDH require of your EMR? Our NABIDH guide sets out the data standards.

How does Abu Dhabi differ? Malaffi explained covers the Abu Dhabi exchange.

Which EMR suits a Dubai practice? EMR software in Dubai compares the vendors.

Frequently asked questions