Dubai to issue investor licences in 17 seconds

Dubai’s government has unveiled plans for a radical upgrade to its “Invest in Dubai” digital platform, enabling business licences to be granted in as little as 17 seconds. The platform’s new version, featuring Agentic AI capabilities, was introduced at GITEX Global 2025 and is expected to go live by the end of 2026.

Ahmad Khalifa AlQaizi AlFalasi, CEO of Dubai Business Registration and Licensing Corporation, explained that the enhanced system will act as an autonomous reviewer. Applicants will upload documents, and the AI will instantly validate them; if everything meets standards, the licence is approved on the spot. He contrasted this with the current process, which takes up to five minutes via the existing IID platform.

This overhaul is part of Dubai’s Economic Agenda D33, which targets a 50 percent uplift in economic productivity through technological innovation. The initiative aims to eliminate bureaucratic delays by integrating approvals across multiple government bodies—MOHRE, MoFA, CDA, DCAA and others—into a single unified digital interface.

The upgrade centres on a new feature dubbed “360 Services,” which consolidates permit issuance, legal forms, branch licence processing and renewal into a seamless end-to-end investor journey. The system will also support AI-driven business name reservation, automated permit approvals and omnichannel customer support.

Since its launch in 2021, the IID platform has facilitated over 1.3 million transactions and enabled the incorporation of some 280,916 new businesses. Licence issuance soared from 16,584 in 2021 to 95,543 in 2024, while annual transactions grew from about 31,383 to over 258,000. The rate of licence processing also dropped—from two weeks in 2022 to just a single day in early 2025. Adoption is currently projected at 65 percent and is anticipated to hit 75 percent by year-end.

AlFalasi recognised that certain business activities may still require a no-objection certificate from specialised entities. In such cases, the system will automatically request the NOC on behalf of the applicant and proceed once the clearance is granted. With this mechanism, manual intervention is minimised and staff roles will shift from document checking to overseeing the AI system.

Dubai’s leadership has pushed for a unified digital infrastructure across all government services. The IID upgrade aligns with directives issued by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, encouraging cross-agency integration under the Shared Digital Channels Initiative. The aim is to transform Dubai into a global exemplar of efficient, transparent governance.

The new platform is being demonstrated live under the Digital Dubai Authority Pavilion at GITEX, with features such as live AI permit validation, business name automation and integration with key regulatory authorities. Officials say these demonstrations reflect how the system plans to address real-world regulatory complexity.

Critics caution that realising a 17-second licence process will be challenging. Complex business structures, jurisdictional overlaps and regulatory exceptions may hamper the AI’s ability to act fully autonomously. Ensuring robust data security, oversight mechanisms and fallback protocols for edge cases will be crucial. Proponents, however, argue that Dubai’s track record in digital governance and earlier implementations suggest the risk can be managed.