Dubai cuts postal licence steps from 12 to three in Invest in Dubai integration

Dubai's postal regulator announced on November 12 that licences for postal, courier, express and parcel (CEP) operations can now be obtained through Invest in Dubai, the emirate's unified digital business platform, cutting the application from 12 steps to three.

What changes for applicants

After systems integration between the Regulatory and Licensing Sector, under the Postal Sector Regulatory Committee, and the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), applicants no longer need to upload five documents, the number of data fields falls from 40 to 12 — a 70% reduction — and completion time drops from 46 minutes to 10.

Scale and policy background

Dubai accounts for about 86% of licensed postal and CEP operators in the UAE, making it the country's largest market for the sector. The change is part of the UAE's Zero Bureaucracy programme and wider digital transformation efforts. Mohamed Khalid bin Sulaiman, Chief Licensing Officer at the Regulatory and Licensing Sector, said the integration brings the licensing requirements together through a single digital channel.