Company Stamp in Dubai: Your Official Company Seal, Made to Match Your Licence

Based on our research, UAE federal company law does not make a physical company stamp compulsory for every business. In practice, though, it is still widely expected. Many banks ask for the company stamp on account-opening forms, board resolutions and signature cards as part of their own internal rules, and some accept a signature alone.

Other places a stamp is commonly used include employment-related letters and contracts prepared for labour and visa processes, salary certificates, no-objection letters, tenancy documents, supplier and customer agreements, quotations and invoices, and letters prepared for document attestation. Some free zones publish their own guidelines on what a company stamp should show.

Requirements differ between banks, authorities and zones, and they change over time. Ask the bank or authority directly when a specific document is at stake.

For a new company, the bank account is usually the first place a stamp is needed. If the bank asks for stamped forms and you do not have one yet, the application can pause until you do, which is why many founders order the stamp as soon as the licence is issued.

Common practice is to show the company's legal name exactly as on the trade licence, including the legal form such as LLC, FZE or FZ-LLC. Many companies add the Arabic name, which matters most for mainland businesses whose licences carry both languages. The emirate or free zone, often with UAE, is also usual.

Optional details include the trade licence number, P.O. Box and a short address. Some companies add a simple logo, but a busy design can make the stamp hard to read on photocopies and scans. Keep it simple and clear.

If your company changes its name, legal form or licence number, the old stamp becomes out of date. Order a new one and keep the old stamp out of use.

A self-inking stamp has a built-in ink pad and flips down to print, which makes it quick for daily paperwork. A pre-inked stamp gives a sharper, more detailed impression and suits small text and Arabic script. A traditional rubber stamp uses a separate ink pad and is the cheapest to replace.

An embosser, or dry seal, presses a raised mark into the paper without ink. It is used less often for everyday work but some companies keep one for certificates or formal documents. A digital stamp is an image of your stamp placed on PDFs, often used together with an electronic signature.

More UAE processes now accept digital signing, for example through UAE PASS for many government services. Even so, many counterparties still ask for a stamped paper document or a stamped scan. A good approach is to keep both: a physical stamp for paper forms and a controlled digital version for PDFs.

Whichever you use, treat the stamp like a key. Keep it secure, limit who may use it, and never stamp blank pages. A stamp alone does not make a document valid; the authorised signatory's signature is what normally binds the company.