Filming permits in the northern emirates five emirates, no single answer
The resort is in Ras Al Khaimah, or the plant is in Ajman, or the client wants the mountain road above Fujairah in the wide shot. The producer goes looking for the film commission, does not find one, and assumes a single permit covers everything north of Dubai. It does not. Fujairah publishes its own permit, on its own fee and its own clock. The federal regulator's guide sends Sharjah to a Sharjah body. Ras Al Khaimah's government names its tourism authority. Only Ajman and Umm Al Quwain are left to the federal route, and there it is a reading of the statute rather than anything either emirate publishes. This article maps the five: what each publishes, what each does not, and what has to be asked rather than looked up.
The one line to hold onto
There is no northern-emirates filming permit. There is a definition, in Federal Decree by Law No. 55 of 2023, making the Competent Authority the local government body that licenses media activities, or the federal Council where there is no competent local body. It resolves differently in each of the five. Read the route before the number. Fujairah's own permit is AED 500 per filming day plus AED 200 in other service fees plus VAT, filed at least five business days ahead and decided in one. The federal route charges the same 500 per day, and everything else about it differs, including both of its deadlines. The Journal's article on the federal filming authority carries them.
Why there is no single answer
Everything follows from one definition. Federal Decree by Law No. 55 of 2023 defines the Competent Authority as the local government body concerned with licensing or permitting the practice of media activities and supervising and controlling them, or the Council for the Emirates where there is no competent local body. Article 8 lists photography activities as a media activity. Article 13 gives that authority the permits for practising land, aerial or marine photography activities, including approval of texts and content, after coordination with the concerned authorities.
Whether an emirate has a competent local body is a question of fact, so the definition is applied emirate by emirate rather than read as one national rule. The u.ae media regulation page answers part of it, naming the country's local media bodies as the Abu Dhabi Media Office, the Creative Media Authority in Abu Dhabi, the Media Office of the Government of Dubai, the Sharjah Government Media Bureau, the Department of Culture in Sharjah, and the Fujairah Culture and Media Authority. It names none for Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman or Umm Al Quwain.
One further provision governs every route below. Article 7 states that the licence or permit issued does not substitute for the necessary permits or approvals from the concerned authorities. A filming permit is a media permit. It is not clearance for a road, a beach, a venue, a port or a piece of airspace.
Fujairah publishes its own permit, and it is the clearest route in the region
The Fujairah Culture and Media Authority publishes a filming permit request as the first of the four services on its site, with an apply button on its homepage. It is a No Objection Certificate for television, cinema and advertising filming.
The fee is AED 500 per filming day, plus AED 200 in other service fees, plus VAT. The application must be submitted at least five business days before the scheduled filming date, and the procedure takes one business day provided the requirements and documents are complete. The 500 is the same figure the federal permits carry. The AED 200, the VAT and both clocks are Fujairah's own.
It is open to government entities, private sector entities and individuals aged eighteen or over, which is more than the federal route publishes about who may apply. The documents are the trade licence, passports or identity documents for the crew, an official letter from the requesting entity, and the bank transfer receipt.
Read the conditions while the location list is still open. Additional permits are required for airports, sensitive government sites, archaeological and heritage sites, and facilities not affiliated with the Authority. Filming at security checkpoints, customs and immigration facilities, military or police facilities, and areas where sensitive equipment is operated is prohibited without prior written approval. Drones need a separate permit. The permit is valid only for the period and locations specified in the approval, and any amendment requires a new application, so a location added on the recce is a new form rather than a phone call.
Watch out
The Fujairah Culture and Media Authority and Fujairah Creative City are different bodies. The Authority is the emirate's media regulator and issues this permit. Creative City is a media free zone that licenses companies established in it. Going to the free zone for a filming permit costs a week.
Sharjah is routed locally, and the local route is not published
Good to know
In Sharjah the useful message is not "do we need a permit". It is "your catalogue lists Issuing approvals for ground photography in the Emirate of Sharjah against the Sharjah Government Media Bureau, and we need the current form, fee and lead time for it". Sharjah's separate content constraint on alcohol, covered elsewhere in the Journal, applies whoever issues.
Two things are true about Sharjah at once, and producers usually hear only one. The routing is real and comes from the federal regulator. Its Media Services Guide routes four of its own services by emirate: Abu Dhabi to the Creative Media Authority Abu Dhabi, Sharjah to the Sharjah Media Council, other emirates to the UAE Media Council. Scope that properly, because the guide's own field is publications, electronic games and artistic works, so it is not a filming-permit routing table. What it shows is that the regulator treats Sharjah as an emirate with a competent local body, which u.ae supports by naming the Sharjah Government Media Bureau.
And what Sharjah publishes is the existence of the services, not how to use them. The emirate's own services catalogue carries an entry titled Issuing approvals for ground photography in the Emirate of Sharjah, published against the Sharjah Government Media Bureau, a Media Photography Permit published against Khor Fakkan Municipality, and a commercial photography request published against Sharjah Museums Authority. Every one of those detail records comes back empty, with no description, documents, timing or fee, so nothing about how any of them runs could be read.
The Bureau's own site publishes platform, training and media-footage services and no permit of any kind, and its old photography permits page now redirects to the homepage. A dedicated portal at fpp.sgmb.ae, captured on 3 June 2023 as "Photo Shooting and Filming in Sharjah" and offering ground based shooting as a permit type, no longer answers. Of four candidate Sharjah Media Council domains only sharjahmedia.gov.ae resolves, and it publishes mail records while serving no website.
One lead is open, and it is the most promising thing found in Sharjah. The ground photography approval published against the Bureau is the entry to chase, by that exact title and against that exact body. Ask about it by name, and do not treat it as a verified route.
Ras Al Khaimah has two doors, and only one publishes a fee
Ras Al Khaimah's Government Media Office states that in order for a company to film on location in Ras Al Khaimah it must first follow the procedures to obtain the required official permits from the regulatory authority in the Emirate, Ras Al Khaimah's Tourism Development Authority, and that the Authority's Department of Tourism Licensing and Quality Assurance presides over the granting of licences and offers a clear, step-by-step guide. That is the emirate's own government naming who regulates filming there.
The Tourism Development Authority does not publish it. Its service directory, services page and page sitemap carry tourism licensing, classifications, holiday homes, events permits, entertainers permits and a civil marriage permit, and no filming permit. Its 33-page licensing guide for 2024 does not mention filming anywhere. Its only filming document is a standard operating procedure from its public relations department covering crews it has invited and is hosting, which is a hosting arrangement rather than a permit route. The step-by-step guide the media office describes was not found published on any page reached.
A second Ras Al Khaimah body does publish one. The emirate's Public Services Department carries a filming permit in its own published service manual, for the areas that belong to the department, at AED 2,000 as an insurance amount plus AED 2,000 per filming day, issued the same day, open to government entities, private entities and individual customers. Read the scope before the number: those are the department's own areas rather than the emirate at large, and the manual says nothing about what the Tourism Development Authority requires alongside it. The emirate's eGovernment portal carries a record for the same service quoting different figures, on a page that would not render on its production host, so confirm both before either reaches a budget.
So write to both. The Tourism Development Authority at the address it publishes, info@raktda.com, asking for the guide by the name its own media office gives it. And the Public Services Department, the only Ras Al Khaimah body found publishing a filming fee at all.
Ajman and Umm Al Quwain are where the federal route is an inference
Good to know
A government media office and a licensing authority are different bodies with different jobs. Every northern emirate has the first. Only some have the second, and only one of those publishes what it charges.
These two are the only emirates for which the federal regulator is the answer, and that answer comes from the statutory definition plus an absence rather than from anything either publishes.
Ajman's government service catalogue was enumerated entity by entity, eleven entities and 194 service pages, all server-rendered and readable. Not one is a filming or photography permit. The Ajman Media Office publishes no services section at all.
Umm Al Quwain has no media office domain. Its Department of Economic Development publishes 22 permits and none is for filming, and its Department of Tourism publishes no services. The emirate's main portal returns a server error on every path tried, so the accurate statement is that no Umm Al Quwain authority publishes a filming permit on any reachable government site. That is not the same sentence as saying the emirate has none.
For both, the reading is that with no competent local body the Council is the Competent Authority, so the federal permit applies. That is a reading of the instruments rather than a confirmation from either emirate, and it is worth a phone call before it reaches a call sheet.
The federal layer, in one paragraph
Where the federal route applies, the regulator is the National Media Authority, which replaced the UAE Media Council on 1 January 2026 under Federal Decree by Law No. 11 of 2025. Its e-service catalogue publishes ground, aerial and marine photography permits, and Cabinet Resolution No. 41 of 2025 prices those three at 500 dirhams each for one day. Two published clocks apply and they are not the same clock. The Journal's article on the federal filming authority carries all of it, including how a per-day fee adds up across a schedule and the content-approval question the instruments leave open.
The free zones are not a shortcut
Every northern emirate has a free zone selling itself to media companies, and none is a permit authority. Fujairah Creative City, Sharjah Media City at shams.ae, RAKEZ, the Umm Al Quwain Free Trade Zone and Ajman Free Zone license companies and in some cases rent out locations. Creative City's own site sells company formation, visas and office space, and publishes no filming permit at all. Shams publishes a filming locations page listing spaces on its own campus with a contact number, which is a location offer rather than a permit service. A free zone licence is not a filming permit.
Common questions
Who actually issues a filming permit in the northern emirates?
It depends on the emirate, which is the article in one line. Fujairah's own Culture and Media Authority publishes and issues the permit there. Sharjah is routed locally, by the federal regulator's guide and by the federal portal's list of local media bodies, though no Sharjah page publishes how its services work. Ras Al Khaimah's media office names its Tourism Development Authority. Ajman and Umm Al Quwain have no local media body named at federal level, so the federal regulator is the reading rather than the confirmation.
What does it cost?
Fujairah publishes AED 500 per filming day plus AED 200 in other service fees plus VAT. Ras Al Khaimah's Public Services Department publishes AED 2,000 insurance plus AED 2,000 per filming day for the areas it controls. Sharjah publishes no figure at all on any page reached. Where the federal route applies, Cabinet Resolution No. 41 of 2025 prices the ground, aerial and marine permits at 500 dirhams each for a single day.
How much notice do I need to give?
Fujairah asks for the application at least five business days before the filming date and decides in one business day. Ras Al Khaimah's Public Services Department publishes same-day issue for its own areas. The federal route runs on two different published numbers, a filing deadline and a service delivery time, and neither is an end-to-end lead time. A plan built for one emirate does not transfer to another.
Who is allowed to apply?
Fujairah publishes its answer: government entities, private sector entities and individuals aged eighteen or over. No other route in these five emirates publishes one, and nothing retrieved for the federal route says whether the applicant must be licensed in the UAE at all. Do not read the Dubai position across, because it comes from a different regime.
Is a free zone licence enough to film in the emirate?
No, and this is the most expensive mistake in the region. A free zone licenses companies established inside it. Fujairah Creative City in particular gets confused with the Fujairah Culture and Media Authority, which is the emirate's media regulator and the body that publishes the permit.
What to hold onto, in one pass
There is no northern-emirates filming permit, and looking for one is what costs producers the schedule. Federal Decree by Law No. 55 of 2023 makes the Competent Authority the local media licensing body, or the federal Council for the emirates that have none, and that resolves differently in each. Fujairah has its own authority and its own permit, at AED 500 per filming day plus AED 200 plus VAT, filed at least five business days ahead, decided in one, valid only for the period and locations specified. Sharjah is routed locally, its Bureau publishes six services and none is a permit, and the live threads are three catalogue entries whose detail records could not be opened. Ras Al Khaimah has two doors: its media office names the Tourism Development Authority, whose service directory, sitemap and 33-page licensing guide contain no filming permit, while its Public Services Department publishes one for its own areas at AED 2,000 insurance plus AED 2,000 per filming day, issued the same day. Ajman and Umm Al Quwain publish no filming permit on any reachable page, which leaves the federal route as a reading rather than a confirmation. Not established: what Sharjah charges or takes, what the Tourism Development Authority requires, and who may hold the federal permit.
Grolez Films: plan the north emirate by emirate
The pattern worth avoiding is familiar. A northern-emirates location gets added late as an obvious extension of a Dubai campaign, one permit is assumed to cover it, and the emirate turns out to have its own authority, its own form and a clock that runs the other way.
Before we quote a job, we work out who has to give permission and who has to apply for it. On this route that means naming the emirate before the treatment is finished, because everything else follows from it. Fix the location list early, because Fujairah ties the permit to the locations specified and makes an amendment a new application. Lodge outside the deadline rather than against it. Where the emirate publishes nothing, ask by name and in writing, early enough that the answer can still change the plan.
Then batch properly, because Fujairah charges per filming day and every extra shooting day is another permit day. Batching several videos into one shoot day saves more than 30 per cent against shooting them separately, and adding a second shoot day roughly doubles the total.
Luis Grolez, the founder, pitches this personally, founder to founder.
See the work. Then get in touch about a specific location and a specific quarter.
Sources and methodology
Read from primary text on 17 and 18 August 2026: Federal Decree by Law No. 55 of 2023, for the Competent Authority definition and Articles 7, 8 and 13; the Fujairah Culture and Media Authority's own service record, for every Fujairah figure and condition; the federal regulator's Media Services Guide, for the Sharjah routing; and the published pages of the bodies listed below, each opened individually. The federal instruments this article points at rather than restates are read and cited in the Journal's companion article on the federal filming authority. Nothing here rests on a production company, agency or news account. One retrieval lesson runs through this article and it has cost four corrections. Test the body's own domain, not the emirate's general portal. An earlier pass tested Fujairah's general portal rather than its Culture and Media Authority and wrongly concluded the emirate published nothing, and a later one tested only the Ras Al Khaimah media office and tourism authority and missed the Public Services Department, which is the only body in that emirate publishing a filming fee. The Fujairah Authority's site adds a second trap: it is Arabic-first and its English content is reachable only after switching language on the site itself. Every negative here is scoped to the exact page opened and the exact request made.
Left open: what a commercial production pays or waits in Sharjah, since every detail record its catalogue serves is empty; what the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority requires and charges, since the guide its own media office describes was not found published; how its Public Services Department permit sits alongside that authority's licence; and who may hold the federal permit. No claim is made that Grolez Films has produced in any of these five emirates, has obtained any permit named here, or has operating experience with any of these authorities. The two figures describing our own work are approximations from our own quoting, confirmed internally on 16 August 2026, not published rates. This article is informational and is not legal advice. Confirm your position with the relevant authority or with counsel before relying on it. Prepared 18 August 2026.
- Federal Decree by Law No. 55 of 2023 on media regulation, for the Competent Authority definition and Articles 7, 8 and 13: cma.gov.ae
- UAE government portal, media regulation, for the list of local media bodies, naming Sharjah and Fujairah and naming none for Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman or Umm Al Quwain: u.ae
- Fujairah Culture and Media Authority, filming permit request, for every Fujairah figure and condition here: fcma.gov.ae
- National Media Authority, Media Services Guide, for the Sharjah routing, scoped to its own field of publications, electronic games and artistic works: nma.gov.ae
- Sharjah government services directory, for the three photography services listed against the Media Bureau, Khor Fakkan Municipality and Sharjah Museums Authority, each with no readable detail record: ec.shj.ae
- Sharjah Government Media Bureau, for its six published services, none of them a permit: sgmb.ae
- Sharjah Media City, filming locations, a location offer rather than a permit service: shams.ae
- Ras Al Khaimah Government Media Office, film licensing, for the statement that filming on location requires permits from the Tourism Development Authority: rakmediaoffice.ae
- Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, e-services and services, for what its licensing department publishes, the absence of any filming permit and its published contact address: raktda.com
- Ras Al Khaimah Public Services Department, published service manual, for the filming permit on the department's own areas at AED 2,000 insurance plus AED 2,000 per filming day, issued the same day: psd.rak.ae
- Ajman government service catalogue, for the eleven entities and 194 service pages enumerated, with no filming or photography permit: ajman.ae
- Fujairah Creative City, a free zone that sells company formation, visas and office space and publishes no filming permit: creativecity.ae