UAE waives fees for students and people with disabilities — The National

In the United Arab Emirates, student inventors and people with disabilities have been exempted from paying fees for a number of intellectual property registration services. The country’s Ministry of Economy and Tourism began implementing Cabinet Resolution No. 136 of 2026 on September 14, The National reports.

29 services without fees

The resolution provides for a full exemption from payments for 29 services related to patents, industrial designs, utility models and integrated circuit layouts.

Both categories of applicants received benefits for 11 common services. These include filing applications for the registration of patents and industrial designs, examination of utility model applications, and annual payments for maintaining protection of rights during the second through fifth years. Previously, these fees ranged from 100 to 1,000 dirhams.

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For people with disabilities, fees were also abolished for another nine services, which had previously cost up to 9,000 dirhams. Student inventors were exempted from paying for nine other services that had previously cost up to 4,500 dirhams.

Increase in the number of applications

Abdulrahman Al Muaini of the Ministry of Economy and Tourism said that the decision is in line with the UAE’s policy of supporting creativity and innovation. According to him, it is intended to make it easier for student inventors and people with disabilities to register their developments and protect their rights.

In the first half of 2026, the number of patent applications in the country increased by 9% compared with the same period in 2025, while utility model applications rose by 21%. In total, about 4,300 patent applications were filed in the UAE in 2025. The cumulative number of patents, utility model certificates and industrial design applications registered in the country stands at 22,184.