PRO Services in Dubai and Across the UAE

UAE Employment Visa: How the Process Works

A UAE employment visa is issued in stages, and each stage sits with a different authority. Knowing the order helps you plan hiring dates and avoid the delays that come from submitting a step out of sequence.

1. Work permit and labour approval (MOHRE)

The employer applies to the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation for the work permit, supported by the company's trade licence, establishment card and the signed employment offer. This is the labour side of the file, and it must clear before the immigration steps begin.

2. Entry permit

Once the work permit is approved, an entry permit is issued so the employee can enter the country for employment, or change status if they are already inside the UAE. Applicants already on a visit or tourist visa usually complete a status change rather than exiting and re-entering.

3. Medical fitness test

The employee attends an approved medical centre for the screening required for residence. Results are submitted electronically to the health authority and linked to the visa file, so the file cannot progress until they are released.

4. Emirates ID registration and biometrics

The applicant registers for the Emirates ID and gives fingerprints and a photograph at an authorised centre. The Emirates ID is the national identity document and is needed for banking, tenancy, telecom and most government services afterwards.

5. Residence visa stamping

With the medical and Emirates ID stages complete, the residence visa is issued and linked to the passport. The labour contract is registered on the MOHRE side, and the employee is then formally on the company's sponsorship.

Please note: processing times, government fees and document requirements at every stage are set by the relevant UAE authority and are revised from time to time. PROXPAT prepares and coordinates the file; approval and timing remain the authority's decision.

Family Visa Sponsorship in the UAE

Once a resident holds a valid UAE residence visa, they can apply to sponsor family members. This is one of the most frequent requests we handle, and also the one where applications most often come back for correction.

Who can be sponsored

A resident can typically sponsor a spouse and children, and in defined circumstances parents, with each category carrying its own conditions. Sons are generally sponsorable up to an age limit, after which a different visa route is needed, while daughters can usually be sponsored while unmarried. Sponsoring parents is treated as a separate category with additional requirements.

What the authority looks at

The sponsor must hold a valid residence visa and Emirates ID, meet the minimum salary threshold set for the sponsorship category, and provide a registered tenancy contract showing accommodation appropriate to the family size. Relationship documents — marriage and birth certificates — must be attested in the country of issue and legally translated into Arabic.

Where applications get rejected

The recurring causes are a salary certificate that does not state the figure in the required format, a tenancy contract that is not registered or is in someone else's name, an attestation chain completed out of order, and a translation that does not match the source document exactly. None of these are refusals on the merits — they are avoidable file problems that cost a resubmission cycle each.

The stages

Entry permit, status change or entry on the permit, medical fitness test for applicants above the specified age, Emirates ID biometrics, and visa stamping. Each stage has its own validity window, and missing one restarts part of the sequence.

Please note: salary thresholds, age limits, accommodation requirements and fees for family sponsorship are set by the UAE immigration authority and are revised from time to time. PROXPAT confirms the current requirements against the authority before an application is prepared.

Emirates ID: Application, Renewal and Replacement

The Emirates ID is the identity document every resident is required to hold, and it is what most other services key off — bank accounts, telecom contracts, tenancy registration, medical insurance, government portals and vehicle registration all depend on a valid card.

First application

The application is submitted alongside the residence visa process. Biometrics — fingerprints and photograph — are captured at an authorised centre, and the card is issued once the visa is stamped. The card number stays with the holder across renewals, which is why it is used as a permanent identifier.

Renewal

The card expires with the residence visa and must be renewed alongside it. Renewal is not automatic, and there is a limited window after expiry before penalties begin to accrue. Because so many services validate against the card, an expired Emirates ID tends to surface as a blocked transaction somewhere else before the holder notices the expiry itself.

Lost, damaged or stolen cards

A replacement is applied for through the authority, with a report where the card was lost or stolen. Biometrics usually do not need to be recaptured for a straightforward replacement.

Changes to personal details

Changes to name, marital status, profession or passport details need to be updated on the record. An Emirates ID that does not match a current passport creates problems at renewal and at any transaction where the two are cross-checked.

Fees, renewal windows and penalty structures for Emirates ID are set by the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security and are updated from time to time.

Work Permits, Labour Contracts and the Wage Protection System

The employment side of a residence visa runs through the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation for mainland companies, or through the relevant free zone authority. These obligations sit alongside the immigration process rather than inside it, and are where compliance problems usually originate.

Work permit types

MOHRE issues permits across several categories, covering standard employment, transfer from another employer, recruitment of a person already inside the country, part-time work, temporary and project-based work, and permits for juveniles and students within defined limits. The category determines the documents required and what the holder is permitted to do.

Labour contracts

The employment contract must be registered with the authority and reflect what was actually agreed, including the term, working hours, leave entitlement and end-of-service arrangements. A registered contract that differs from the offer letter the employee signed is a dispute waiting to happen, and the registered version is what the authority will look at.

Wage Protection System

Employers within scope must pay salaries through the Wage Protection System, which transfers wages via approved agents so payment can be verified against the registered contract. Non-compliance can suspend the company's ability to issue new work permits, which in practice halts hiring until it is resolved.

Transfers and cancellation

Moving between employers requires the labour and immigration sides to be closed with the previous employer and reopened with the new one, in that order. Leaving either side open is the most common reason a transfer stalls, and it is usually discovered only when the new application is rejected.

Please note: work permit categories, contract requirements and Wage Protection System thresholds are set by MOHRE and the relevant free zone authorities and are revised from time to time.

PRO Services on a Monthly Retainer

Most companies do not need a full-time PRO. They need someone who picks up the phone when a visa is expiring, a licence needs renewing or an employee is joining or leaving. That is what the monthly package covers: your government paperwork handled continuously for a fixed fee, instead of a separate negotiation every time something comes up.

What the monthly fee includes

Employment visa applications and renewals, visa cancellations, labour contract and work permit transactions, Emirates ID and medical appointment coordination, trade licence renewal, establishment card renewal, licence amendments, and the running between departments that each of these involves. You send the documents; we handle the process and keep you updated.

What the monthly fee does not include

Government fees are separate and are paid at actual cost. The monthly fee is PROXPAT's service charge only. Entry permits, medical tests, Emirates ID, visa stamping, labour fees, insurance, typing charges, licence fees and any refundable deposits are set by the relevant UAE authority and are billed to you at exactly what the authority charges — we add nothing to them. Indicative ranges are set out further down this page so you can budget properly.

Who this suits

Small and mid-sized companies with a steady trickle of visa and licence work; new companies that have just received a trade licence and need their first round of visas processed; and business owners who would rather have one predictable monthly line than an unpredictable series of one-off invoices.

What Government Fees Actually Cost

These are the amounts the authority charges, separate from our service fee. Most providers will not put these in front of you before you commit; we would rather you can budget honestly from the start.

Please read this before budgeting. Every figure above is indicative and rounded. Government fees are set by the relevant UAE authority — MOHRE, the immigration authority, the economic department or the free zone — and are revised from time to time without notice. What you actually pay depends on your company category, the emirate, the visa duration, the professional category and whether the applicant is inside or outside the UAE. We confirm the current figures against the authority before any application is submitted, and you pay the authority's charge, not ours.

Portal or counter changes the total

The same transaction costs slightly less submitted through the Tasheel portal than over the counter at a service centre. Online, you pay the federal fees only — MOHRE states its digital service is otherwise free. At a counter, a business centre commission applies, capped at AED 72 per service within the permit package, plus typing, tax and collection charges. The difference is usually tens of dirhams per transaction rather than hundreds, but it is why two quotes for identical work can differ, and it is worth asking any provider which channel their figure assumes. Our employment visa page sets this out in full.

Why company category changes the price

MOHRE classifies companies into three categories based on how they score against its own criteria, including Emiratisation, workforce diversity and compliance history. The category sets the work permit fee, and the published spread is wide: AED 250 for Category 1, AED 1,200 for Category 2 and AED 3,450 for Category 3 on a two-year permit, plus a AED 50 application fee that applies to all three.

That is a difference of AED 3,200 per employee between the top and bottom category. Across ten hires it is AED 32,000, on the same permit for the same job. If your labour fees look higher than you expected, this is almost always why — and category is something a company can work on rather than simply accept. See our employment visa services for the full breakdown.

Sponsoring a Domestic Worker: Check This First

Before anything else, one number decides whether this is possible at all — and it is the reason we turn some enquiries away rather than take the fee.

MOHRE requires a minimum family income of AED 25,000 per month. An expatriate employer must provide a recent salary certificate confirming the family's income is not less than AED 25,000, and an investor or business owner must provide three months of bank statements showing monthly income of at least that figure. If you do not meet it, the application will not succeed, and no amount of paperwork changes that. We would rather tell you now than after you have paid.

How long the permit runs

This surprises most people. The duration is not the same for everyone: two years for UAE and GCC citizens, one or two years by choice for diplomats and Golden Visa holders, and one year for expatriate residents. If you hold an ordinary residence visa, budget for renewing annually rather than every two years.

Conditions on the worker

The worker must be at least 18 and under 60. There is a narrow exemption to the upper age limit where the worker is already inside the country and their residence visa was cancelled by a domestic-labour employer no more than three months earlier. Their passport must be valid for at least three months, they must not already hold a valid work permit, and they must be covered by an adequate insurance policy recorded on the employer's file.

Documents you will need

One more that catches larger households out: an employer already employing more than five domestic workers must submit a written explanation setting out why an additional worker is needed.

How the process runs

The insurance policy is paid first, then an employer's file is opened and the work permit and entry permit applied for. Once federal fees are paid, an electronic link is issued for approving either the standard package contract or a direct recruitment contract. MOHRE verifies the file, reports any shortfall for completion, and on approval forwards it to the immigration authority. The electronic visa is then emailed to the employer.

Recruitment itself runs through the authorised Tadbeer channel. Our role is the file and the legwork — preparing documents, tracking the application, and dealing with shortfall notices — at AED 1,000 plus 5% VAT, separate from government fees.

Please note: income thresholds, age limits, permit durations and documentary requirements for domestic worker permits are set by MOHRE and are revised from time to time. Confirm the current position before relying on it.