Visa & Immigration Services with PROXPAT

Visa & Immigration Services We Provide

Who We Support

Visa routes depend on the company jurisdiction, authority, sponsor, role, and selected business setup package.

Sponsoring a spouse, children or parents is a separate process with its own salary, accommodation and attestation requirements.

Visa & Immigration Process

PROXPAT keeps the process structured from company licensing to residency completion.

Documents Commonly Required

Exact requirements depend on the visa type, company jurisdiction, applicant status, and authority. Common documents include:

Important Immigration Notes

Visa and residency steps are separate from trade license issuance. A company may have a valid license but still need immigration file opening and establishment card processing before sponsoring visas.

• Residence visa validity: UAE residence validity varies by visa type and sponsor, including 1, 2, or 3 years for sponsored visas and longer periods for eligible long-term residency routes.
• Medical fitness: Residence visa applicants aged 18 and above must complete medical fitness testing.
• Emirates ID: Emirates ID is mandatory for UAE residents and is linked to the residency process.
• Renewal planning: Residence visas and Emirates ID cards should be renewed before expiry to avoid delays or fines.
• Cancellation: Visa cancellations usually must be processed by the sponsor or relevant authority before changing status or leaving permanently.

Why Choose PROXPAT?

Which Visa Route Applies to You

People arrive at this page asking for "a visa". There are several, they are not interchangeable, and the wrong one costs a flight and a restart. This is the short version of how we route it.

You have a job offer from a UAE company

An employment visa, sponsored by the employer, through MOHRE for mainland companies or the free zone authority. See employment visa services.

You hold UAE residence and want to bring family

Family sponsorship, subject to a salary threshold, registered accommodation and attested relationship documents.

You want residence that is not tied to an employer

Long-term residence — the Golden Visa, or the green route for skilled professionals and freelancers. Self-sponsored, so it survives a job change. See Golden Visa services.

You will work independently

A freelance permit, and a residence visa if you do not already hold one through a spouse or employer.

You are visiting, and it might become permanent

A visit visa — but check before it is issued whether your entry category permits an in-country status change, because not every entry permit can be converted without leaving the country.

You are leaving, or changing employer

Cancellation, in the correct order, with both the labour and immigration sides closed. See visa cancellation services.

If none of these describe your situation cleanly, that itself is useful information — the awkward cases are usually the ones where the route chosen at the start was wrong.

Entry Permits, Status Change and the Rules That Govern Both

Almost every UAE immigration problem comes down to one of three things: which permit someone entered on, whether their status can be changed in-country, and whether a validity window closed while they waited.

The entry permit

Issued before someone enters, or before an in-country status change. It carries its own validity, and every stage that follows — medical, Emirates ID, stamping — has to complete inside it. Booking those stages late in the window is the most common self-inflicted delay there is.

Change status, or exit and re-enter

Whether someone can convert to residence without leaving depends on the entry category they arrived on. Where it is permitted, an in-country status change saves a flight. Where it is not, an exit and re-entry on the new permit is mandatory. This question should be settled before travel is booked, not after — and it is the question most often answered wrongly by whoever sold the original visa.

Grace periods and overstay

After a visa is cancelled or expires there is a grace period. Inside it, someone can transfer sponsor or arrange their exit without penalty. Outside it, fines accrue daily and continue accumulating, and an overstay record complicates future applications. Grace periods have been amended more than once, so the current rule is worth confirming rather than assuming.

Bans

There is no general ban on changing jobs. Under Federal Decree-Law No. (33) of 2021, a foreign worker is refused a new work permit for one year in two situations: leaving the UAE during probation without following the notice rules, and leaving work for an illegitimate reason before the contract ends. Family-sponsored residents and Golden Visa holders are among the exempt groups, so how the previous employment ended matters more than the fact that it ended. See our labour ban guide.

Please note: entry categories, status-change eligibility, grace periods, fines and ban rules are set by the UAE immigration authority and are revised from time to time.

What UAE Residency Actually Gives You

A residence visa is not just permission to stay. It is what unlocks most of ordinary life here, which is why losing it is more disruptive than people expect.

What it enables

An Emirates ID, and through it a bank account, a telecom contract, a registered tenancy, medical insurance, a driving licence and school enrolment. It also allows you to sponsor family.

What it is tied to

Employment residency is tied to your employer; family residency to your sponsor's own visa. Neither is independent. When the employment ends or the sponsor's visa changes, the dependent residency follows — which is the mechanism behind most of the surprises in this area.

Self-sponsored routes

Long-term residence such as the Golden Visa, and the green residence route for skilled employees and freelancers, are self-sponsored. They do not end when a job does. For anyone whose residency has been tied to an employer through several job changes, that difference is usually the reason to look at them.

Keeping Residency, and How People Lose It

The absence rule

A UAE residence visa can lapse if the holder remains outside the country beyond a defined continuous period. This catches out people who leave for an extended family stay or a work assignment abroad without checking. The permitted absence differs by visa type, and long-term residence categories are treated differently from standard employment residency.

Renewal

Residence visas renew on a fixed cycle alongside the Emirates ID and, where it applies, medical insurance. There is a grace period after expiry, after which overstay fines accrue daily. An expired residence visa also invalidates the Emirates ID, which usually surfaces first as a blocked bank or school transaction.

When employment ends

Cancellation opens a grace period during which you can transfer to a new sponsor or arrange your exit. Both the labour and immigration sides must be closed properly — leaving one open is the most common reason a later application is refused. See our visa cancellation service.

Please note: absence limits, grace periods, renewal cycles and fines are set by the UAE immigration authority and have been amended before. Confirm the current rule rather than relying on what applied previously.

Residence Permits at a Glance: What GDRFA Dubai Publishes

The routes above differ in validity, government fee and, just as importantly, how long the holder can stay after the permit ends. These are the positions GDRFA Dubai publishes for the most common permits:

GDRFA Dubai's fee tables for these permits also list AED 10 Knowledge Dirham and AED 10 Innovation Dirham, and most add an AED 20 delivery fee.

The Inside-Country Fee: What Changing Status Costs

GDRFA Dubai adds a separate fee when the person is already inside the UAE at the time of the application. It appears on tourist visas, family entry visas and residence permits alike:

Changing status inside the UAE saves a flight, but it adds around AED 520 to the government fees. For a single applicant a short exit can cost more than that; for a family of four it often does not. We compare both before anything is booked.

Government Fees Along the Residence Journey

Please note: these are government components only. Typing, centre charges, insurance and PROXPAT's service fee are separate, and authorities revise fees from time to time.

Fines That Interrupt Immigration Files

See establishment card and Emirates ID services.

Processing Times Authorities Publish

Published times start once the file is complete. Most real-world delay comes from documents, not processing, which is where a prepared file matters.