Work permits in the UAE
A work permit for every person you hire, matched to the job and the route it takes: the company file, the quota, the documents, the guarantee and the dates that follow.
Work permit fee
Стоимость разрешения
AED 250 – 3,450
250 – 3 450 AED
Bank guarantee
Банковская гарантия
AED 3,000 per worker
3 000 AED за работника
Recruitment permit
Разрешение на найм
Valid two years
Действует два года
Time to pay fees
Срок оплаты
60 days
60 дней
When you need a UAE work permit
Your first hire starts next month
The ministry issues the permit before anyone begins, and the file behind it takes weeks. A start date agreed in the offer letter depends on that sequence.
The company file is not open
Permits go to establishments registered with the ministry. Until the file and the establishment card exist, there is nothing to apply against.
A candidate already lives here
Someone on family sponsorship or leaving another employer is not a simpler case, only a different permit. The route changes and so do the documents.
You need people for one project
A short task, a temporary assignment or a visiting specialist each have their own permit type. Using the standard one for them is a mismatch the ministry sees.
A permit lapsed while nobody looked
Renewal carries the same conditions as issue, and a licence with violations blocks it. The gap surfaces at the next transaction with the ministry.
Hiring stopped without an explanation
New permits are suspended for listed breaches, and failing the wage system is separately a ground to withhold them. Either way the block sits on the company file.
What you get
- The right permit type
- A file that opens
- Documents in the required order
- Renewal dates in writing
- A quota you can use
What is required for a work permit
A work permit is the ministry’s permission for one named person to do one named job at one company. It is separate from the residence visa and comes before it: the visa is granted on the basis of the permit.
Two company files have to exist first — one with the ministry, one with the residency directorate. The first produces the permit, the second the entry permit and the visa that follows it.
Conditions for a permit
- The worker is at least eighteen, outside the juvenile and student training permits.
- The occupation matches the activity written on the company’s trade licence.
- The licence is valid and carries no violations of its own.
- Professions that require a licence to practise carry the further approval of the authority that grants it.
- The application comes from someone legally authorised to represent the company.
Documents behind the application
- The trade licence and the establishment’s electronic signature card.
- A passport valid for at least six months and a colour photograph on a white background.
- Qualifications for the role, attested by the ministry of foreign affairs.
- The signed job offer, and confirmation the person holds no live permit elsewhere.
Permit types and their terms
Thirteen types are issued, and the type follows the nature of the job.
| Permit | Valid for |
|---|---|
| Recruiting a worker from abroad | Two years |
| Transferring a worker between establishments | Two years |
| A resident on family sponsorship | Two years |
| Employing a citizen of the country or the Gulf states | Two years |
| Training a citizen under an approved qualification | Twelve months |
| A juvenile aged between fifteen and eighteen | One year |
| Student training and employment | Three months |
The rest — temporary, mission, part-time, freelance, golden residency and private teaching — attach to a task or a status instead of a fixed term.
What issuing one costs
Issuing or renewing a permit runs from AED 250 to AED 3,450, and where a company lands in that range follows the classification the ministry gives it — A, B or C — which reflects its compliance record. A bank guarantee of AED 3,000 is also required for each registered employee, and it may be refunded once the person’s service ends and the labour card is cancelled.
Sources: work permits and recruiting on the mainland (UAE Government portal); Federal Decree-Law 33 of 2021, article 6.
Stages of work
Opening the company file.
We will register the establishment with the ministry so that a file, an establishment card and a number sit against the trade licence. Until they do, there is no address to send an application to.
The electronic signature card.
After initial approval the ministry inspects the premises and, where nothing is in breach, issues the signature card. That card is what allows the company to file permit applications at all.
The quota and the offer.
The ministry sets each company a quota, and four things feed that decision: what legal form the company has, how much room it occupies, which projects are in hand, and what the business genuinely requires. We will assemble the evidence for all four and put the job offer into the required form.
The permit and the guarantee.
Approval holds for sixty days, and the fees and the AED 3,000 guarantee are paid inside that window. Let it pass and the approval cancels itself, and the application is submitted again from the start.
Entry, medical and the identity card.
The entry permit runs two months. Inside it the person completes the medical fitness test, applies for the identity card and receives the labour card from the ministry.
The visa and the dates after it.
The residence visa is granted on the basis of the permit and stamped into the passport with its validity. We will hand over the renewal dates for the permit, the visa and the card as one list with owners against them.
The rest of the employment file — contracts, the wage channel and the national hiring count — sits in WPS registration and HR compliance.
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