Dubai is the largest city in United Arab Emirates and one of the fastest growing business hubs in the world. If you are looking for job opportunities abroad or want to start business or planning to expand business presence, Dubai would be an excellent choice. Foreign nationals need valid work permits and visas in order to work in UAE. It is better to have an experienced business consulting firm on your side that can make sure the process of obtaining work permit and visa is as smooth as possible.
Work visa is a permit that allows the foreigners to work in a country for a specific time period. If you want to work in UAE or conduct business operations, you can apply for a 60 day Work Visa. This will enable you to arrive in the country and start your work immediately. During this time period, you must apply for an employment and residency visa through your UAE employer. These visas are normally issued for a two years. Existing Residence Visa holders can bring in servants based on certain conditions.
Before acquiring a work permit in Dubai, foreign nationals need a visa to enter the country. The UAE issues various types of visas and entry permits to foreigners that include
Foreigners who want to obtain permits to live and work in Dubai must begin the process by acquiring an entry permit visa.
The applicant has to meet at least one of the three conditions mentioned below:
In the first case, Ministry of Human Resources & Emiratisation (MoHRE) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation have set up centres outside the country to facilitate the visa process.
In the second case, you can obtain your Dubai work permit by leaving UAE. You don’t need to go back to your home country. Some airlines will offer a ‘visa run’ facility in which you can stopover at a neighbouring country until you acquire a work permit in Dubai. Your company can also facilitate ‘Change Status’ process done by the General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs (GDFRA) in Dubai. Here, you do not need to leave the country to obtain the work permit.
In the third case, you will receive a new work permit to join the company. As per law, an employee whose contract was terminated is eligible for a new work permit, provided they are able to secure a new job opportunity.
To work in Dubai, foreigners will need a residence visa and a work permit. They must provide the following documents to obtain both:
Work permit
Resident visa
We at Bizvise can assist you in complete documentation to obtain visa for your employee and staff. Our PRO team will take care of complete visa processing.
According to academic qualification, and complexity of the work, the UAE government has categorized the skill level of the private and public sector’s employees.
The classification is based on Skilled Labor and Limited Skilled Labor Those falling in Level 1 to 3 skill levels requires the professional diploma training or attested academic certificate.Those falling in Level 4 to 5 does not require any certificate for getting the work permit.We at Bizvise can assist you in guiding the right employment visa
Below are few examples of Skill Levels
Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) is the authority who is in charge of handling visa process. They will check all the documents and after the process is complete, work visa is issued.
The applicants must go through various steps to obtain the Dubai work visa:
1. Entry permit issuance
The visa process starts with the submission of the application form to the MoHRE by the company. The employer is responsible for the payment of all the fees. After that, the Ministry reviews the documents and issues an Entry Permit. The employee then needs to visit Dubai.
2. Documentation
The employee gets two months to complete the process with the help of the employer after visiting Dubai. A Medical Test is conducted at a government-approved health centre as a part of the visa process. Apart from that, other formalities will be done to obtain the documents that are attached to the application
3. Receive the documents
The employee must receive some documents before obtaining the Work Visa. The person has to go to the Emirates ID service centre to receive the ID card. After that, the employee must apply for the residence visa and receive a stamp in his/her passport which will be granted by the Department of Naturalization and Residency Dubai (DNRD).
4. Submission of the application
After all the documentation work, the application must be submitted to the Ministry of Labor. The Dubai employment visa will be issued after careful examination of documents.
Employees who are above 18 are eligible for a Dubai work visa. The UAE’s Labour Law will not allow anyone below 15 to work in the country. However, residents of Dubai who are aged between 15 and 18 years can apply for internships and other jobs. They must keep in mind that the work conditions and working hours are created as per the rules set by the UAE Labour Law for employees below 18.
It depends on your sponsor and the nature of your employment. The visa is normally issued for one or two or three years.
The government does not state a specific time for processing a Dubai work visa. Normally it’s between two and seven working days for the entry permit. This will allow the applicant to enter the country and live in the city for two months. The employer will then have to complete other steps within days. There will also be security checks.
You may encounter visa fraud while working in Dubai. But there are ways to manage it. Some of the methods to check the authenticity are:
Yes, you can renew the work visa. The UAE residence visas are issued for 1-3 years and it can be renewed. Your sponsor must renew your UAE Work Visa within the 30 days before expiry date.
The sponsor has to apply for visa at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in the relevant emirate. The visa renewal can also be done after the expiry date. The condition is that it must be within the UAE residence visa expiry grace period.