Hiring in the UAE means two files rather than one. The labour file sits with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation: the work permit and the employment contract. The immigration file sits with GDRFA in Dubai, or ICP elsewhere: the entry permit, the medical, the Emirates ID and the residence. Tasheel is the service-centre channel most employers know the first one by.
We run both sides for employers, and the reason to treat them as one job is that each blocks the other at a different moment. Knowing which one goes first is most of what keeps a start date or a final settlement from slipping.
The two files, and where they touch
| Stage | Labour file | Immigration file |
|---|---|---|
| Before anyone is hired | The company is registered as an employer | GDRFA opens or increases the work visa quota against the licence, the establishment card, the registered tenancy and the department's classification certificate |
| Offer and permit | Offer letter, then the work permit for that person | The entry permit is issued against the quota |
| Arrival | The employment contract is signed and filed | Entry or change of status, medical examination for anyone over 18, Emirates ID biometrics |
| Ongoing | Contract and permit renewals | Residence and Emirates ID renewals, on their own dates |
| Leaving | The work permit is cancelled first | GDRFA will not cancel the residence without the ministry's work permit cancellation extract |
That last row is the one employers discover the hard way. The labour file closes first and the immigration file second, so a final settlement signed on Thursday does not mean the visa is cancelled by Friday.
What we handle on the labour side
- Registering the company as an employer and working the visa quota with it
- Offer letters and work permits for each hire
- Employment contracts, and the amendments that follow a promotion or a change of terms
- Renewals, so a permit does not lapse behind a residence that is still valid
- Cancellations and transfers, in the order the authorities require
- The insurance and portal registrations that sit alongside each person's file
What we charge per hire
| Our fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Visa typing | AED 200 |
| Portal access | AED 300 |
| Unemployment insurance (WPI) | AED 300 |
| Health insurance, from | AED 500 |
| Total per person, from | AED 1,300 |
Government charges are billed at cost on top of that, because they move with the route and the person. The ministry's own permit fees depend on the permit type and on the establishment, so we confirm the current figure against your file rather than printing one here that ages badly. The full arithmetic of a first hire, government side included, is in what a UAE employment visa costs.
Before the first hire
Five things have to be true before a work permit will move, and every one of them belongs to the company rather than the candidate:
- The trade licence is valid and covers the activity the person will actually work in.
- The establishment card is current, because the entry permit that follows the work permit is filed against it.
- A quota exists, opened at GDRFA against the licence, the establishment card, the registered tenancy and the classification certificate for the establishment.
- The premises match the headcount, since that quota is granted against registered space rather than against an address on letterhead.
- The insurance and portal registrations are in place for the person you are about to add.
Companies that check these in the week they decide to hire rarely have a problem. Companies that check them in the week the candidate wants to fly usually do, and the fix is almost always a renewal somewhere else in the file.
Transfers and changes during employment
Most labour-file work is not the first hire. It is the change: a promotion that alters the recorded job title, a salary revision, somebody arriving from another company, somebody leaving. Each has its own filing, and the ones involving another employer move at that employer's pace rather than yours. When you agree a start date with a candidate who is still employed, agree it around their cancellation, not around your own urgency.
What we need from you
- Trade licence and establishment card
- The quota approval, where one is already in place
- Passport copy and photograph for the person being hired
- Qualification certificates where the role requires them, attested and translated if they were issued abroad
- The offer terms: job title, salary, and the date you would like them to start
- Details of any UAE visa the person currently holds, because that changes the route entirely
Where employers get caught
- The quota is granted against premises, not against ambition. If your address is a desk, what it supports decides how many people you can sponsor before you have to take more space.
- An expired establishment card stops every hire, because the entry permit is filed against it. That card and its fines are covered on the company visa page.
- Somebody already in the country takes a different route from somebody flying in, and GDRFA charges an inside-country fee for the change of status.
- A departing employee's clock is not the same as your notice period. GDRFA's pages give sixty days of grace after a cancellation in one place and thirty in another, so plan to thirty and keep proof of departure.
- Documents from abroad need attesting and translating before a file will move: see legal translation for the order that avoids paying twice.
Tasheel and MOHRE FAQs
It is the service-centre channel employers use for ministry transactions, which is why the whole labour side of hiring gets called "Tasheel" in conversation. The ministry also runs its own digital channels, so a company with somebody competent and patient in the office can file directly.
The work permit is cancelled first. GDRFA lists an extract of the work permit cancellation from the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation as a requirement for cancelling a private-sector residence, so attempting the immigration side first simply stalls.
As many as your quota allows, and the quota is opened against the commercial licence, the establishment card, the registered tenancy and the classification certificate for the establishment. In practice that means space and licence status set your hiring ceiling, and both are fixable with planning rather than in the week somebody is due to start.
A free zone company deals with its own zone authority for the labour side, so the route described here is the mainland one. If you are in a zone, ask it which of these steps it runs itself before assuming either version applies.
The two tracks run in parallel but not independently: the permit comes from the labour side, and the entry permit is issued against the quota on the immigration side. What causes delays is starting one track and discovering the other was blocked all along, usually by the licence or the establishment card.
Yes, and it is one of the most common hires in the market. The route depends on the other employer: a transfer needs their side handled properly, and a cancellation leaves the person on a grace period shorter than most people assume. Ask for their cancellation dates in writing before you commit to a start date.
They are separate documents with separate dates, which is exactly why it happens. A residence that looks fine tells you nothing about the labour file behind it, and the mismatch tends to surface at the worst moment, when somebody is being cancelled or transferred. Keeping both dates on one calendar is the cheap fix.
Hiring, priced end to start
If you are budgeting rather than filing, start with what an employment visa costs for your first hires, then the Emirates ID process for the timing of the last step. The company's other renewal dates, licence included, are kept on one calendar by our PRO service.