A guide for owners of UAE mainland companies making their first hire, covering the registrations that must exist before you can apply, the current MOHRE sequence, and the deadlines that carry fines.
You cannot hire anyone in the UAE until MOHRE issues a work permit, and you cannot apply for that permit until your company holds a valid trade licence, an open immigration file, a labor file, and quota. The permit itself costs between AED 250 and AED 3,450 depending on your company’s classification. Under Article 6 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, it is illegal for a person to work in the UAE without a valid work permit, and employers may not recruit or employ any worker unless a work permit is issued in accordance with MOHRE procedures.
The sequence changed materially in 2025. MOHRE’s Work Bundle consolidated five platforms into one and cut the standard hire from fifteen steps to five. Most guidance published before that describes a process that no longer matches what you will see on screen. This article covers the current route: what must be in place first, the job offer rules, the 14-day contract registration deadline, work permit costs, WPS setup, and the obligations that begin on the employee’s first day.
What Must Exist Before You Can Apply
Four things must be in place before a first hire is even possible: a valid trade licence, an immigration establishment card, a MOHRE labor file, and available quota. Missing any one of them stops the application, not delays it.
New owners routinely discover this in the wrong order. They advertise a role, agree a salary, and then find the company has no quota. Each of these registrations is a separate application to a separate authority, and each takes its own processing time.
| Prerequisite | Authority | Why it blocks the hire |
|---|---|---|
| Valid trade licence, free of violations | Economic department or free zone | A condition of issuing any work permit |
| Immigration establishment card | ICP, or GDRFA in Dubai | Without the company immigration file, no entry permit or residence visa can be issued |
| MOHRE labor establishment file | MOHRE (mainland only) | Work permits are issued only to establishments registered with the ministry |
| Work permit quota | MOHRE or the free zone authority | A permit cannot be issued against an allocation you do not have |
The immigration file and the labor file are different registrations with different authorities, and conflating them is the most common first-hire error. Opening the company immigration establishment card comes first; the labor file follows. Free zone companies do not register with MOHRE at all and hire under their zone’s own regime instead.
Quota is an allocation of work permits rather than of visas, and it is finite. If your allocation is zero or already used, the quota increase application has to be approved before the work permit application will go anywhere.
The conditions MOHRE applies to every work permit
The official conditions are specific and worth checking against your own situation before you spend anything. The worker must be at least 18, except under a juvenile or student permit. The occupation assigned to the worker must align with the business activity of the establishment. The company’s trade licence must be valid and free of violations. The worker must meet any licensing requirements for a specialized profession. And the application must be submitted by an individual legally authorized to represent the company.
MOHRE may also refrain from issuing or renewing, or may cancel, work permits where the establishment provides incorrect documents, is fictitious or is not exercising its registered activity, or is not compliant with the Wages Protection System. The second of those catches shell companies set up purely to generate visas.
The Work Bundle: What Changed in 2025
MOHRE’s Work Bundle consolidated five platforms into one and reduced the standard hire from 15 steps requiring 16 documents to 5 steps requiring 5 documents. In-person visits dropped from seven to two, and stated processing time fell from 30 working days to 5.
The platform now handles work permit issuance, renewal and cancellation, residence visa processing, and the medical examination and fingerprinting needed for the Emirates ID, in one integrated flow rather than as separate applications to MOHRE and the immigration authority.
| Measure | Before | Under the Work Bundle |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | 5 | 1 |
| Services | 8 | 1 integrated experience |
| Steps | 15 | 5 |
| Documents | 16 | 5 |
| In-person visits | 7 | 2 |
| Processing time | 30 working days | 5 working days |
Treat the five working days as the ministry’s stated service level for the consolidated flow, not a guarantee for your specific case. Medical fitness results, security checks and document attestation gaps still add real time, and an incomplete file resets the clock rather than pausing it.
Step by Step: Job Offer to Residence Visa
The order is fixed: job offer signed by the worker, initial work permit approval, entry into the UAE, medical and biometrics, contract registration with MOHRE within 14 days, then the residence visa and Emirates ID. The same order applies whether the worker is abroad or already in the country, with the entry-permit stage dropped for an in-country hire.
Step 1: Issue the job offer
The employer signs the job offer electronically and sends it to the worker for review and approval. It has to be provided in Arabic and English plus a third language the worker understands, with an annex outlining the provisions of the Labour Law. Workers in skill levels 1, 2 and 3 must sign; a fingerprint is accepted for levels 4 and 5.
Step 2: Apply for initial work permit approval
The signed job offer is attached to the application for initial approval. MOHRE reviews the file for completeness, and this approval is what allows the worker to enter the UAE. Providing false information to the ministry at this stage can result in fines of up to AED 20,000.
Step 3: Entry permit and arrival
The entry permit is issued against the approved application and the worker travels on it. If your hire is already in the UAE on another status, this step is replaced by a status change and the worker must sign the job offer before you can apply for initial approval at all.
Step 4: Medical fitness test and biometrics
The worker completes the medical fitness test and fingerprinting for the Emirates ID. Under the Work Bundle these are booked within the same flow rather than as separate applications, which is where most of the removed in-person visits came from.
Step 5: Register the employment contract within 14 days
On arrival both parties sign the job offer, which is then officially registered with MOHRE as a legally binding employment contract. The contract must be submitted to MOHRE within 14 days of the employee’s arrival in the UAE, or from the date of the status change for an in-country hire. Missing that window is a fineable administrative default, not a formality, and the detail of MOHRE labour contract registration is worth reading before you start the clock.
Step 6: Residence visa and Emirates ID
The residence visa is stamped and the Emirates ID issued. The full Dubai employment residence visa procedure sets out the two separate 60-day clocks that run in parallel with the MOHRE side and catch employers who assume one deadline covers both.
What the Job Offer and Contract Must Contain
The employment contract must be based on the signed offer letter, must state start date, type of work, workplace, terms, duration and salary, and must be for a fixed term not exceeding three years, renewable as often as both parties wish.
After signing, the employer cannot alter or replace any provision of the offer letter unless the employee consents and the change is within the scope of the law. Once registered, no clause may be replaced or amended unless the worker’s rights are not undermined, both parties agree, and MOHRE approves the amendment. That three-part test is why sending a revised contract directly to an employee mid-term does not achieve anything on its own.
The third language requirement is often missed by small employers. Since 2016 MOHRE has allowed a third language to be added on the worker’s request, chosen from Bengali, Chinese, Dari, Hindi, Malayalam, Nepalese, Sinhalese, Tamil and Urdu. It applies to workers arriving from outside the country and to those already resident who are changing employer.
Contract type also matters at the hiring stage rather than later. A full-time hire, a part-time arrangement under a part-time work permit, and a temporary or mission permit are different permit types with different validity, and switching afterward means a new application rather than an amendment.
What It Costs the Employer, and What the Worker May Never Be Charged
The work permit costs between AED 250 and AED 3,450 depending on the company’s classification under MOHRE’s establishment classification system, and none of the recruitment cost may be passed to the employee.
The classification reflects how far the company complies with the Labour Law, the Wages Protection System, ministry resolutions, workers’ rights legislation, and the policy on cultural and demographic diversity. Companies with a history of violations sit in the lowest category and pay the highest permit fees. This is the mechanism that makes compliance a direct cost line rather than an abstraction.
The prohibition on charging the worker is absolute. Article 6(4) of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 prohibits the employer from charging the worker the fees and costs of recruitment and employment, or collecting them from him, whether directly or indirectly. A salary deduction, a repayment clause for visa costs, or a refundable deposit held against the permit all fall inside that prohibition, and routing the invoice through a recruitment agent or a PRO services provider does not change the analysis.
Related costs to budget separately: the medical fitness test, Emirates ID, entry permit and residence visa fees, health insurance, and attestation of any qualification certificate the role requires. Beyond a certain headcount, Emiratisation targets under the Nafis programme add their own cost and compliance layer, so check whether your first hire moves you across a threshold.
Setting Up WPS Before the First Payday
All establishments registered with MOHRE must pay wages through the Wages Protection System, and an employer is considered late if payment is not made within the first 15 days after the due date unless the contract specifies a shorter period.
Wages are governed by Ministerial Resolution No. 598 of 2022 on the Wages Protection System. Salaries are paid through banks, exchange houses or financial institutions authorized by the Central Bank of the UAE. Wages fall due from the first day of the month following the period specified in the contract, and where no period is specified the worker must be paid at least once a month. Payment may be in dirhams or in another currency if the contract says so.
There is no statutory minimum wage in the UAE Labour Law. It requires only that wages be sufficient to meet the worker’s basic needs, which means the market rate for the role, not a published floor, is your reference point.
The exemption that surprises first-time employers
New employees are excluded from WPS during the first 30 days from the due date of the wage. That gives you a short window to get the bank file registered, but it is a grace period rather than an exemption, and the obligation lands in full immediately afterward. Other excluded categories include workers whose wage complaint has been referred to the judiciary, workers reported under a work abandonment report, and workers on documented unpaid leave. The employer-side exclusions are narrow: UAE nationals owning fishing boats or public taxis, banks, and houses of worship. If you are not on that list, you are in the system. You can also verify WPS salary records from the employee side to confirm payments are registering correctly.
Obligations That Start on the First Day
From day one you owe the employee a signed contract copy, health insurance, correct wage payment, and a personnel file kept for at least two years after the end of service.
- Contract copy. The contract is made in two copies, one kept by the employer and one handed to the worker.
- Records. The employer must maintain workers’ files and records, and the worker’s file must be kept for at least two years from the end of service.
- Documents. The employer must not withhold the worker’s official documents. Retaining a passport after the transaction that required it is a breach, regardless of company policy or of who physically holds it.
- Accommodation. The employer must provide adequate accommodation licensed by the competent authorities, or pay a housing allowance, or include it in the wage.
- Health insurance. Cover is a legal requirement for residents, with the employer carrying the obligation in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The rules on mandatory health insurance and the penalties for going without it vary by emirate, so confirm which scheme applies to your licence.
- End of service. Gratuity accrues from day one of continuous service even though it is only paid at the end, and the end-of-service gratuity calculation should be provisioned rather than discovered.
Probation is capped at six months from the start date, and terminating during probation requires at least 14 days’ written notice. A worker may not be placed on probation more than once with the same employer, and the probation period counts toward continuous service if the worker passes it.
Mistakes That Cost First-Time Employers
Most first-hire problems are sequencing failures rather than legal disputes, and all of them are avoidable before money is spent.
- Letting the employee start before the permit is issued. Working without a valid permit is unlawful for both sides. A start date agreed on the offer letter is not authorization to begin.
- Assuming the immigration file covers the labor file. They are separate registrations with separate authorities and separate renewal dates.
- Hiring into an occupation that does not match the licence. The assigned occupation must align with the establishment’s business activity. A trading licence will not carry a permit for a role that only a professional licence supports.
- Missing the 14-day contract registration window. The clock starts on arrival or status change, not on the day the employee actually begins working.
- Deducting visa costs from salary. Prohibited under Article 6(4), and it is one of the most common findings in a MOHRE complaint.
- Ignoring WPS until the first salary run. The bank file and the ministry registration both take time, and the 30-day new-employee exclusion is shorter than most onboarding cycles.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to hire your first employee in the UAE?
MOHRE states that the Work Bundle reduced processing time from 30 working days to 5 working days for the consolidated work permit and residence flow. That figure assumes a complete file. Real timelines for a first hire also include opening the establishment card and labor file, obtaining quota, and the worker’s medical and biometrics, so plan in weeks rather than days for the first one and days for the ones after.
How much does a UAE work permit cost the employer?
Between AED 250 and AED 3,450, depending on the company’s classification under MOHRE’s establishment classification system. The classification reflects compliance with the Labour Law, the Wages Protection System and workers’ rights legislation, so a company with violations pays materially more per permit than a compliant one. Medical, Emirates ID, entry permit, residence visa and insurance costs are additional.
Can I make the employee pay for their own visa?
No. Article 6(4) of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 prohibits the employer from charging the worker the fees and costs of recruitment and employment, directly or indirectly. That covers salary deductions, repayment clauses, and deposits held against the visa cost, whoever issues the invoice.
Do I need a quota before I can hire?
Yes. Quota is an allocation of work permits held against your establishment file, and a permit cannot be issued without one. A newly licensed company may have a small default allocation or none at all, so check before you make an offer. Increasing the allocation is a separate application with its own approval time.
How many days do I have to register the employment contract?
The contract must be submitted to MOHRE within 14 days of the employee’s arrival in the UAE, or from the date of the status change if the worker was already in the country. The registered contract, not the offer letter, is the document MOHRE treats as the employment relationship.
What language must the employment contract be in?
Job offers, contracts and annexes are provided in Arabic and English, and since 2016 a third language may be added on the worker’s request from nine options: Bengali, Chinese, Dari, Hindi, Malayalam, Nepalese, Sinhalese, Tamil and Urdu. The job offer must be in a language the worker understands, and the employer must ensure the worker has read and understood it before the contract is signed.
Does a free zone company follow the same MOHRE process?
No. Free zone companies do not register with MOHRE and hire under their own zone authority’s employment regime, using the zone’s permit and contract templates. Immigration transactions still route to the federal or emirate immigration authority. Check your zone’s published employment rules, because gratuity, notice and dispute routes can differ from the mainland position.
Is there a minimum salary for hiring in the UAE?
The UAE Labour Law sets no minimum wage. It requires that wages be sufficient to meet the basic needs of employees. Practical floors come from elsewhere: the salary thresholds attached to family sponsorship, the skill level assigned to the occupation, and what the market pays for the role.
What happens if I let someone work before the permit is issued?
Working without a valid work permit is unlawful for the worker and for the employer under Article 6. Beyond the fine exposure, an unpermitted worker has no registered contract, which weakens the employer’s position in any subsequent dispute over duties, notice or termination.
Can I hire someone who is already in the UAE on a family visa?
Yes, through the work permit type designed for a resident on family sponsorship, which lets companies hire residents under family sponsorship from within the UAE and is valid for two years. The worker keeps their family-sponsored residence and does not transfer to your sponsorship, but the permit is still required before they start work.
Official Sources
- The Official Portal of the UAE Government — Work permits
- The Official Portal of the UAE Government — Job offers and the employment process
- The Official Portal of the UAE Government — Payment of salaries and wages
- Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations
- Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation
- Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security
Information current as of July 2026. Work permit fees depend on your establishment’s classification and change by resolution; confirm the current figure for your category with MOHRE before budgeting. Processing times quoted are the ministry’s stated service levels, not guarantees. Verify with the relevant authority before proceeding.
This article is general information for employers about UAE administrative procedure. It is not legal or employment advice. For a contentious termination, a specialized profession, or a free zone with its own employment regulations, take advice from a licensed UAE practitioner.
