UAE: Hiring employees for a mainland company? Guidelines for work permit, contract, sponsorship

The UAE is a land of opportunities for those looking to work as well as those who want to bring their business ideas to life by setting up a flourishing company.

In the UAE, businesses can either be set up as a or company. Mainland companies are offshore entities that are registered under different authorities across the seven emirates.

These companies usually require a local sponsor or partner. They are allowed to operate across a range of sectors without most trading restrictions.

When starting a business in the UAE, after settling all the legal formalities and getting a licence, owners have to start employing workers.

From work permit to sponsoring employees, here is all you need to know about the employing process in the UAE.

When it comes to how many employees a company can hire, the quota is approved by the ministry. This may be changed on request from the employer and the approval of the ministry. This quota is decided after assessing the following aspects:

There are 12 types of work permits in the UAE. These permits along with six types of job models were introduced in 2022.

At the federal level, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation is in charge of issuing work permits. When issuing the crucial permit, the authority considers the following criteria:

Apart from Mohre, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) also overlooks this process in each emirate.

Employers in the UAE have to abide by a standard employment contract which is set by Mohre.

For an employment contract to be issued, the employer has to keep in mind the following points:

When it comes to clauses in the contract, no new additions can be made unless they comply with the following:

There are 11 languages that have been approved for the labour contract. In 2016, Mohre approved a third language to be added to the job offer, labour contract and annexure.

In addition to Arabic and English, employees can choose from nine languages. These are: Bengali, Chinese, Dari, Hindi, Malayalam, Nepalese, Sinhalese, Tamil and Urdu.

A hefty fine of Dh20,000 will be levied against the employers if its found that workers did not go through the annexes before signing the labour contract.

Sponsoring employees involves two phases. The first one is applying for the work permit or with Mohre, followed by applying for the employee work permit through the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs.

Applying for the permit has to be done through the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation. Here is how employers can apply:

Apart from a signed employment offer, there are other conditions which must be met by the employer:

While applying for the work permit with the federal authority, employers must keep the following in mind:

After getting the pre-approval from Mohre, employers can apply for the work permit from the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs.

Employers can go to the respective emirate's GDRFA, and request for a firm card.

Once this card is issued, the employer/company will have a file opened with the immigration authorities which will entitle it to apply and obtain work permits for new employees in future.