MoHRE Labour Card: The Complete Guide for Employees and Companies

Search for “labour card” and you will find hundreds of pages explaining how to get one, what it costs and how to check it. Almost all of them are describing a document that the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation does not issue under that name.

This guide does something different. Everything below is taken from MoHRE’s own service cards — the pages the Ministry publishes for each service, listing the conditions, the fees, the documents and the processing time. Where MoHRE does not publish a figure, we say so rather than filling the gap. And we begin with the thing nobody else will tell you.

Does the labour card still exist?

Short answer: not as a document you apply for by that name.

We went through the Ministry’s complete services directory — every service listed for employers, employees and partners, 75 in total. The phrase “labour card” does not appear once. What the directory contains instead is a family of services built around two documents:

• The work permit — issuance, renewal, transfer, cancellation, and specialised variants for domestic workers, private tutors, dependants and temporary or mission work.
• The employment contract — issuance and renewal, and cancellation alongside the permit.

The UAE Government portal tells the same story. A search there for “labour card” returns pages on labour accommodation, labour disputes and labour market data — nothing about a card.

This matters practically, not just semantically. If you go looking for a “labour card application” you will not find one, and you may end up on a third-party site charging you for something the Ministry provides free through its own app. Knowing the correct name is the difference between using the official channel and being sold a service.

The two cards this guide covers

People use “labour card” to mean two entirely different things depending on whether they are an employee or a business owner. We cover both, separately and in full.

The employee “labour card”: the work permit

A work permit is the Ministry’s authorisation for a specific person to work for a specific employer. It is the labour-side counterpart to your residence visa, and the two are separate: MoHRE authorises the job, immigration authorises your presence in the country.

How long it lasts

MoHRE states the permit duration plainly: two years.

What kinds of employment it covers

The Ministry lists six contract types available under a work permit:

• Full Time
• Part Time
• Temporary Work
• Flexible Work
• Remote Work
• Job Sharing

This is worth knowing because the older, informal understanding of a labour card assumed one standard full-time arrangement. The current framework is considerably broader, and the permit accommodates all six. Our guide to work permit types in the UAE covers the different permit categories, and MoHRE contract types covers the contractual side.

The conditions MoHRE applies

These are the Ministry’s published conditions for issuing a new work permit for a worker recruited from overseas. Read them as a checklist, because a file failing any one of them will not proceed.

• The establishment must have an electronic quota available. No quota, no permit — regardless of how suitable the candidate is.
• The employee must be 18 years of age or older.
• Specialised professions must meet their licensing requirements under the applicable legislation.
• The establishment must hold a valid licence with no registered violations that would suspend its operations.
• The application must be submitted by the establishment’s authorised signatory.
• The candidate may not already hold an active work permit.
• Replacement is possible within limits: the work permit may be replaced and the nationality changed — while profession and gender remain unchanged — within six months of issuance, up to two times, provided ICP cancels the entry permit for the replaced worker.

The documents MoHRE requires

This is the Ministry’s published list for a new overseas work permit. Every item is theirs, not ours.

Academic certificates by skill level — the rule almost nobody publishes

MoHRE ties the certificate requirement directly to the skill level of the role. This is one of the most useful things on the entire service card, and it is rarely reproduced accurately.

MoHRE adds a definition that carries real weight: workers who earn less than AED 4,000 per month, or who do not possess a degree, are not considered skilled.

That single sentence sits underneath a great deal else — skill classification affects grace periods on the immigration side, and it affects how an establishment is treated. It is worth knowing where you fall.

Professional licensing, by profession

Where a profession requires a licence, MoHRE names the issuing authority. Its published examples:

• Doctors and nurses — Ministry of Health, or the relevant Department of Health.
• Teachers and teaching assistants — Ministry of Education, KHDA in Dubai, Abu Dhabi Education Council, or Sharjah Education Council.
• Fitness trainers — the Youth and Sports Authority.
• Advocates — the Ministry of Justice.

If your profession is on this list, the licence is not an optional extra to sort out later. The work permit will not issue without it.

What the work permit costs

MoHRE publishes the fees, and the structure matters more than any single number.

Fees shown exclude tax and collection charges.

How long it takes

MoHRE states a service completion duration of two working days for the work permit application. That is the Ministry’s processing time for a complete file — not the total elapsed time for a hire, which also includes the entry permit, medical, biometrics and residence on the immigration side.

The employment contract: the other half of your record

A work permit authorises the employment. The MoHRE-registered employment contract is what governs it. Together they are what a modern “labour card” actually consists of.

The Ministry’s published conditions for contracts contain three timing rules that matter enormously and are widely unknown.

The required document is simply the employment contract approved by the Ministry, signed by both the employer and the employee. Processing is again two working days, and the service is free through MoHRE’s website and app except for federal charges, with business centre commission capped at AED 72.

Where to find your work permit and contract: employees

This is the practical question, and MoHRE provides several named channels. These are the Ministry’s own, and they are free.

MoHRE’s own guidance, repeated on every service card, is that applicants can follow up by visiting the Inquiry Service at mohre.gov.ae, the MOHRE smart app, the call centre on 600590000, or the chatbot.

What you will need to identify yourself

Enquiry services are keyed to identifiers rather than names. Have ready:

• Your Emirates ID number, or the unified number shown on your residence visa.
• Your passport number.
• Your employer’s establishment number, where the service asks for it.
• UAE Pass, which MoHRE accepts for login on its online and smart channels.

If you cannot retrieve anything, the most common reasons are a mistyped identifier, or a permit that was never completed — which is itself worth discovering.

The company “labour card”: the MoHRE establishment card

When a business owner says “company labour card”, what they mean is the company’s registration with the Ministry — the file that makes it possible to employ anybody at all. MoHRE calls this the establishment card, and issuing it is a named service.

Our guide to the establishment card covers the immigration side in detail. What follows is the MoHRE side.

What has to be registered

MoHRE states that before anything else, the establishment’s details must be registered with the Ministry, together with:

• The establishment’s owners.
• The authorised signatories.
• Samples of their signatures.
• Details of the establishment’s business activity.
• The establishment’s location.

The conditions MoHRE applies to companies

These are the Ministry’s published requirements, and several are genuinely obscure.

• A valid trade licence. Everything begins here.
• Owners, partners, service agents and authorised signatories must obtain a Ministry-issued personal identification number. This is a MoHRE identifier, distinct from your Emirates ID.
• A unified personal identification number must be assigned across all establishments of the same licensee or service agent registered with the Ministry. One person, one number, however many companies.
• A licensee or service agent must be at least 18 years of age. Guardians or trustees may sign on behalf of minors until they reach legal age, and minors may sign if they obtain court approval.
• The authorised signatory at the Ministry must also be authorised to sign at ICP. The two authorities must see the same authorised person.
• GCC citizens are treated as UAE nationals.
• Creating a file for a recruitment or mediation agency additionally requires the reference number on which the agency guarantee was entered.

The documents MoHRE requires from a company

Activity-specific licences

MoHRE names three activities that require an additional licence with the application — detail that appears almost nowhere else:

• Fishing boats — a boat licence issued by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.
• Abra activity — a licence issued by the Roads and Transport Authority.
• Public utility establishments — a licence from the Community Development Authority.

What the company establishment card costs

Processing is two working days. Fees exclude tax and collection charges.

How the company applies

MoHRE’s published process is four steps:

• Log in with a username and password, or use UAE Pass — for online and smart channels.
• Submit the application through one of the service delivery channels.
• The application is referred electronically to the Ministry for verification against the requirements and documents.
• On compliance with all conditions and documents, the application is approved.

Channels are the service centre, website, mobile application and Tawseel. The service sits with MoHRE’s Digital Services Department, and it is formally related to the Economic Departments and ICP — which is the Ministry’s own acknowledgement that the three systems interlock.

The PRO card: who may act for the company

Alongside the establishment card sits a document most business owners have heard of and few understand. MoHRE describes the PRO card as a subsidiary, optional procedure related to opening and updating the establishment file, which allows the holder to submit the Ministry’s transactions on behalf of the establishment at which he is registered.

The rules on who can hold one

These are unusually specific, and they are the Ministry’s:

Further published conditions:

• The applicant must maintain an official file with the Ministry — a valid work permit is required. A PRO must themselves be lawfully employed.
• The applicant must possess good moral character and conduct.
• The applicant must be the owner and the authorised signatory of the establishment.
• Typing and card issuance fees must be paid.

PRO card documents and cost

The required documents are short and notable: a Police Clearance Certificate and a personal photo. The clearance certificate is the moral-character condition made concrete.

Processing is two working days, and approval is granted automatically once conditions and documents are met.

Where companies find and manage all of this

MoHRE also publishes a user guide PDF on each service page, explaining how to use the system for that specific service. If you are doing something for the first time, that download is the most reliable instruction available — and it is free.

The full work permit family: seven routes, not one

“Labour card” implies a single document everyone gets. MoHRE’s directory shows something quite different: a family of distinct permit services, each with its own service card, conditions and fees. Knowing which one applies to you is the difference between the right application and a rejected one.

Domestic workers sit under a genuinely separate regime, with their own permit service, their own contract service, and their own absconding-report procedures for both employer and worker. If you employ domestic staff, the Tasheel Web process described in this guide is not your route — MoHRE operates a dedicated domestic workers system. See our maid and domestic worker visa page.

Quota: the gate before the permit

The first published condition for a work permit is that the establishment must have an electronic quota available. Quota is not automatic and it is not granted by holding a trade licence. MoHRE publishes it as a separate service: Work Permit Quotas For Establishments.

In practice this is where a great many hiring plans stop without warning. The company is licensed, the candidate is ready, the documents are complete — and there is no quota. Because quota is invisible until you need it, the discovery usually comes at the worst moment.

If you are planning to hire, check quota first. Our guide on checking and increasing company visa quota covers the process, and our quota approval page covers the service.

Keeping the establishment file current

MoHRE publishes Updating the Establishment File as its own service, and it matters more than its dull name suggests. The file holds the owners, the authorised signatories, the signature samples, the activity and the location. Every one of those can change.

When they change and the file is not updated, the failure is indirect: an application is submitted by someone no longer recorded as the signatory, or against an address that no longer matches the licence, and it fails for a reason the error message does not explain.

MoHRE also publishes Opening a Farm or Ranch File for domestic sponsors, and a set of services around recruitment, temporary employment and mediation agency licences — issuance, renewal, branch issuance, amendments, and the bank guarantee payment and refund. Agencies are a regulated category in their own right.

How the labour card fits with your visa and Emirates ID

This is the picture that makes everything else make sense. A working resident in the UAE holds three separate things from three separate authorities, and people conflate them constantly.

The sequence is fixed: MoHRE first, immigration second. The work permit is approved before the entry permit is issued, and the residence is issued after entry, medical and biometrics. This is why a problem on the labour side stops the immigration side, and why people who go to the wrong authority get nowhere.

We have written each authority out in full: MoHRE, GDRFA and ICP, and compared the two immigration authorities in ICP vs GDRFA.

The compliance angle employers underestimate

Two published details deserve emphasis because they carry real money.

First, the category effect. The identical two-year work permit costs AED 250, AED 1,200 or AED 3,450 depending on the establishment’s category. Across twenty employees renewing over two years, that is a difference measured in tens of thousands of dirhams — determined entirely by the company’s compliance record.

Second, the violations condition. MoHRE requires that the establishment maintain a valid license without any registered violations, resulting in suspension of its operations. A company in breach cannot issue permits at all. Hiring stops.

Together these mean compliance is not overhead. It is a direct input into what each employee costs and whether you can hire at all. Our guide on why UAE companies need PRO services sets out the wider obligation, and WPS explained covers the wage side that feeds the classification.

The one-page summary

If you are an employee

• Your “labour card” is a work permit plus a MoHRE-registered employment contract. Both are digital.
• The permit runs two years. Your employer applies for it, not you.
• Check it free at inquiry.mohre.gov.ae or in the MOHRE app, using your Emirates ID or unified number.
• The registered contract governs, not the offer letter. Ask for a copy of what was actually registered.
• You cannot hold two active permits. Before starting a new job, confirm the old one is cancelled or transferred.
• If you are on a family residence, you need a dependant work permit before taking a job.
• From Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran? Have your national ID card, both sides, valid.

If you are a company

• Your “company labour card” is the MoHRE establishment card. You need the ICP establishment card first — MoHRE requires a copy of it.
• Your authorised signatory must be authorised at both MoHRE and ICP. Check this after any personnel change.
• Quota comes before everything. A trade licence does not grant it.
• Ta’qeem fees are AED 406; the service is free through MoHRE’s website and app.
• Your category decides your permit cost — AED 250, 1,200 or 3,450 for the same document. Compliance is money.
• Registered violations stop hiring entirely.
• Contracts for skill levels 6 to 9 are delivered at workers’ awareness centres. Plan for it.
• Update the establishment file whenever owners, signatories, activity or location change.

Everything above is on MoHRE’s own service pages, and every service named is free to apply for through the Ministry’s website and smart app apart from the published government fees.

Four worked cases

These are composite illustrations of the situations we see most often, built strictly on the published rules set out above. They are not accounts of identifiable clients.

Case one: the new hire from overseas

A Dubai mainland company hiring a marketing manager from India, skill level 2, salary AED 12,000.

Where this case fails in practice: the degree certificate. Skill level 2 requires a bachelor degree or higher, and the certificate must bear the employee’s name. If the name on the degree does not match the passport — a maiden name, a missing middle name, a different transliteration — it is queried, and resolving it may mean attestation from India measured in weeks.

Case two: the employee changing jobs

A worker with a live permit at Company A, accepting a role at Company B.

The governing condition is short and absolute: a candidate for employment may not possess an active work permit.

So the sequence is not “apply and see”. The existing permit must be cancelled or the transfer route used — MoHRE publishes Issuance of a New Work Permit — Transfer Work Permit as a distinct service, described as a permit for transferring non-national workers to and from establishments registered with the Ministry.

Where this case fails: Company A never completes the cancellation. The employee has resigned, started at Company B, and Company B’s application will not process. The employee is caught between two employers, one of whom has no remaining incentive to act. This is why cancellation should be confirmed, not assumed — and why a copy of the cancellation is worth having in hand. Our guide on cancelling an employment visa covers the process.

Case three: the company that cannot hire

A trading company with a valid trade licence, discovering that no work permit will process.

Working through the published conditions in order, there is a short list of candidate causes:

• No electronic quota. The quota is a separate service — Work Permit Quotas For Establishments. A valid licence does not confer quota.
• Registered violations against the establishment that suspend its operations.
• The MoHRE establishment card was never issued — often because the ICP establishment card, which MoHRE requires a copy of, was not obtained first.
• Signatory mismatch between MoHRE and ICP.
• No valid rental contract on file, where one is required.

The diagnostic order matters. Check quota first, then violations, then the two establishment cards, then the signatories. Working the list in that order finds the cause faster than investigating the employee’s file, which is usually fine.

Case four: the low-skill-level worker

A construction company hiring workers at skill levels 7 and 8.

Two published rules apply that do not apply to office hires:

• No academic certificate is required for skill levels 6 to 9.
• Employment contracts for skill levels 6, 7, 8 and 9 are delivered to the worker at workers’ awareness centres — not handed over by the employer.

That second rule is a worker-protection measure: the contract is explained and delivered independently of the employer. Companies hiring at these levels must build the step into their onboarding rather than treating it as an administrative afterthought.

Renewal, transfer and cancellation

Renewal

MoHRE publishes a clear window: work permits may be renewed 60 days prior to the expiration date. Federal fees and the insurance amount must be paid at the time of application for a contract renewal; for a new contract, federal fees are paid after the work permit approval is issued.

All the original conditions continue to apply. A renewal is not a lighter test.

Transfer

Issuance of a New Work Permit — Transfer Work Permit is the route for moving between establishments registered with the Ministry. It appears in MoHRE’s directory under both employer and employee services, which reflects that either side may be driving it.

Cancellation

MoHRE publishes Cancellation of Work Permits and Employment Contracts as a single service — the permit and the contract end together. There is also a distinct service, Cancellation of Work Permit for an Employee With a Labour Court Case, which the Ministry notes may be applied for by the employer, the employee, or both. If a court case is live, there is a defined route rather than a dead end.

What goes wrong, and how to read the symptom

Myths about the labour card

Labour card questions

Work permits, contracts and the establishment file behind them are core PRO services in Dubai — we handle the MoHRE side end to end.