Key takeaways
- Thirteen permit types, each tied to a specific hiring situation. Picking the wrong one is the most common and most expensive setup error we see.
- Most permits run two years. The exceptions are the juvenile permit at one year and the student training permit at three months.
- Your classification sets the cost: up to AED 250 per permit over two years in category one, AED 1,200 in category two, AED 3,450 in category three. UAE and GCC nationals are exempt from these fees.
- A permit is not a visa and not a contract. Three separate instruments, three separate processes — and conflating them causes most of the confusion in this area.
- WPS non-compliance can block permits entirely. MoHRE may refrain from issuing or renewing, or may cancel, permits where an establishment is not compliant.
The work permit is the instrument that makes employment lawful. It sits underneath the visa, underneath the contract, and underneath every entitlement that follows — and almost nobody looks at it until something goes wrong.
This guide sets out all thirteen types, what each is actually for, the conditions for getting one, what it costs, and the situations where employers routinely choose the wrong permit and discover it months later.
Sources are Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, its Executive Regulations under Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022, MoHRE, and the Official Portal of the UAE Government.
You will find both “twelve types” and “thirteen types” in official and semi-official material, because the set has been added to over time and older pages were not all updated together.
The list below reflects the current published set. If you are relying on the count itself for something — a compliance document, a training manual — verify it against MoHRE at the time you write, rather than against any secondary source including this one.
The thirteen permits at a glance
| # | Permit | Used when | Validity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Recruitment from outside the UAE | Hiring someone who is not in the country | Two years |
| 2 | Transfer between establishments | Moving a non-UAE worker from one employer to another | Two years |
| 3 | Resident on family sponsorship | Hiring someone already here on a family visa | Two years |
| 4 | Temporary work permit | Assigning a worker already in the UAE to a task at a different company, after which they return to their original employer | Limited period |
| 5 | Mission work permit | Bringing someone in from outside the UAE for a specific temporary job or time-bound project | Project-bound |
| 6 | Part-time work permit | A part-time contract with fewer hours or days than a full-time contract | — |
| 7 | Juvenile work permit | Employing a young person aged 15 to 18, under conditions ensuring a safe and appropriate environment | One year |
| 8 | Student training and employment permit | Employing a student aged 15 already in the UAE, under terms ensuring a safe training and work environment | Three months |
| 9 | UAE / GCC national work permit | Employing a UAE or GCC national | Two years |
| 10 | Golden visa holder work permit | Employing someone in the UAE who holds Golden Residency | Two years |
| 11 | National trainee work permit | Training a UAE citizen in line with their approved academic qualification | — |
| 12 | Freelance work permit | Working independently without an employer sponsor or an active employment contract | — |
| 13 | Private teacher work permit | Delivering private lessons as a qualified specialist | — |
Almost every permit runs two years. Two do not, and both involve young people.
The juvenile permit is one year and the student training and employment permit is three months. Businesses that take on students over a summer, or employ young people seasonally, frequently diarise these on the two-year assumption that applies to everything else — and let them lapse.
If you employ anyone under 18, put the expiry in the calendar the day the permit is issued.
The permits explained properly
Bringing someone into the country
Recruitment from outside the UAE is the standard route for hiring a person who is not here. It is issued under specific conditions and regulations and runs for two years. This is the permit most people picture when they think of a UAE work visa process, and it is the one that carries the fullest set of steps — offer, permit, entry, medical, Emirates ID, residence.
The mission work permit also brings someone in from outside, but for a specific temporary job or a time-bound project rather than an open-ended role. It is the right instrument for a specialist flown in to commission equipment, deliver a defined scope, or cover a fixed project window.
The distinction is the nature of the work, not its expected length. A defined project with an end point is a mission. An ordinary role that happens to be on a fixed-term contract — which, since Decree-Law 33 of 2021, all contracts are — is not.
Employers sometimes reach for the mission permit because it feels lighter. If the person is doing an ordinary job, that is the wrong instrument, and it is visible in the establishment’s records.
Hiring someone already here
Three permits cover people already in the country, and choosing between them turns entirely on the person’s current status.
| Their current status | The permit you need |
|---|---|
| Employed by another establishment | Transfer permit |
| Resident on a family member’s sponsorship | Family sponsorship permit |
| Holds Golden Residency | Golden visa holder permit |
| UAE or GCC national | UAE / GCC national permit |
The transfer permit is the one that matters most in practice. Transfer between establishments was deliberately made easier under the current law, and it is the route by which most people change jobs without leaving the country. Our guide to employment visa cancellation covers how a transfer sits alongside the visa side of a move.
The family sponsorship permit is widely underused. It lets a company hire someone already resident on a spouse’s or parent’s visa, without taking on sponsorship. For the employer that removes a substantial administrative burden; for the worker it means employment without changing their residence basis. Both sides frequently do not realise it exists.
The Golden visa holder permit exists because Golden Residency is not tied to an employer. Someone holding it still needs a permit to work for you — the residence and the right to work for a particular establishment are different things, and this is the permit that connects them.
Flexible and non-standard work
Three permits cover arrangements that are not a conventional full-time job, and the differences between them are consequential.
| Part-time | Temporary | Freelance | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who employs them | You do, under a part-time contract | Another establishment does — they are on loan to you | Nobody. They work independently |
| Employment relationship | Yes | Yes — with their original employer | No |
| Gratuity accrues | Yes, pro-rated | With the original employer | No |
| ILOE applies | Yes | Through the original employment | No |
| Afterwards | Ordinary end of employment | They return to their original employer | They move to the next engagement |
The part-time permit covers a worker on a part-time contract whose hours or days are fewer than a full-time contract. It is genuine employment with genuine entitlements — gratuity is pro-rated by a published formula, and our gratuity guide sets that calculation out.
The temporary permit is the one people misunderstand most often. It allows an establishment to assign a worker already in the UAE to perform a task for a limited period at a different company, after which the worker returns to their original employer. It is a secondment instrument, not a hiring instrument.
Employers occasionally reach for it to “try someone out” before hiring them properly. That is not what it is for, and it does not work that way — the worker remains employed by their original establishment throughout and goes back to it.
If you want to assess someone before committing, the instrument for that is the probation period inside a proper employment contract, which the law already provides for. See our probation guide.
There is one entirely proper use that looks similar: the temporary work permit available to a worker whose labour case is being heard, which lets them work elsewhere during a dispute — except where they failed to turn up for work.
The freelance permit is issued to individuals who wish to work independently — including foreign nationals on self-sponsored residence visas — without being sponsored by an employer and without an active employment contract. The holder earns by providing services for a period, completing a task, or delivering a defined service to individuals or companies, without being considered an employee of those entities.
Read the definition again: without being considered an employee. Everything in UAE employment law that protects workers flows from the employment relationship, and a freelance permit does not create one.
No gratuity accrues. Not reduced — none, from any client.
No ILOE cover. The scheme insures involuntary loss of employment, and there is no employment to lose.
No notice entitlement, no annual leave, no end-of-service settlement.
None of that makes freelancing a bad choice — the flexibility and the rate are the trade. But it is a trade, and someone moving from employment to freelance work at the same headline income is materially worse off in protection terms. Price that in when you set your rates, and build your own reserve, because there is no scheme standing behind you.
Young people
Two permits cover under-18s, and both carry conditions aimed at safety rather than administration.
| Juvenile work permit | Student training and employment permit | |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 15 to 18 | 15, already in the UAE |
| Purpose | Employment | Training and employment |
| Validity | One year | Three months |
| Conditions | Specific conditions ensuring a safe and appropriate working environment for minors | Specific terms ensuring a safe and suitable training and work environment |
If you are considering employing anyone under 18, treat this as an area to get advice on rather than to work out from a summary. The provisions governing minors cover hours, conditions and the nature of permitted work, and they are stricter than the general rules. Confirm the position with MoHRE on 600590000 before making an offer, not after.
Emiratis and national development
The UAE / GCC national permit covers employment of UAE and GCC nationals and runs two years. Critically for employers, employment of UAE and GCC nationals is exempt from work permit fees — which matters a great deal if your establishment sits in category three.
The national trainee permit is issued to establishments wishing to train a UAE citizen in line with their approved academic qualification. It is a development instrument rather than an employment one, and it connects to the wider Emiratisation framework that also feeds your establishment classification.
Category one classification depends partly on Emiratisation performance — increasing the Emiratisation percentage annually at not less than three times the target, or substantial cooperation with Nafis in hiring and training Emiratis.
So the national permits are not only about the roles they cover. They feed the classification that determines what every other permit you issue costs. An establishment thinking about Emiratisation purely as a quota obligation is missing the fee arithmetic sitting behind it.
The private teacher permit
Introduced to regulate private lessons delivered outside educational institutions, this permit allows specialised and qualified professionals to offer private tuition.
Its notable feature is who may apply: teachers registered in government or private schools, employees in the government and private sectors, unemployed individuals, school students aged 15 to 18, and university students — through the MoHRE application, website or digital channels.
That is an unusually wide eligibility, and it addresses a real situation: private tuition was happening regardless, and the permit brings it inside a framework. If you give private lessons for payment, this is the instrument that makes it lawful, and it is open to you even if you already hold a job elsewhere.
The four confusions that cause real problems
| Confusion | The distinction |
|---|---|
| Permit vs visa | The permit authorises work for a specific establishment; the residence visa authorises presence in the country. Different instruments, different authorities, different processes — and they are cancelled separately |
| Permit vs contract | The permit is the regulatory authorisation; the contract is the agreement between you and the worker setting wage, notice and terms. See our contract types guide |
| Temporary vs mission | Temporary: someone already in the UAE, on loan from another establishment, returning afterwards. Mission: someone brought in from outside for a defined project |
| Part-time vs freelance | Part-time is employment with full pro-rated entitlements. Freelance is not employment at all — no gratuity, no ILOE, no notice |
People routinely believe that cancelling one cancels the other. It does not.
An employment relationship that ends requires both the work permit cancelled through MoHRE and the residence visa cancelled with the immigration authority. Stopping after the first leaves a residence position that continues to run — and eventually to accrue consequences.
Our guides to cancelling an employment visa and what happens when a visa expires set out the full sequence and what follows if it is left incomplete.
Conditions for issuing a permit
Five conditions apply generally. Each one is a real gate, and each one causes rejections.
| Condition | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| The worker must be at least 18 | Except under the juvenile permit or the student training and employment permit |
| The occupation must align with the establishment’s activity | You cannot hire a chef on a construction licence. The job title must make sense against what your trade licence permits |
| The trade licence must be valid and free of violations | An expired or flagged licence stops hiring entirely |
| The worker must meet the conditions for the profession | Where legislation stipulates requirements for specialised professions, or the role requires a licence to practise |
| An authorised representative must apply | The application must be submitted by an individual legally authorised to represent the company |
It is the one that turns a routine hire into a two-week problem, and it is entirely predictable.
Businesses grow into adjacent activities before their licence catches up. A trading company starts doing installation work; a consultancy starts producing content. The hire that follows is for a role the licence does not obviously cover, and the permit application meets a wall.
Check the job title against your licensed activities before you make an offer — not after the candidate has resigned from their current job. If the activity has genuinely changed, the answer is usually to amend the licence, which is a known process with a known timeline. Discovering the need for it mid-hire is what makes it painful.
Professions that require a licence to practise
Some occupations carry their own regulatory requirements — healthcare, engineering, law, education and others — administered by the relevant sector authority, not by MoHRE.
A work permit does not substitute for professional licensing, and holding one does not entitle anyone to practise a regulated profession. If you are hiring into a regulated field, the sequence runs: confirm the professional licensing requirement, establish that the candidate can meet it, and only then treat the work permit as the administrative step it is.
What a permit costs
The fee is not fixed. It is set by your establishment’s classification, and the spread is dramatic.
| Category | Broadly | Fee per permit over two years |
|---|---|---|
| One | Compliant establishments meeting all general obligations plus one of the additional criteria — strong Emiratisation performance, substantial Nafis cooperation, SME or innovative-project status, training and employment centres, or a targeted sector | Not exceeding AED 250 |
| Two | Establishments complying with the laws and the diversity policy. The default for compliant companies not meeting category one criteria | AED 1,200 |
| Three | Establishments failing to observe labour market laws and decisions, or the standards protecting labour rights | AED 3,450, with no discounts |
Employment of UAE and GCC nationals is exempt from these fees.
The gap between category one and category three is roughly AED 3,200 per permit across a two-year cycle — close to a fourteen-fold multiple.
| Headcount | Category one | Category three | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | AED 2,500 | AED 34,500 | AED 32,000 |
| 40 | AED 10,000 | AED 138,000 | AED 128,000 |
| 100 | AED 25,000 | AED 345,000 | AED 320,000 |
Over a two-year cycle, on permit fees alone. That is the actual price of a compliance failure, and it is why classification belongs in a budget conversation rather than an HR one.
The Work Bundle
Rather than running each step separately, MoHRE’s Work Bundle brings onboarding into a single integrated platform.
| Included |
|---|
| Issuance, renewal and cancellation of work permits |
| Residency visa services |
| Medical examination |
| Fingerprinting for Emirates ID issuance |
The stated aim is to simplify and accelerate procedures for private sector companies through one integrated bundle. For an employer running more than an occasional hire, it is the difference between coordinating four processes across separate authorities and running one.
If your onboarding still involves chasing each step individually, this is worth reviewing — the platform has moved on considerably since 2022, and many companies are still following a process designed around the old sequence.
Renewal, transfer and cancellation
| Action | Points that matter |
|---|---|
| Renewal | Most permits run two years — but juvenile permits run one year and student training permits three months. Track expiry on the same calendar as payroll |
| Transfer | The receiving establishment must hold a valid licence with no registered violations causing suspension of its operations. The worker’s own status must also be clean |
| Cancellation | Cancelling the permit is not cancelling the visa. Both are required when employment ends |
A lapsed work permit does not only create a status issue. It can cause that individual’s salary transfer to fail while everyone else on the file is paid normally — because the worker is no longer properly registered against the establishment.
Employers investigating a single failed WPS transfer often look at the bank first. Check the permit status first; it is the more common cause. Our WPS guide sets out how to diagnose which link in the chain failed.
When permits are blocked entirely
This is the provision that ties everything together, and employers underestimate it.
MoHRE may refrain from issuing or renewing work permits, or may cancel them, where the establishment is not compliant with the Wage Protection System or any other labour market regulatory system.
Not just new hires. Renewals too — which means existing staff whose permits fall due during a block are affected, not only candidates you have not yet hired.
A company that misses payroll in March and is blocked can find, by June, that it cannot hire, cannot renew, and cannot transfer anyone in — while the original cash-flow problem may have been solved months earlier.
The escalation is published and predictable: notices on days 3 and 10 after the wage due date, default at day 15, service suspension at day 17, then permit suspension, administrative fines and reclassification to category three. Every stage is avoidable, and the window to act is seventeen days.
The practical lesson for anyone running an establishment: permit availability is a downstream consequence of wage compliance. They are administered as one system, and treating them as separate departments is how businesses end up unable to hire for reasons nobody in HR can explain.
Where the permit sits in a hire
The permit is one step in a sequence, and understanding the order explains why certain problems appear when they do.
| Step | What happens | Where it can fail |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Offer | The job offer is made and accepted on defined terms | Terms that will not match what is later registered |
| 2. Work permit | MoHRE authorises the establishment to employ this person in this occupation | Licence lapsed or flagged; occupation not aligned; establishment blocked |
| 3. Entry | For someone outside the UAE, entry on the appropriate permit | Documents inconsistent with the application |
| 4. Medical and biometrics | Medical examination and fingerprinting for the Emirates ID | Scheduling gaps, results delays |
| 5. Residence visa | Issued by the immigration authority | Treated as automatic when it is a separate process |
| 6. Contract | The employment contract is registered | Terms drifting from the original offer |
| 7. Payroll | The worker is added to the WPS file with an active account | First pay run fails — the single most common onboarding failure |
Steps 2 to 6 usually have a clear owner — a PRO, an agency, an internal coordinator. Step 7 sits between that person and finance, and it is where new joiners fall through.
The worker is legally employed, the visa is issued, everyone considers the onboarding complete — and then the first salary transfer fails because no account was opened with an authorised institution, or the payroll list was not reconciled against the registered workers.
Make the first pay run part of onboarding, not part of payroll. Confirm the account exists in week one, and check that the first transfer actually landed rather than assuming the file succeeded.
Keep the offer and the registered terms aligned
A quiet source of later disputes: the offer says one thing, the registered contract says another. Usually not deliberate — a basic salary split adjusted for convenience, a job title simplified to match a licensed activity, an allowance restructured.
It matters because the registered basic salary determines the ILOE category, the gratuity calculation, and the figure WPS measures every transfer against. A discrepancy that seems administrative at hiring becomes the central fact in a dispute three years later.
Reconcile the offer, the registered contract and the payroll master before the first pay run. Ten minutes at the start; the whole argument avoided at the end.
Running a permit register
Any establishment with more than a handful of staff should maintain one. It is a spreadsheet, and it prevents most of what goes wrong.
| Column | Why it earns its place |
|---|---|
| Worker name and Unified Number | The identifier that survives Emirates ID renewals |
| Permit type | Determines validity period and what the worker is entitled to |
| Issue and expiry date | Two years for most; one year for juvenile; three months for student training |
| Registered occupation | Must remain aligned with your licensed activity — and with what they actually do |
| Registered basic salary | Drives WPS reconciliation, gratuity and ILOE category |
| Visa expiry | A separate date from the permit, and it will not match |
| Account with an authorised institution | Confirmed active, not assumed |
Review it monthly alongside payroll, and quarterly against the trade licence. Two dates and one number per person is the whole discipline, and it catches lapsed permits, drifted occupations and salary mismatches before any of them becomes a problem.
Renewals take longer than people plan for, particularly if anything about the establishment or the occupation has changed since the permit was first issued.
Ninety days of notice gives room to amend a licence, correct a mismatch, or resolve a compliance flag before the expiry forces the issue. Thirty days gives room to panic.
Free zones
Free zone establishments issue permits under their own authority’s arrangements rather than through MoHRE, and the practical implications run further than the paperwork.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Which authority issued the permit? | Determines the rules that apply and where a complaint would be filed |
| Are you registered with MoHRE? | Determines whether MoHRE’s worker services and complaint routes are open to you |
| Where can the holder work? | A free zone permit generally authorises work in connection with that establishment — not anywhere |
| Can they transfer to the mainland? | Possible, but it is a change of regime rather than a simple transfer |
Establish these before you hire rather than at the point of a problem. Our guide to free zone versus mainland sets out the structural differences.
Three situations, worked through
The licence mismatch
A trading company that had grown into installation work hired a technician. The candidate resigned from their existing job on the strength of the offer. The permit application was refused — the occupation did not align with the licensed activity.
What followed: a licence amendment, several weeks, and a candidate who had no income in the meantime and nearly took another offer.
What would have prevented it: checking the job title against the licensed activities before making the offer. Five minutes, and the whole sequence changes — either the licence is amended first, or the role is defined differently.
The wrong instrument
A company wanted to assess a candidate before committing, and was advised to use a temporary work permit.
Why it did not work: the temporary permit assigns a worker who is already employed by another establishment to a task, after which they return to that employer. The candidate was not employed anywhere, so there was no originating establishment and nothing to return to.
The right answer: hire them properly and use the probation period, which is the mechanism the law provides for exactly this. Our probation guide covers how it works and what notice applies during it.
The blocked establishment
A business missed payroll during a receivable delay, did not respond to notices, and was blocked. Three months later, with the cash-flow problem resolved, it could not renew the permits of four existing staff whose two-year terms were expiring.
What decided it: the block affected renewals as well as new hires. Staff who had done nothing wrong were caught by a compliance failure that had already been fixed financially but not administratively.
The lesson: permit availability is downstream of wage compliance. Clearing the underlying arrears is necessary but not sufficient — the establishment’s status has to be confirmed as lifted, and the classification consequence dealt with separately. Our WPS guide sets out the sequence for clearing a block properly.
None of these failed because the rules were obscure. They failed because a check that takes minutes was done after the commitment rather than before it.
Check the licence alignment before the offer. Check the instrument matches the actual arrangement before applying. Check the establishment’s status before relying on being able to renew. All three are free, and all three are only useful in advance.
Changing jobs: what happens to your permit
The most common life event involving a work permit, and the one where people most often assume something automatic is happening.
| Stage | What actually happens |
|---|---|
| You resign or are terminated | Nothing changes automatically. The permit remains until it is cancelled |
| Notice period | You remain employed, the permit remains valid, and service continues to accrue |
| Final settlement | Due within 14 days of the contract ending — a separate obligation from any cancellation |
| Permit cancelled | The employer cancels the work permit through MoHRE |
| Visa cancelled | A separate step with the immigration authority |
| New permit issued | Your new employer applies for a transfer permit, or you exit within the grace period |
Cancellation is the employer’s step, and it does not happen because employment ended. It happens because someone processed it.
Confirm in writing that both the permit and the visa have been cancelled, and check your own status independently through the MoHRE app rather than relying on an assurance. People who leave on the assumption that it was done sometimes discover months later that it was not — by which point they are resolving it from abroad.
If an employer will not co-operate with cancellation, that is a matter you can raise with MoHRE. Our cancellation guide sets out the position and what to do when it stalls.
A permit is not leverage
Occasionally an employer treats cancellation as something to be traded — withheld until a release is signed, or until a departure date suits them.
It is not a bargaining position. Cancellation is a procedural obligation that follows the end of employment, and the final settlement is separately due within 14 days regardless. Where one is being held against the other, raise it rather than negotiating from a weakened position, and be aware that an uncancelled status accrues its own consequences while the argument continues.
From the employer’s side, the same point in reverse: withholding cancellation creates a complaint, achieves nothing durable, and looks exactly like what it is when examined.
The permit most employers overlook
Of the thirteen, the family sponsorship work permit is the one we most often find businesses have never considered — and it solves a problem they are actively struggling with.
It lets an establishment employ someone already resident in the UAE on a spouse’s or parent’s visa, for two years, without the employer taking on sponsorship.
| For the employer | For the worker |
|---|---|
| No residence sponsorship to administer or renew | Residence basis stays with the family sponsor |
| No entry, medical or visa-stamping sequence to run | No disruption to existing status |
| Access to a candidate pool already in the country | Employment without changing the family arrangement |
| Faster onboarding — fewer moving parts | Full employment entitlements apply |
Experienced professionals who moved to the UAE on a partner’s visa are a substantial and often overlooked talent pool. Many assume they cannot work without their employer taking over their sponsorship; many employers assume the same.
Neither is correct. This permit exists precisely for that situation, and it is administratively lighter than almost any other hiring route available.
If you are on a family visa and looking for work, say so early in the process — it is an advantage to the employer, not an obstacle, and worth naming rather than leaving them to discover it.
The underlying point
Everything in this guide reduces to one idea worth carrying away.
The work permit is not paperwork that follows a hiring decision. It is the instrument that determines whether the arrangement you have in mind is lawful, what it costs, what the worker is entitled to, and what happens when it ends. Choosing it correctly is part of designing the role, not part of processing it.
Employers who treat permits as an administrative afterthought discover the consequences at the worst moments — mid-hire, at renewal, or during a dispute. Those who check the licence alignment, pick the instrument that matches the actual arrangement, and keep a register of dates and figures rarely have permit problems at all.
And for workers, the same point from the other side: your permit type quietly determines whether gratuity accrues, whether ILOE covers you, and which complaint route is open to you if something goes wrong. It is worth two minutes to know what yours actually says, long before you need it to say the right thing.
Check it in the MoHRE app: the permit type, the registered occupation, the establishment named on it, and the expiry date. If any of those four does not match the job you are actually doing, that gap is worth closing now rather than explaining later to someone assessing a claim.
Choosing the right permit: a decision table
Work down the left column until you find your situation.
| Your situation | Permit |
|---|---|
| Hiring someone who is outside the UAE for an ordinary role | Recruitment from outside the UAE |
| Bringing someone in from outside for a defined project with an end point | Mission |
| Hiring someone currently employed by another UAE establishment | Transfer |
| Hiring someone on a spouse’s or parent’s visa | Family sponsorship |
| Hiring a Golden Residency holder | Golden visa holder |
| Hiring a UAE or GCC national | UAE / GCC national — and fee-exempt |
| Training a UAE citizen per their academic qualification | National trainee |
| Engaging someone for fewer hours or days than full-time, as your employee | Part-time |
| Borrowing a worker from another establishment, who will return there | Temporary |
| Working independently for multiple clients, employed by none | Freelance |
| Employing someone aged 15 to 18 | Juvenile |
| Taking on a 15-year-old student for training and work | Student training and employment |
| Giving private lessons for payment | Private teacher |
Ask one question: who employs this person during the engagement?
If it is you, it is an employment permit — part-time or one of the recruitment routes. If it is another establishment, it is a temporary permit. If it is nobody, it is freelance.
That single question resolves most of the ambiguity, because it identifies where the employment relationship sits — and the employment relationship is what every entitlement hangs from.
What your permit determines — for workers
Most people never look at their permit type. It quietly decides several things that matter enormously later.
| What it affects | How |
|---|---|
| Gratuity | Accrues through the employment relationship. Full-time and part-time accrue (part-time pro-rated); freelance does not |
| ILOE eligibility | Requires an employment relationship. Freelancers are outside the scheme |
| Which complaint route applies | MoHRE’s labour complaint process assumes an employment relationship registered against an establishment |
| Whether you appear in the Ministry’s database | Which determines access to the confidential salary complaint and other worker services |
| Your ability to transfer | Transfer requires a clean status and a compliant receiving establishment |
| Your residence basis | A family-sponsorship permit leaves your residence with your sponsor; an employment permit ties it to the employer |
If you hold a valid MoHRE work permit, you are in the Ministry’s database and the worker protections and complaint routes are open to you.
If your employment was never properly registered — no permit, or a permit against a different entity than the one you actually work for — that is a violation in itself, and you will discover it at exactly the moment you need the system to work.
Check your permit status through the MoHRE app or website. It takes two minutes, and the time to do it is while nothing is wrong.
The mismatch worth catching early
A specific problem we see repeatedly: someone is hired by Company A, and over time ends up working for Company B in the same group — different premises, different management, different work — while their permit still names Company A.
It feels harmless while everything is fine. It becomes very difficult when it is not, because the establishment your entitlements run against, and the one a complaint would be filed against, is the one on the permit — not the one you have actually been working for.
If your day-to-day employer has drifted away from the name on your permit, raise it. Either the permit should be transferred or the arrangement should be documented, and both are far easier to sort out while relations are good.
The mistakes that cost time and money
| Mistake | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Job title not aligned to licensed activity | Application blocked mid-hire, after the candidate has resigned elsewhere |
| Using a temporary permit as a trial | Wrong instrument — the worker remains employed elsewhere and returns there |
| Assuming freelance and part-time are similar | One carries full pro-rated entitlements; the other carries none |
| Diarising a juvenile or student permit as two years | One year and three months respectively — lapses go unnoticed |
| Cancelling the permit but not the visa | A residence position that keeps running and eventually accrues consequences |
| Ignoring classification | Up to AED 3,200 more per permit over two years than necessary |
| Letting WPS slip | Permits blocked — including renewals for existing staff |
| Missing a professional licensing requirement | A work permit does not authorise practice in a regulated profession |
| Hiring against a lapsed trade licence | No permits can be issued at all |
Frequently asked questions
How many types of UAE work permit are there?
Thirteen in the current published set, covering recruitment from abroad, transfer, family sponsorship, temporary, mission, part-time, juvenile, student training, UAE/GCC national, Golden visa holder, national trainee, freelance and private teacher.
You will see “twelve” in some official material, because the set has grown over time and older pages were not all updated together.
How long is a work permit valid?
Most run two years. The exceptions are the juvenile permit at one year and the student training and employment permit at three months.
What does a work permit cost?
It depends on your establishment’s classification: not exceeding AED 250 over two years in category one, AED 1,200 in category two, and AED 3,450 in category three with no discounts. Employment of UAE and GCC nationals is exempt from these fees.
Is a work permit the same as a residence visa?
No. The permit authorises work for a specific establishment; the residence visa authorises presence in the country. They are issued by different authorities and cancelled separately — and cancelling one does not cancel the other.
Can I hire someone who’s on their spouse’s visa?
Yes — that is exactly what the family sponsorship work permit is for. It lets you employ a resident sponsored by a family member without taking on sponsorship yourself, and runs two years. It is widely underused.
What’s the difference between a temporary and a mission permit?
Temporary: a worker already in the UAE is assigned to a task at a different company for a limited period, then returns to their original employer.
Mission: a worker is brought in from outside the UAE for a specific temporary job or time-bound project.
Do freelancers get gratuity or ILOE?
No to both. The freelance permit expressly involves working without being considered an employee of the entities you invoice, and both gratuity and ILOE depend on an employment relationship existing.
That is a real trade-off to price into your rates, not an administrative detail.
Can I employ someone under 18?
Yes, under the juvenile work permit (aged 15 to 18, valid one year) or the student training and employment permit (aged 15, already in the UAE, valid three months). Both carry conditions ensuring a safe and appropriate environment, and the rules on hours and permitted work are stricter than the general ones. Confirm the position with MoHRE before making an offer.
Why was my work permit application rejected?
Most commonly the occupation does not align with the establishment’s licensed activity, or the trade licence is expired or carries violations. Other causes: the worker does not meet the requirements for a regulated profession, the applicant is not legally authorised to represent the company, or the establishment is blocked for WPS non-compliance.
Can MoHRE refuse permits because of unpaid wages?
Yes. MoHRE may refrain from issuing or renewing, or may cancel, work permits where an establishment is not compliant with the Wage Protection System or other labour market regulatory systems. That includes renewals for existing staff, not only new hires.
What is the Work Bundle?
An integrated MoHRE platform covering issuance, renewal and cancellation of work permits and residency visas, plus the medical examination and fingerprinting needed for the Emirates ID — through one bundle rather than four separate processes.
Can I transfer to a new employer?
Yes — transfer between establishments was deliberately made easier under the current law. The receiving establishment must hold a valid licence with no registered violations causing suspension of its operations, and your own status must be clean.
Does a work permit let me practise a regulated profession?
No. Professional licensing in fields such as healthcare, engineering, law and education is administered by the relevant sector authority. The work permit is the employment authorisation; it does not substitute for a licence to practise.
Can I give private lessons if I already have a job?
The private teacher work permit is open to teachers registered in government or private schools, employees in the government and private sectors, unemployed individuals, school students aged 15 to 18, and university students — applied for through the MoHRE application, website or digital channels.
Related guides
- UAE employment contract types — the contract that sits alongside the permit
- Cancelling an employment visa — the other half of ending an employment properly
- WPS explained — the compliance position that determines permit availability
- End-of-service gratuity — what the employment relationship accrues
- ILOE insurance — cover that depends on being an employee
- Filing a MoHRE labour complaint — the route your registration gives you access to
Sources
- Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Employment Relations, and its amendments
- Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 — Executive Regulations
- MoHRE — work permit services; establishment classification; Work Bundle; private tutor licensing; juvenile and student training permits
- The Official Portal of the UAE Government (u.ae) — work permits; types of work permits; employment and training of minors
This guide is general information based on published UAE government sources, current at the date shown above. It is not legal advice. Permit types and fees are updated periodically, and free zones with their own employment regulations issue permits under different arrangements. For your own case, contact MoHRE on 600590000 or 80084, or take qualified advice. We update our guides when the underlying provisions change.
