By The UAE government has published a guide explaining all 13 work permit types, including eligibility criteria and application procedures, according to Gulf News. The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) issued the guide for private sector employers and workers, covering permits for professionals, students, juveniles aged 15 to 18, freelancers, private teachers, UAE and GCC nationals, and Golden visa holders.
The guide sits under UAE Labour Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, and its executive regulations. For HR and payroll teams, it consolidates permit categories previously scattered across MOHRE circulars, free zone authority pages, and visa portals. It also confirms that all permits except the freelance permit must be requested by the hiring company, not the individual worker.
The 13 permit types and what each one covers
The standard work permit is for recruiting a worker from outside the UAE. The employer must complete hiring procedures, including residence visa, medical testing, Emirates ID, labour card, and passport visa stamping, within 60 days of the worker’s arrival. All costs fall on the employer. Companies that fail to obtain a work permit for an employee face a fine of no less than Dh50,000 and no more than Dh200,000.
The transfer work permit applies when an expatriate worker moves between establishments registered with MOHRE. The work permit under the residence of relative permit is for people whose visa is sponsored by a family member; the establishment applies for the work permit but does not sponsor the worker’s visa. The temporary work permit allows an employer to recruit a worker already residing in the UAE for work lasting no more than six months. The one-mission permit is issued to a registered establishment wishing to recruit a worker from abroad to complete temporary work or a particular project for a specific time period.
The part-time work permit allows an employee to work under a part-time labour contract for more than one employer without the approval of the original employer, provided working hours are no less than 20 hours weekly. The juvenile work permit covers people aged 15 to 18 and requires written consent from a parent or guardian. Juveniles cannot be employed for hazardous or hard work and face a maximum of six working hours per day. The student training and employment permit applies to UAE residents aged 15 and above who want to train or work in the private sector; the training permit lasts three months and also requires parental consent for juveniles.
The guide also lists permits for UAE and GCC nationals, Golden visa holders, national trainees, freelancers, and private teachers. The freelance permit is the only one individuals can apply for directly. The Gulf News report does not provide further detail on the UAE and GCC national permit, Golden visa work permit, national trainee permit, or private teacher work permit.
What the current pages leave unclear
Most existing guides list only six permit types: standard, temporary, freelancer, part-time, mission, and student. That leaves seven categories unaddressed, including transfer permits, juvenile permits, relative-sponsored permits, and permits for UAE and GCC nationals. HR teams working from older references may miss the permit that actually applies to a given hire.
There is also a naming inconsistency. Some pages use the abbreviation MHRE while others use MOHRE. Both refer to the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, but the current official abbreviation is MOHRE. Payroll and HR systems should standardise on MOHRE to avoid confusion in internal documentation and government correspondence.
One page covering part-time permits in depth references a 3000 AED rule in a heading but does not explain it in the visible text. The rule is not clarified in the Gulf News report either. Employers should confirm minimum salary thresholds directly with MOHRE before relying on any figure circulating in secondary sources.
Practical implications for HR and payroll teams
The 60-day deadline for completing post-arrival procedures on a standard work permit is a hard compliance checkpoint. HR teams should track it from the worker’s entry date, not from the permit approval date. Missing the deadline can trigger fines and complicate the worker’s legal status.
For part-time hires, the guide confirms that employees can work for more than one employer without the original employer’s approval, provided the part-time contract meets the 20-hour weekly minimum. However, secondary sources note that in practice many part-time permit applications still require a no-objection certificate from the primary employer unless the worker falls under MOHRE’s highly-skilled category. HR teams should verify the current NOC requirement for each case rather than assuming the guide’s general statement applies universally.
The distinction between a work permit, entry permit, residence visa, Emirates ID, and labour card remains a common source of confusion. The work permit is the employer’s authorisation to employ a specific worker. The residence visa is the worker’s legal right to live in the UAE. The Emirates ID is the identity document. The labour card is the physical or digital record of the work permit. Payroll teams should not treat these as interchangeable.
Where to confirm details before acting
The Gulf News report does not include cost figures, processing times, or document checklists for each permit type. One secondary source promises part-time permit costs but does not deliver a specific figure in the visible text. Another lists business licence costs of AED 12,500, but those are company formation fees, not work permit fees.
HR teams should confirm current fees, processing times, and required documents through MOHRE’s official channels before budgeting or committing to a hire. Free zone employers should also check whether their authority issues permits under its own rules, as Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority and the General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs operate separately from MOHRE in some cases.
Sources: Gulf News
Photo: Fireworks displayon the sky in Dubai city, UAE (23538704314) by Thomas Nilsson, CC BY-SA 2.0
