The UAE employment visa process, stage by stage

The most expensive visa problems are the ones discovered three weeks in. Before a file opens, confirm the establishment has quota available and a valid establishment card. eHRMS blocks the file until both check out — which sounds restrictive until the first time it saves a candidate's start date.

The stages

1. 1

   Quota approval

   Confirm the establishment can sponsor the role and nationality mix in question.

2. 2

   Work permit and entry permit

   Issued so the employee can enter, or change status if already in the country.

3. 3

   Medical fitness test

   Required for residence; results feed the next stage.

4. 4

   Emirates ID registration

   Biometrics and issue, tracked per employee with its own expiry.

5. 5

   Labour card

   Issued against the registered contract.

6. 6

   Residence visa stamping

   Completes the residence status.

7. 7

   Contract registration

   The MOHRE contract recorded with its terms and dates — limited or unlimited — and the file closed out.

Then it becomes a tracking problem

Once the visa is issued, the work shifts from process to vigilance. Every document has an expiry, they arrive in waves rather than one at a time, and each one is somebody's responsibility to notice.

eHRMS keeps all of it in one register sorted soonest-first, with alerts at 90, 60, 30, 7 and 1 days from a job that runs every morning — see visa & immigration tracking.

Not legal advice. The figures and rules on this page reflect the statutory references built into eHRMS at the time of writing, and are provided for general guidance. Entitlements change and individual contracts, free zones, DIFC and ADGM differ — always confirm current requirements with MOHRE, your free zone authority or your labour counsel.