Key Takeaways
- A PRO deals with the company's government paperwork. That means visas, Emirates ID, the establishment card, the labour file and licence renewals.
- MOHRE lists a Ta'qeem report fee of about AED 406 and a business-centre commission of no more than AED 72. Both belong to the work-permit quota service (October 2026).
- The provider sets the PRO service fee, not a government body. Get the government fees and the service fee shown separately on the quote.
- Hire before the establishment card and labour file are active and the visas stall. ICP's visa page names a fine of AED 20,000 in its terms and AED 2,000 in its fines list for an employer not conducting business. Confirm the amount with ICP.
- Your company, not the PRO, should keep the portal logins, the original licence documents and the establishment card.
Once your company starts hiring, someone has to deal with the visa applications, the ID cards and the renewals. PRO services in Dubai and the UAE are about exactly that government paperwork. PRO stands for public relations officer, though the job is pure administration. The person doing it can be a part-time clerk, a full-time employee or an outside firm.
As the owner, you decide who does the work, check what the government charges and limit what the PRO is allowed to hold. The government fees below are published figures as of October 2026. You won't find a published PRO service fee, because no authority sets one.
What a PRO does and does not do
A PRO prepares your company's applications, submits them to the right office and chases them until they're done. You stay responsible for what goes in. The usual jobs are residence visa applications, entry permits, Emirates ID (the identity card every resident carries), the establishment card, the labour file, booking medical fitness tests and renewing the licence. You'll also hear the role called a mandoob, the local word for someone who runs government paperwork.
Most of this work feeds two government records. The immigration record holds the establishment card, which lets your company sponsor visas, and the visas themselves. In Dubai it's kept by GDRFA, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs. At federal level it's the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP), and for a free zone company it's the free zone authority.
The labour record, usually called the labour file, is kept by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE). MOHRE sets your work-permit quota, the number of work permits you may apply for. A valid Ta'qeem report, MOHRE's check of your business before it sets the quota, is one of the conditions. MOHRE publishes no formula that links the quota to office size.
Some decisions are out of the PRO's hands. Your quota, your activity and your tax position aren't the PRO's to decide, and no PRO can promise how a visa application will go. Tax is a different job altogether. Check whether the provider also registers you for Corporate Tax, which the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) expects within 3 months of incorporation (FTA Decision 3 of 2024), or whether an accounting firm will do it. The guide to Corporate Tax for new companies has the dates.
In-house, outsourced PRO or part of a setup package
An in-house PRO is on your payroll and needs a visa and labour file like any other employee. That makes sense when renewals and new hires come in a steady stream. It goes wrong when your one PRO is away in the week a visa runs out.
Outsourcing, often sold as corporate PRO services, means paying an outside firm per transaction or through a retainer, a fixed fee you pay regularly. Some setup packages include PRO service for a set period, with the price built into the package. Read the package to see when that service ends and what it costs to renew. To break a quote down into government fees and service fees, see the cost guide for the UAE.
Typical tasks and how they are priced
A PRO quote is made up of two kinds of fee. The authority publishes its government fees. The provider sets its own service fee, usually per transaction, as a monthly retainer or inside a package. Use the table below to check the government part of a quote against the published amounts, as of October 2026.
| Fee | Authority | Published amount | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ta'qeem report fee, needed for the quota | MOHRE | About AED 406 | MOHRE says quotas are now issued instantly (9 February 2026); may change |
| Business-centre commission | MOHRE | At most AED 72 | Apply on the MOHRE website or app and you pay government fees only |
| Establishment card, Dubai | GDRFA Dubai | AED 200 plus 5% value added tax (VAT), AED 20 dirham levies and an AED 50 service fee | 48 hours; GDRFA says the fee includes AED 100 per year of validity |
| Establishment card, free zone example | DMCC | AED 1,825 a year | Free zone prices aren't the same as the GDRFA price |
| Two-year employment visa applied for from outside the UAE, free zone example | DMCC | AED 2,972.5 | Prices vary widely from one free zone to the next |
| Late Emirates ID renewal | ICP | AED 20 a day, up to AED 1,000 | u.ae, February 2026 |
| Basic health insurance package | u.ae | AED 320 a year | Employers have had to provide it for private-sector workers since 1 January 2025 |
The DMCC rows come from the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, a free zone in Dubai. Two items are left out on purpose: the medical fitness test and the Emirates ID issuance fee. The test fee depends on the centre and on how fast you want the result. ICP's fee goes up with the number of years of residence. Get the current list on the day you apply.
No authority publishes how long a visa takes from start to finish. Single steps take up to 48 hours or two working days, and the total depends on how complete your documents are.
What the PRO must never hold on your behalf
Keep the logins, the original documents and the establishment card in the company's name and where you can get at them. Setup advisers say a provider that holds on to the portal passwords, the original licence or the registered address can make switching providers slow or even impossible. Your company then needs that provider's help just to reach its own records. Check that these stay under your control:
- The MOHRE, GDRFA or free zone portal accounts, set up on an email address you control.
- The original trade licence, the memorandum of association (the founding contract between the owners) and the tenancy contract.
- The establishment card, once it's issued.
- A written scope of work and a refund clause, agreed before you hand over any deposit.
- Payments, which go to the contracting company and never to someone's personal account.
Mainland, free zone and Abu Dhabi differences
A mainland company, one licensed to work anywhere in the emirate outside a free zone, holds an establishment card and a MOHRE labour file. MOHRE issues the quota once its conditions are met, and a valid Ta'qeem report is one of them. MOHRE says the card needs a valid trade licence, and that you pay government fees only when you apply on its website or app (October 2026). Office size isn't the only thing that decides the quota. Find out your quota number from your PRO before you sign a lease.
Free zone companies apply through their own free zone authority, which sets the visa quota and its own prices. DMCC's schedule, for example, lists an establishment card at AED 1,825 a year. For the Dubai card, GDRFA lists AED 200 plus VAT, levies and a service fee. The same job can therefore cost a different amount depending on where your licence was issued. The trade licence guide and the mainland company setup guide help you work out which side you're on.
In Abu Dhabi, mainland services go through TAMM, the government services platform, and ADDED, the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development. Each service has its own listed fee. The process isn't the same as in Dubai, so have your PRO give you the TAMM service name and the fee for each item.
Questions to put to a PRO provider
A typing centre, the kind of shop that fills in government forms for walk-in customers, types up the form you bring in. A PRO also tells you which record has to be active before the next step can start. Go through these points with any provider before you agree to work together:
- Which amounts are government fees and which are the service fee? Ask for the authority's fee sheet as well.
- Who keeps the portal logins, the original documents and the establishment card?
- What does the price include for each visa: entry permit, status change (switching visa status without leaving the country), medical test, Emirates ID and insurance?
- What happens on renewal day, and who pays the fine if a document is missing?
- How does the arrangement end, and how do your records come back to you?
Order matters with visas. If you apply before the establishment card and the labour file are active, the application stalls and the company can't sponsor the new hire. Where entry permits are issued for an employer not conducting business, ICP's visa page gives a fine of AED 20,000 in its terms and AED 2,000 in its fines list. Confirm the amount with ICP. An entry permit must also be used within 60 days (ICP, October 2026). Don't tell a new hire to book a flight until the card has arrived.
Health insurance can also hold up a renewal. MOHRE says employers in every emirate must buy a policy for private-sector workers before residence permits can be issued or renewed. The rule has applied across the country since 1 January 2025. A PRO who keeps track of the policy dates spares you the delay a missing certificate causes.
When you can manage without one
A one-person company in a free zone with an online portal and up to two visas can often do this itself. On MOHRE's website and app you can request the establishment card and pay government fees only, and free zone portals handle visas for owners. The risk is the calendar. Miss a renewal and you pay a fine, such as AED 20 a day for a late Emirates ID.
A PRO is worth the fee once your staff grows, when several renewals fall in the same weeks, or when your activity determines the visa. The guide to choosing the activity code explains how the activity and the visa are connected.
Getting the timing wrong costs weeks in two places: the order of the visa steps and the things that block renewals. A business setup consultant or an accounting firm can take over the whole sequence. Get the scope, the logins and the refund terms in writing before you pay. The step-by-step guide to setting up in Dubai shows where the card and the visas come in the order of work.
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