Visas & immigration
The UAE remote work visa
One year of residence for people employed by a company outside the UAE. It is the only route that requires you not to work here, and the one most often confused with a freelance permit.
What it is
Who this is actually for.
The virtual working programme — commonly called the remote work visa — grants a one-year renewable residence to someone employed by a company registered outside the UAE. The conditions are an employment contract with that overseas employer valid for at least a year, evidence of a monthly income above the published threshold, and health insurance with UAE coverage. It gives you an Emirates ID, the ability to open a personal bank account, to enrol children in school and to sign a tenancy — everything a resident does except work for a UAE entity.
That last restriction is the whole design and it is where people come unstuck. The permit is predicated on your income arriving from outside the country. Taking on a UAE client, invoicing a Dubai company or joining a local employer is outside what the permit authorises, and it is not a technicality nobody notices — it surfaces at renewal, and it surfaces when a bank asks why a resident on a remote work permit is receiving domestic transfers. If any part of the plan involves UAE customers, the correct instrument is a freelance permit or a company, not this.
The conditions, precisely
- Employer
- Registered outside the UAE
- Contract
- Valid for at least one year from application
- Income
- Monthly threshold published by ICP — confirm the current figure
- Insurance
- Health cover valid in the UAE
- Duration
- 1 year, renewable
- UAE work
- Not permitted under this permit
How long it takes
The sequence
How it runs, in order.
- Confirm the employer is outside the UAEA UAE branch of a foreign group is not the same thing. The contracting entity is what is assessed.
- Check the current income thresholdIt is set by ICP and has been revised. Confirm the figure at the point of application rather than relying on a summary.
- Get health insurance with UAE coverageA policy that excludes the UAE will fail the condition, which catches people carrying a home-country plan.
- Apply through ICPWith the contract, payslips or bank statements, passport and insurance.
- Complete medical and Emirates IDThen a tenancy, a bank account and school places become possible.
Related
Questions
No. The permit rests on employment by a company outside the UAE. UAE clients require a freelance permit or a licensed company.
Family sponsorship is generally possible subject to the usual conditions, but the one-year term means the whole family's residence renews annually.
No. The Green Visa freelance route requires a UAE freelance permit and lets you work here. The remote work permit requires a foreign employer and does not.
Not automatically. Tax residence rests on days of presence and ties, and is evidenced by a certificate from the FTA rather than by the visa.
One question
Who is going to sponsor this residence?
Then most of this is out of your hands and that is usually fine — the employer holds the quota, files the permit and carries the cost. What is worth checking before you sign is the job title going on the permit, because it decides your skill classification, and that in turn decides whether you can sponsor a family later.
How the employment route runsOr just ask usThen the visa and the company are one decision. Quota comes from the licence and the premises, so a package chosen on price can quietly cap you at one or two visas — which is discovered at the point you want to bring your spouse or your first hire.
Compare the 40 authoritiesOr just ask usThen you are looking at the Golden Visa, the Green Visa, or the remote work permit, and they are not interchangeable. The Green Visa needs a freelance permit and an income history; the Golden Visa needs an asset, an endorsement or a nomination; the remote work permit needs a foreign employer and lasts a year.
The three self-sponsored routesOr just ask us