Hiring in the UAE without a company of your own

The short answer: a company with no entity in the UAE hires through an Employer of Record (EOR). The EOR is the legal employer: it signs the employment contract, sponsors the work permit and residence visa, pays the salary through the Wage Protection System and arranges the health insurance the law requires. You choose the person and direct their work. With Moha, most hires are working legally two to five weeks after the offer is signed, and you can ask your AI assistant to set it up.

You have found the right person and they are in Dubai, or willing to move there. Your company has no entity in the UAE. This guide covers how you can still employ them properly, what it costs and where the limits are.

Your three options

Set up your own company. A mainland company licensed by the economic department of an emirate, or a free zone company. You get your own visa quota and full control. You also take on the trade licence, an office lease, the establishment card, a PRO, payroll, renewals and audits. It usually takes months before the first visa is issued.

Hire them as a contractor. Some people hold their own freelance permit or a self-sponsored Green Visa and can invoice you. If they work for you full time, on your hours, with your tools, that is employment in practice. They miss out on gratuity, insurance and paid leave, and you carry the risk if it is ever challenged.

Use an Employer of Record. A licensed UAE company employs the person on your behalf. It sponsors the visa, registers the contract, pays salary through WPS and handles everything the law asks of an employer. You direct the work.

How the EOR model works under UAE law

What makes the model legal is a licence from the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) for temporary employment and outsourcing, issued under Ministerial Resolution 51 of 2022. A company holding it can employ people who carry out work for its clients.

The licence is not easy to get or keep. The agency must hold a bank guarantee of at least AED 1,000,000 with MOHRE, or an approved insurance policy in its place, and keep the licence renewed.

So the first question to ask any provider is simple: which MOHRE licence do you hold, and what is your establishment number? A provider working off a general trade licence leaves your hire’s visa, and your arrangement, exposed.

Who does what

The employee works for you day to day and reports to your managers. On paper, and in the eyes of MOHRE and the immigration authorities, the EOR is the employer.

What it costs

There are three layers.

1. The salary package. UAE packages are usually split into basic salary plus housing and transport allowances. The split matters: gratuity is worked out on basic salary only.
2. What the law adds. A gratuity provision of 21 days of basic salary per year of service, which is 5.83% of basic a month. Health insurance. For Emirati staff, GPSSA pension contributions instead of gratuity. A one-off visa cost every two years.
3. The EOR fee, per employee per month, plus 5% VAT on the whole invoice: the Federal Tax Authority treats an EOR invoice as a supply of staff, salaries included.

As an example, an expat in Dubai on AED 22,500 a month, with a basic salary of AED 15,000 and standard health cover, costs about AED 23,670 a month before an EOR fee (our estimate). The visa, permit, medical test and Emirates ID come to about AED 2,900 once. Run your own numbers.

There is no income tax for the employee, and pension contributions apply to UAE and GCC nationals, not to expats, so an expat’s take-home pay is close to the gross salary. The main deduction is the employee’s own unemployment insurance, AED 5 or AED 10 a month.

How long it takes

Two to five weeks from signed offer to the day they can legally start is normal:

• Offer letter and MOHRE work permit: up to about a week.
• Entry permit if they are abroad, or a change of status if they are already in the UAE.
• Medical fitness test and Emirates ID biometrics after arrival.
• Residence visa issued and the contract registered, then they go on payroll.

What slows things down is rarely the government. It is usually a document from home: a degree certificate that still needs attesting, or a name spelt differently on two documents. The visa guide covers each step.

The 2026 rules you cannot skip

• Salary deadline. Under Ministerial Resolution 340 of 2026, wages are due on the 1st of the following month. Where lawful deductions apply, at least 85% of wages must still go through WPS. From the fifth day of delay, MOHRE suspends new work permits for the employer.
• Health insurance everywhere. Employer-paid cover is mandatory in all seven emirates: Abu Dhabi since 2006, Dubai since 2014 to 2016, and the other five since 1 January 2025. In Abu Dhabi the employer also insures one spouse and up to three children under 18 on an Abu Dhabi visa.
• Unemployment insurance. Every employee must hold ILOE cover. Not subscribing costs the employee a AED 400 fine.
• Emiratisation. Companies with 50 or more employees must reach 10% Emiratis in skilled jobs by the end of 2026. Each missing hire costs AED 10,000 a month, collected twice a year. With an EOR, your hires hold work permits on the EOR’s MOHRE file. MOHRE has not published how agency placements count toward targets, so ask before you rely on it.
• Emirati salaries. The minimum salary for an Emirati in the private sector is AED 6,000 a month from 1 January 2026. Since 1 July 2026 an Emirati paid less does not count toward Emiratisation.

When EOR is the wrong choice

• Regulated professions, where a regulator may require the licence to sit with a licensed facility, school or firm. See regulated roles.
• Employment inside DIFC or ADGM, which works differently from the mainland. We check each case.
• Selling in the UAE. If your hire signs contracts with UAE customers for you, your company may create a taxable presence here. Talk to a tax adviser first.
• A bigger team. Our rule of thumb: at our fee of AED 2,000 a person a month, 15 people cost about AED 360,000 a year in EOR fees. Past roughly 12 to 15 people, the fixed costs of your own entity usually come in lower. A good provider will help you move people across.

How to choose a provider

• Ask for the MOHRE licence and establishment number, and check them.
• Ask how salaries are funded and paid, and on which dates. Under the 2026 rules a late month is expensive.
• Ask for an itemised quote: government fees separate from the fee, insurance tier named, deposit stated.
• Ask who will be there when your hire lands, and who they call at 2am.
• Ask whether they handle family visas, and how long they usually take.
• Ask for the data processing agreement. Employee files include passports and medical results.

Set it up with your AI assistant

You can hand this to ChatGPT, Claude or another assistant. Tell it who you want to hire, the job, the salary and where they are now, and ask it to use Moha. It gets the full monthly cost, prepares the hire with your company profile and sends you one link. You check the details and create your account. We check every company before it can hire, usually within one working day, then draft the MOHRE offer letter for you to approve. How it works. If you would rather do it yourself, see our Employer of Record service.