The freelance permit
Your right to trade: a trade name, the activities you choose, and invoices your client’s finance team can actually pay. Already hold UAE residency? This is the only part that applies to you.
Notice: GoFreelanceVisa.com is a private document clearing consultancy and not a government body.
Freelance visa in the UAE — how it actually works
Work for yourself. Live here on your own visa.
“Freelance visa” is the everyday name for three registrations: a freelance permit that lets you trade in your own name, an establishment card that connects that permit to the immigration system, and the two-year residence visa the permit then sponsors for you. We prepare each file and put it in front of the authority that decides it. Most applications finish in 10–12 working days once your documents are ready.
YouUAE resident
- Residency
- Two years, renewable
- Processing
- 10–12 working days
- Quotes
- In writing · instalments
What a freelance visa is
Three registrations, one everyday name.
Nobody at the authorities calls it a freelance visa. The term covers three separate registrations, granted in order, each by a different body. We hold a Dubai documents-clearing licence, which is what allows a private firm to prepare and lodge those applications for someone else. The decisions themselves stay with the authorities.
The establishment card
The part almost nobody explains. A permit on its own cannot sponsor anybody — the establishment card is what connects it to the immigration system, so that it can sponsor you.
The residence visa & Emirates ID
Your right to live here, held in your name rather than an employer’s. Then the medical, the biometrics and the Emirates ID that make it usable at a bank, a landlord or the RTA.
Not sure how much of this applies to you?
WhatsApp us12,000+clients assisted in the UAE
10–12working days, typical processing
2 yearsresidency on both of our routes
0hidden fees, every quote in writing
The routes we handle
Two routes to residency. One for people who already have it.
If you want to live here and bill clients under your own name, the freelance permit puts both the licence and the visa in your name. If you want residency sooner and do not need to invoice, a recruitment agency licensed by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation can sponsor an employment visa instead — the agency is the employer, and we say so plainly rather than calling it freelancing. And if you already hold UAE residency as a dependant, a Golden Visa holder or a GCC national, you need the permit alone.
Pay your way: instalment plans are available through Tabby & Tamara. Nothing is owed, and nothing is filed, until you have agreed the quote.
Freelance Permit
For people who already hold UAE residency — dependants, Golden Visa holders and GCC nationals. The status is already yours; what is missing is the licence that lets you invoice in your own name.
No residence visa included
- Freelance permit application
- Activity selection, up to 10
- Invoicing & licence guidance
- P.O. Box & office address
- Shareholder structure advice
- Bank account opening support
Quoted in writingafter your free consultation
Most enquired
Freelance Permit & 2-Year Residency
The permit and the two-year residence visa it sponsors, filed as one application. The licence is in your name, and so is your residency — nobody else is holding your status for you.
- Freelance permit application, up to 10 activities
- Two-year residence visa application, self-sponsored
- Entry permit, or status change without leaving
- Medical test & Emirates ID biometrics booked
- Bank account opening support
- Family sponsorship guidance once residency is issued
Quoted in writingafter your free consultation
Fastest route
Employment Visa & 2-Year Residency
A two-year Dubai residence visa and work permit sponsored by a recruitment agency licensed by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation. The agency is your legal employer and your sponsor: this route gives you residency and the right to work, not a licence to invoice in your own name.
Residency ends with the employment
- Work permit application through the licensed agency
- Two-year Dubai residence visa application
- Medical test & Emirates ID biometrics booked
- Standard medical insurance included
- Bank account opening support
- Family sponsorship guidance, subject to salary criteria
Quoted in writingafter your free consultation
Every route is quoted individually in writing after a free consultation, and our fee is separate from the charges the authorities set. What each one covers, side by side, is on the pricing page.
How it works
What those twelve days actually look like.
- 01
Day 1
Documents in, and checked
A passport copy and one white-background photograph is the whole starting kit for most people. We check the things that quietly stall applications — passport validity, the photo, the activities you picked — before anything is filed rather than after it comes back.
- 02
Day 2–3
Permit application and initial approval
We lodge the file with the free-zone authority. Initial approval usually returns within about 48 hours, and the freelance permit follows it. The permit is the thing the residence visa is then applied for against.
- 03
Day 3–9
Entry permit or status change, then the medical
Arriving from abroad, you travel in on the entry permit. Already in the UAE, we change your status in country with no exit run. Then the medical fitness test and the Emirates ID biometrics, both of which we book.
- 04
Day 10–12
Residence visa and Emirates ID
The residence visa is stamped and the Emirates ID issued. From that point you are a UAE resident sponsored by your own permit — and a bank will open an account for you.
Those days are what we typically see, not a promise: every application is decided by the authority that issues it, and a file can wait on a medical slot or a document we have to come back to you for. The employment-visa route runs to a similar length, in a different order.
Step one costs nothing.
Call +971 50 256 1678What you need
Two documents to start. Genuinely.
The list people brace themselves for is long. The list to open an application is not — everything else on it happens on the way through, and we book it for you.
- Passport, valid six months or moreA clear colour scan of the photo page. Six months of remaining validity is the practical minimum, and it is the single most common reason a file goes back.
- One photograph, white backgroundRecent, face fully visible, nothing covering it. A phone photo against a plain white wall usually passes; a cream wall usually does not.
- Your UAE status today, if you have oneVisit visa, residence visa or entry stamp. It decides whether your file runs as a status change or an entry permit. Outside the country right now is also an answer, and a common one.
- A UAE number and an addressBoth are needed for the Emirates ID registration and for the authority to reach you. If you do not have them yet, say so — it is a sequencing question, not a problem.
- Medical insuranceCompulsory for residency in Dubai, and not included in our fee on the freelance route. On the employment route the agency includes a standard policy; upgrades are priced by the insurer.
- Nothing attested, in most casesDegree attestation applies to a small set of regulated activities — some education, training and technical work. If yours is one of them we say so at the consultation, not halfway through.
Why people want it
What the residency actually changes.
The permit is the half that lets you invoice. The residency is the half that lets you live here — and because your own permit sponsors it, nobody else is holding it on your behalf.
- Your status is your ownIt is not held by an employer, so it does not have to be handed back or transferred when a piece of work comes to an end.
- Bill clients directlyA trade name and a licence number, which is what a client’s finance team needs before it can pay you at all.
- Emirates ID, and everything behind itA bank account, a tenancy contract, a UAE driving licence, a phone contract, insurance in your own name.
- Bring your family overOnce your residency is issued you can sponsor a spouse and children, and in many cases parents, where you meet the income and housing conditions the authority sets.
- Two years between renewalsBoth residency routes here run two years, so the paperwork comes round half as often as it does on a one-year visa.
- Up to 10 activities on one permitDesign and photography, or consulting and training. You do not need a second licence every time the work shifts shape.
Client reviews
People remember how the process felt.
4.9 out of 5 average client rating
“Extremely cooperative staff, very happy with the customer service. Loved my experience with them.”
“Very helpful, professional, and fast. Got my licence the same day. I am very pleased.”
“The overall experience was excellent from start to finish.”
Get the same experience.
Questions, answered
The things people ask before they start.
Can't find yours? Ask a consultant directly. No obligation, and you'll get a straight answer.
01What is a UAE freelance visa?
A UAE freelance visa is two things bought together: a freelance permit or licence issued by a free-zone authority, which makes you a legal business and lets you invoice clients, and a residency visa, which lets you live in the country, open a bank account, and sponsor family. You can hold the permit alone if you already have residency, but you cannot legally freelance on residency alone.
02What is the difference between a company-sponsored visa and a freelance visa?
A visa issued under a private company is an employment visa: your employer sponsors it and pays for it, and your status depends on that job continuing. On a freelance visa the sponsor is your own permit, so you pay for it and you hold it. It does not end when a client relationship does, and no employer has to release you before you can move on.
03What is an establishment card, and why does it come up?
It is the registration that connects a licence to the UAE immigration system. A freelance permit on its own gives you the right to trade, but it cannot sponsor a visa for anybody — including you — until there is an establishment card behind it. It is the reason a freelance visa is three registrations rather than two, and it is the step most people have never heard of when they start.
04Some companies advertise a two-year visa through a recruitment agency. Is that a freelance visa?
No, although it is often sold as one. In that arrangement a recruitment agency licensed by the UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation employs you and sponsors your residence visa. It is legal, it is quick, and for some people it is the right answer — but you are an employee of that agency, there is no trade licence in your name, you cannot invoice clients in your own name, and your residency ends when the employment does. We arrange both routes and will tell you which one you are being quoted for. The question to ask anyone, including us, is whose name the permit or visa will be issued in.
05Can I work anywhere in the UAE, or outside it, with a freelance visa?
Yes. With a legal freelance permit or licence from a UAE free zone you can work anywhere in the UAE, and take on clients outside the country as well. The emirate that issued your permit does not restrict where you live or work.
06Can I work with any company in the UAE as a freelancer?
Yes. Your freelance permit allows you to work with companies across the UAE under a legal contract, and to invoice them in your own business name.
Guides & updates
Read before you apply.
Sponsoring your family on a UAE freelance visa
Once your own residency is issued you can sponsor a spouse, children, and in some cases parents. What is required, and what it costs per person.
Which free zone should issue your freelance permit?
Your permit can come from any of several emirates, and the choice changes your cost, your activity list, and what your licence says at the top.
What a UAE freelance visa actually costs, line by line
Permit fee, establishment card, entry permit, medical, Emirates ID, insurance. Here is what each line item is for, and which ones quotes tend to leave out.
Talk it through with a consultant.
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