If you are looking to get employment in Dubai, there must be many a question on your mind on how to get a work permit and a residency visa to stay in Dubai. In the Gulf States, the immigration rules and the laws pertaining to staying in the Gulf even for short durations are very strict. So, one has to make sure that all paper work is rightly executed before taking up any job in Dubai. Otherwise, one might land in serious trouble for lack of any required formality. It is a good idea to get in touch with your consulate in Dubai to get complete information on the required process. However, it helps to know the basic details yourself. In this article, you would get all the basic information on how to obtain a residency permit to stay in Dubai. The residency visa is required to enter the UAE, whereas the residency permit facilitates your stay in Dubai. The residency visa for foreign workers is mostly granted for a period of one to three years. It remains valid for three years. The two are different so one has to make sure that one doesn’t get fooled by bogus agents. For instance, even a tourist on a holiday requires the visa but he would not require a permit to stay for long. On the other hand, the expatriates who come to Dubai to work here require the permit as well. Thus, if you have decided to relocate to Dubai to take up employment, you would necessarily need an employer sponsored residence visa or permit. Without this, you cannot even think of working in Dubai.
Generally, the employer who has hired you will get all the paper work processed and make sure that you get the required visa and permit on time. When the employer sponsors the foreign workers to come and work in Dubai, the company takes care of the entire process of getting the residency and the work permit required for the worker and his family. Thus, you will be saved the hassle of visiting Immigration offices and work out the formalities. Since the foreign population working in Dubai is very large, it is common practice for companies to employ runners or so called PROs to carry out this task on behalf of all expatriate employees. In fact, as per law, the companies that employ you should pay are for all the associated costs incurred in getting the permit and visa in place.

However, sometimes, there are a few requirements that the individual has to take care of himself. For instance, before applying for the residency permit, one has to procure the health card and get all the medical tests conducted. With the results of these tests, you can proceed with the rest of the formality of getting a permit. Also, before coming to Dubai to get a job, one has to also get the educational qualifications attested. And this is not as simple as it may sound. Firstly, the certificates have to be signed by a solicitor or a notary in the home country. After that, the solicitor who attested the documents has to be verified as being qualified by your foreign office.

If you are a married male, you would need to process the residency papers of your spouse too. As per the Dubai residency laws of the country, those married expatriate men who are legally living and working in the UAE are permitted to bring along their wives to live with them. The working men are eligible to sponsor their wife. However, if you are a Muslim person with more than one wife, the law permits to sponsor only one of them for the residency visa. For sponsoring the wife, the salary eligibility should not be less than Dh.3000 along with housing, or a total remuneration of nearly Dh.4000. If the husband is the sole bread winner and the wife is solely dependent on the husband, it has to mentioned in the application. However, when the residence visa is sanctioned for housewife, the spouse will not be allowed to work under this visa.

For applying for the residency permit, you would need the following documents: passport, employment visa with entry stamp into Dubai, medical test results, attested and verified educational qualifications, a copy of the company’s establishment immigration card, a copy of the company’s trade license, at least three passport photos, minimum 500 dirham that would be required for different type of fee.

Once you have obtained the residency permit, make sure you don’t stay away from Dubai for more than six months. In that case, you would lose your right to residency and your employer would have to submit a fine and re-do the process. So, try to stay on the right side of the law and enjoy your well-paying job in the land of dreams that is Dubai.

Geetika Jain writes on behalf of www.NaukriGulf.com, a leading job portal for jobs in Gulf Region, Jobs in Dubai, Middle East jobs. Naukri.com's foray into the Middle East is an Endeavour to provide established client base with services that best meet their international requirements as well as expand our operations on to a global arena.