UAE cuts work, residency visa process from 30 to 5 days

It is now quicker than ever before to get a United Arab Emirates residency visa. The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has reduced the processing time from one month down to five days.

The simplified UAE visa application process is part of the country’s shift towards eliminating bureaucracy and making government services a lot simpler.

If you’re applying for a UAE residency visa, you’ll now only need five documents instead of 16, which will eliminate a lot of faff. The UAE work bundle makes the application process a whole lot smoother for employers across all emirates.

UAE visa work bundle outlined

It sees the number of services required for issuing important documentation reduced from eight into one simplified platform.

Earlier this year, the residency visa process was made simpler in Dubai as part of this reduction in bureaucracy, but it is now being rolled out across the country. The second phase of the plans will cover more than 7 million workers at around 600,000 companies. The third phase of the work bundle will cover domestic workers.

The big idea is that you’ll only need to put your data into platforms once instead of multiple times which should significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to get important documents and make the whole process a lot less frustrating.

Hiring a new employee is now a much quicker process than before on a number of levels. This is because it is now quicker to issue a new work permit, a visa, an employment contract and an Emirates ID and residency. It is also now quicker to renew a work contract as a result of streamlined processes for renewing your Emirates ID and residency, and quicker medical examination services.