Work permits and residency visas in five days: Sheikh Mohammed announces new 'Work Bundle' in UAE
The initiative to launch in Dubai and to gradually expand to other emirates
Dubai: The UAE government has launched a “Work Bundle” to facilitate employee residency procedures and work permits in private sector companies. The first phase of the initiative will be implemented in Dubai and will be gradually expanded to include other emirates.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, announced, “In our ongoing quest for government excellence, we have recently introduced the ‘Zero Bureaucracy’ initiative, aimed at streamlining procedures and enhancing efficiency within the federal government...In alignment with this vision, today marks the inaugural launch of the ‘Employment Package’, a pioneering project designed to expedite, simplify and streamline the processes related to residency and employment.”
He said, “The Employment Package is set to reclaim 62 million working days previously devoted to the renewal of residencies and employment contracts within government frameworks. This project is expected to curtail 25 million procedures on an annual basis, thereby yielding substantial savings for both the governmental and private sectors. We would like to thank all federal and local entities for their invaluable collaboration in bringing this project to fruition.Our commitment to eradicating bureaucracy remains unwavering, to make people’s lives easier and happier”.
The “Work Bundle” also improves the customer experience by providing one platform instead of five, it also reduces procedures from eight services to a unified single platform, while the required steps were reduced from 15 steps requiring 16 documents to five steps and five documents only, and reduced the number of visits from seven visits to only two visits, which in turn reflects on the time taken to complete the transaction, also reduced from 30 working days to five working days.
The initiative aligns with the “Zero Bureaucracy” programme aimed to simplify and reduce government procedures and eliminate needless requirements. This enhances levels of efficiency, quality and flexibility in the UAE, supporting efforts to eliminate bureaucracy.
A single platform
The “Work Bundle” serves the business community by simplifying and accelerating the procedures for the private sector companies. The project offers a single platform to complete employment services including renewal, cancellation, medical examination, and fingerprinting.
The initiative is a result of close cooperation between federal and local government entities to enable clients to complete their transactions in the fewest steps possible through digital platforms where the service is available.
The entities include: The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, Customs and Ports Security, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai, and Dubai Health. The project is supported by the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism.
The project is also supported by the Digital Dubai, which provides the digital infrastructure and services to allow seamless data exchange between the relevant entities.
Digital transformation
The “Work Bundle” is a key step within the UAE digital transformation efforts in a way that contributes to enhancing the UAE competitiveness in global indicators related to the ease of establishing and managing businesses for private sector companies.
Lieutenant General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director General of GDRFA Dubai, said they are expecting a 25 per cent increase in the services transactions this year after launching the new platform.
He said, "It is one form to issue new or renew residency for an employee. The new package will reduce the service’s steps as well as the visits. With the help of AI and without human intervention, the time [for processing] will be reduced by more than 75 per cent.”
He pointed out that with regard to the outcomes of the “Business Package”, entrepreneurs can obtain integrated and proactive packages with partners that ensure reducing the steps for obtaining services, in addition to reducing the number of mandatory visits to two - one for fitness examination and the other for fingerprints.
The “Work Bundle” also improves the customer experience by providing one platform instead of five, it also reduces procedures from eight services to a unified single platform, while the required steps were reduced from 15 steps requiring 16 documents to five steps and five documents only, and reduced the number of visits from seven visits to only two visits, which in turn reflects on the time taken to complete the transaction, also reduced from 30 working days to five working days.
The project aims to simplify procedures and reduce effort and time, it will cut 25 million procedures annually, 12.5 million annual visits, and 62.5 million working days annually.
The "Work Bundle" will be provided as a first phase on the “Invest in Dubai” platform, and it will be available on a number of other government digital platforms and on https://workinuae.ae/.
Steps for recruiting a new employee from outside the country include filling out the unified application, issuing a work permit for the employee, then the employee should continue to complete the residency procedures, which include medical examination and issuance of the Emirates ID card, as mandatory steps that require employee’s presence.
Renewal service requires the owner of the company to fill out the unified application, then the employee completes the medical examination and is issued Emirates ID card.