Abu Dhabi launches Gulf-first credential that lets employers verify skills instantly

Professionals can carry verified qualifications that employers can check with a QR scan

Last updated: September 07, 2026 | 16:24

Nivetha Dayanand, Assistant Business Editor

2 MIN READ

Abu Dhabi launches Gulf-first credential that lets employers verify skills instantly

WAM

Dubai: Professionals can now hold a digitally verifiable record of their skills and qualifications after Abu Dhabi launched the Gulf region’s first Digital Skills Card.

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The Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council, in partnership with Union Assessment and Quality Accreditation, introduced the card to give professionals a secure way to prove accredited credentials while allowing employers and regulators to check them through a QR code.

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Each card is linked to a certification awarded through personnel conformity programmes accredited by QCC and delivered by UAC.

Employers and other stakeholders can scan the QR code to confirm whether the certification is valid and authentic through ADI Chain, the regulation-compliant blockchain infrastructure operated by ADI Foundation.

Skills that can travel with workers

The initiative is aimed at making professional credentials easier to verify while supporting workforce mobility across institutions and borders.

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“Verified skills can travel with the individual, be recognised across institutions and borders, and retain their value wherever a professional’s career may take them,” said Shahbaz Muhammad Khan, Director and Chief Executive Officer of UAC.

UAC intends to expand the Digital Skills Card to include more certifications, qualifications and professional achievements over time.

Employers get a quicker way to verify credentials

The card also gives employers and regulators a direct way to check qualifications without relying solely on paper certificates or manual verification.

“The launch of the Digital Skills Card is a practical step in support of this direction," said Badr Khamis Al Shumaili, Executive Director of the Conformity and Standards Services Sector at QCC. "It provides a secure and reliable digital means of verifying professional skills and credentials, and reinforces confidence in accredited competencies in a way that serves regulators, employers and professionals alike.”

QCC said it will continue working with government entities, employers, regulators and industry stakeholders to expand digital credential solutions and strengthen professional recognition across Abu Dhabi.

- With inputs from WAM.

Nivetha DayanandAssistant Business Editor

Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.

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