UAE cuts work permit approval time from 10 days to 1 second using AI

Dubai: The UAE has sharply accelerated the processing of work permit quotas, cutting approval times from up to 10 days to just one second, as part of  the country’s efforts to eliminate bureaucracy and embed artificial intelligence across government services.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) said it has completed nearly 13 million transactions using automation and artificial intelligence without human intervention since the beginning of the year until December 10, a major milestone in the country’s digital transformation drive. 

The reforms come as part of the Ministry’s commitment to deploying AI across all operational functions, in line with the second phase of the Zero Government Bureaucracy Programme and are designed to strengthen the competitiveness of the UAE labour market and support the objectives of We the UAE Vision 2030.

According to the ministry, the shift is underpinned by a sustainable approach to service development that combines advanced AI solutions, a robust digital infrastructure and continuous upskilling of government employees to manage intelligent automation. This has been coupled with expanded electronic integration with other government entities, enabling round-the-clock, seamless services for businesses and individuals.

The ministry has also redesigned the work permit quota system for private-sector establishments, using artificial intelligence to streamline procedures and allocate quotas proactively in line with each company’s operational status and labour requirements.

Under the upgraded system, quotas are initially granted automatically, with AI verifying the establishment’s data and approving requests in line with workforce needs. 

For additional quotas, the system relies on predictive models to forecast labour requirements and approve requests automatically where appropriate. Cases that exceed AI-generated estimates are referred to a specialised committee for review.

Since the system’s upgrade at the start of the year, the ministry has granted around 900,000 work permit quotas to establishments by the end of October, while more than 11 million transactions have been processed through automation and AI-driven workflows.

The impact on efficiency has been significant. MoHRE said the new system reduced human effort by 56 per cent, automating parts of approximately 175,000 requests out of a total of 310,000 between February and October. 

For applications that do not require human review, processing and approval times for additional quotas have been cut by up to 99 per cent, effectively reducing procedures that once took days to a single second.

MoHRE said the AI-powered system also addresses long-standing operational challenges, including time constraints, human error and underutilisation of data, while enabling data-driven decision-making and higher operational accuracy.

The system is designed to be self-learning, continuously analysing new data and reviewing operational patterns across establishments to refine its forecasts and improve decision quality over time. As a result, the ministry said, the accuracy and reliability of outputs are expected to increase as the system matures.