UAE launches ‘Work bundle’ to facilitate work permits, residency procedures in private sector

The UAE government has launched the "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 and Ruler of Dubai, gracefully 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 'Work bundle', a pioneering project designed to expedite, simplify, and streamline the processes related to residency and employment.”

Sheikh Mohammed further elaborated, "The Work bundle 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 initiative aligns with the "Zero Bureaucracy" programme aimed to simplify and reduce government procedures and eliminate unnecessary 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 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 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's competitiveness in global indicators related to the ease of establishing and managing businesses for private sector companies.

The "Work bundle" also improves the customer experience by providing one platform instead of 5, and reduces procedures from 8 services to a unified single platform, while the required steps were reduced from 15 steps requiring 16 documents to 5 steps and 5 documents only, and reduced the number of visits from 7 visits to only two visits, which in turn reflected on the time taken to complete the transaction, also reduced from 30 working days to 5 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 is also planned to be available on a number of other government digital platforms in the coming period and in https://workinuae.ae/.

Steps for recruiting a new employee from outside the country include filling out the unified application, and issuing a work permit for the employee, then the employee should continue to complete the residence 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 an Emirates ID card.

WAM