PRO services in the UAE

PRO (Public Relations Officer) services are the government filings a UAE company has to keep up: visa processing, Emirates ID, labour cards, trade licence renewals and document attestation. We offer them on a monthly retainer from AED 1,500 or per task: visa renewals from AED 750, licence renewals from AED 900 and attestation from AED 350 per document. Every government fee is invoiced at cost with the receipts attached, and a shared tracker shows each licence and visa with its renewal date.

What PRO services cover

“PRO” stands for Public Relations Officer, originally the employee a UAE company sent to government offices to file, collect and stamp documents. Today it is a service that handles your company’s dealings with the federal and emirate authorities. It covers the whole visa cycle (entry permit, medical test, Emirates ID, residence permit, renewal, cancellation), trade licence renewals and amendments, the establishment card, the labour file, and the many small filings such as NOCs, salary certificates and immigration letters that take up a founder’s time.

A PRO retainer usually costs less than the time a founder would spend at government counters, and much less than a fine for a missed licence renewal. Because government fees are published, the part that varies between providers is the service fee, so we publish our per-task rates. We also combine PRO work with company setup and bookkeeping, so the same records are used for tax and audit.

Residence visa steps and timings

Most PRO work concerns residence visas. A UAE employment or investor visa is a sequence of steps, and each step has its own authority, fee and deadline. If the medical test is missed or an entry permit expires, part of the sequence has to be repeated. This is the usual order for an application made inside the UAE:

These timings assume a complete file and no security referral. Family sponsorship follows the same steps for each dependant, subject to an income threshold and attested marriage or birth certificates. Each visa type (employment, investor, freelance, Golden Visa) is explained on the visas page.

Establishment card, labour file and WPS

Before a company can sponsor anyone, it needs an establishment card from the immigration authority and, for mainland staff, a labour establishment file with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE). Every employee visa depends on these two records. If the establishment card expires, new permits and renewals are blocked for the whole company, so it is the first item on our tracker.

Salaries for mainland employees are paid through the Wage Protection System (WPS), an electronic salary register monitored by MOHRE. Repeated WPS gaps can lead to a suspension of new work permits, so payroll timing is a PRO matter as well as an accounting one. Employment rules in free zones vary by authority. We check which rules apply to your licence before the first hire and keep the WPS status on the same calendar as your other deadlines.

Trade licence renewals and amendments

Every UAE licence is renewed annually. Renewal usually requires a valid lease or flexi‑desk agreement, sometimes a renewed establishment card, and payment of the fee before the expiry date. After that date fines accrue, and if the licence stays expired long enough it can be suspended and the visas linked to it become irregular. Amendments are separate filings with their own approvals: adding an activity, changing shareholders or the manager, increasing the visa quota, or moving to a larger office. We handle renewals and amendments and give you a realistic cost range before we start.

Document attestation for the UAE

Foreign corporate and personal documents, such as a parent company’s certificate of incorporation, a power of attorney or a degree used for a visa, usually need to be legalised before a UAE authority accepts them. The usual route is notarisation in the country of origin, then legalisation by that country’s foreign ministry, then by the UAE embassy there, and finally attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The exact route and timing depend on the country that issued the document, so we quote per document instead of promising one turnaround for all.

Visa cancellation and end-of-service gratuity

Ending employment involves as many steps as starting it. The visa must be cancelled before the employee leaves the country or transfers, the labour contract closed, and end-of-service gratuity paid. Under the federal labour law, gratuity is broadly 21 days' basic pay for each of the first five years and 30 days' basic pay for each year after that, pro-rated. If the cancellation is skipped, an active sponsorship stays on your file, uses up quota and can cause problems later. We handle offboarding with the same checklist as onboarding, so nothing is left open with immigration or MOHRE.

Renewal tracking and government fees

A shared tracker lists every document with its expiry and renewal date: trade licence, establishment card, each visa and Emirates ID, insurance and WPS status. You approve renewals from a calendar well before they fall due, instead of reacting to a fine.

Government fees are always invoiced at cost with receipts attached. You see the authority’s fee and our fee as separate lines, never combined into one figure.

PRO retainer or per-task pricing

With fewer than about ten government filings a year, paying per task is usually cheaper, because you pay only for what you need. Above that, or once you sponsor staff, a monthly retainer usually costs less and covers renewals, WPS, gratuity and visa quota in one arrangement, so you do not need to deal with each deadline separately. Businesses moving a whole team to the UAE usually start on a retainer from the beginning; the relocation page explains how this fits with banking and bookkeeping.

PRO service rates

Frequently asked questions

This is general information on UAE rules. It is not legal, tax or immigration advice for your situation. Rules and government fees change; we confirm the position for your facts in writing before you act.