Issuing or renewing a UAE work permit costs AED 250 to AED 3,450, depending on how the employer is classified. Inside a free zone, add the zone's own charges: Meydan lists a visa allocation of AED 1,850 per visa and an employment visa at AED 3,500. The medical test and Emirates ID are extra.
What does one employee actually cost?
Three separate bills, and only the first is a government tariff. The permit comes from the labour ministry, the allocation from the free zone that holds your licence, and the visa processing charge from that zone as well. A package priced "per visa" usually bundles the last two and quietly leaves the first to you.
Show the numbers as a table
| Item | Amount (AED) |
|---|---|
| Work permit, by employer class | AED 250 to 3,450 |
| Visa allocation, per visa | AED 1,850 |
| Employment visa | AED 3,500 |
| Investor or partner visa | AED 4,000 |
| Dependent visa, per person | AED 6,000 |
| Medical test and Emirates ID | AED 2,000 to 2,500 |
Source: u.ae and Meydan Free Zone, checked 2026-09-12
The dependent visa is the line that surprises people. At around AED 6,000 per person, bringing a spouse and two children costs more than the licence in some packages. It is not optional spending if your family is moving with you, so it belongs in the first-year budget rather than in a later conversation.
Why do two companies pay different work permit fees?
Because the ministry classifies employers as A, B or C, and the class sets the fee. The classification tracks compliance: labour law, the Wages Protection System, and the ministry's own resolutions. A company in the top class pays near the bottom of the AED 250 to AED 3,450 range; one that has slipped pays near the top, for exactly the same hire.
New companies have no record yet, so ask your consultant which class they expect you to be placed in and what the permit line in their quote assumes. If they cannot say, the number in the quote is a guess.
What does a free zone add?
The allocation is a quota, not a visa. You buy the right to sponsor a person, then pay again to process that person's visa. Zones cap how many you can hold: Meydan allows up to 6 under one licence, so a team that grows past six needs a different arrangement, not just a bigger budget.
Where the published figures stop
Not every zone publishes this detail. The RAKEZ Biz Starter page, for instance, states its package price but the visa allocation is not stated, so a like-for-like comparison with Meydan is not possible from published pages alone. Ask for it in writing before you compare.
One figure often repeated online, an extra AED 5,000 for workers aged 65 and over, appears in search summaries but not on any ministry page we could open on 2026-09-12. It may well be correct. It is not printed here because we could not source it, and if you are hiring in that age bracket it is worth confirming directly with the ministry.