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A Kenyan can only work in Dubai on an employment visa filed by a UAE employer, never on a tourist or visit visa. The employer gets a MOHRE work permit, then a GDRFA entry permit (AED 200 plus 5% VAT), and by UAE law pays the recruitment, travel and residence costs. In Kenya, your recruiter must be registered with the National Employment Authority.
Two sets of checks, one job
Your visa has a UAE side and a Kenyan side. The UAE side is the same for every nationality. The Kenyan side is what decides whether you leave Nairobi safely.
| Check | Who sets it | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Recruiter is licensed | Kenya, National Employment Authority | Confirm the agency's NEA registration |
| Pre-departure training | Kenya, Ministry of Labour | Attend the course your job category needs |
| Domestic worker contract | Kenya and UAE memorandum | Contract approved by both governments |
| Work permit | UAE, MOHRE | Employer applies, you sign the job offer |
| Entry permit and residence | UAE, GDRFA in Dubai | Employer applies, you do medical and biometrics |
The Kenyan side: agencies and training
Kenya's Ministry of Labour announced on that recruitment agencies placing Kenyans in jobs abroad must be registered with the National Employment Authority. The same announcement brought in pre-departure training, with a longer course for homecare workers than for other skilled workers. Domestic workers going back to a Gulf job they already did were exempted. We have not seen the course lengths confirmed on a second official page, so ask your agency which course applies to you and when it runs.
For domestic work, Kenya and the UAE signed a memorandum in . Under it, contracts are approved by both governments and recruitment goes through licensed agencies only. A household job offered through a friend on WhatsApp, with no agency and no contract, falls outside that system.
No Kenyan ban on domestic workers going to the UAE was found in our checks, and no UAE ban on Kenyan passports either.
Fees on the UAE side, and who pays them
These are the government lines for a worker hired from outside the UAE into a Dubai mainland company.
| Fee line | Amount | Where it is paid |
|---|---|---|
| Work permit application | AED 50 | MOHRE |
| Two-year work permit | AED 250, AED 1,200 or AED 3,450 by company category | MOHRE |
| Employment entry permit | AED 200 plus 5% VAT | GDRFA |
| Medical fitness test, 24 hours | AED 270 | DHA centre in Dubai |
| Emirates ID | AED 100 per year plus AED 100 smart service fee | ICP |
| Residence permit | AED 200, AED 10, AED 10, AED 20 delivery | GDRFA |
Source: MOHRE, GDRFA, ICP and DHA fee pages, checked . Health insurance and typing charges come on top. No official page gives one total, so we show the lines.
The UAE labour rights page says the employer bears the costs of recruitment, travel and the residence permit, and that charging recruitment fees to job seekers is illegal. That is the rule to quote if someone in Kenya asks you to pay for your own visa.
What Dubai agencies charge employers
Dubai visa and PRO firms publish about AED 3,500 to AED 8,000 per employee for a mainland employment visa, all in (published prices of 4 Dubai providers, checked ). That is the employer's bill, not yours.
Documents to have ready in Kenya
- Kenyan passport with at least 6 months of validity
- Photo on a white background
- The MOHRE job offer, signed by you and the employer
- Your degree, diploma or school certificate, attested, if your job is skilled (MOHRE levels 1 to 5)
- A professional licence if your job needs one, for example in health care
MOHRE splits jobs into skill levels. Levels 1 and 2 need a bachelor's degree, levels 3 and 4 a diploma, level 5 a high school certificate, and levels 6 to 9 no certificate. Our work visa requirements page explains attestation.
From Nairobi to an Emirates ID
- The employer issues the MOHRE job offer. Read the salary, job title and hours before you sign.
- MOHRE issues the work permit, usually within 2 working days.
- GDRFA issues the employment entry permit, listed at 48 hours. It gives you 60 days after entry to finish the residency steps.
- You fly to Dubai. The employer books your medical test and Emirates ID biometrics.
- GDRFA stamps a two-year residence. The MOHRE employment contract is then filed within 60 days of entry.
The full order is on our work visa process page.
Processing time
The UAE government steps are quick on paper: 2 working days at MOHRE, 48 hours at GDRFA, 24 hours for the standard medical result and 5 days for the Emirates ID card. The slow part is usually Kenyan: training dates, certificate attestation and a passport renewal if yours is close to expiry.
Where Kenyan job offers go wrong
- The agency has no NEA registration and cannot name the UAE employer
- You are told to travel on a tourist visa and "change later", then the job never appears
- The job title on the work permit does not match the offer you signed
- Your certificate is not attested, so MOHRE cannot place you at the skill level promised
- Someone holds your passport. The UAE says employers may not confiscate it
If you are already in Dubai on a visit visa, see changing visa status in the UAE and keep an eye on the overstay fine of AED 50 a day.
How it works with us
Send the job offer and your passport page on WhatsApp or through the form on this page. A visa adviser reads the offer, checks which MOHRE permit and GDRFA entry permit fit, and flags anything that does not match. If the employer wants us to handle the filing, our team prepares the permit, entry permit and residence steps for them and follows each one up. The party paying, by law the employer, gets one total price before anything is paid. DubaiVisaDesk.com is a private visa service. MOHRE and GDRFA approve or refuse.
Fees paid to MOHRE or GDRFA are not returned by them after a refusal. Before payment, the adviser states in writing which part of the total, if any, comes back if the permit is refused.
Official sources
- Kenya Ministry of Labour announcement: NEA registration and pre-departure training
- u.ae labour rights: employer pays, recruitment fee ban, passports
- MOHRE recruiting a worker from overseas: permit fees, documents, skill levels
- GDRFA employment entry permit: fee, 48 hours, 60 days after entry
- GDRFA residence permit: residence fee lines
Visiting first instead? Read our Dubai visa for Kenyans page for tourist and ICP routes.
