Employment Visa Cancellation in the UAE: Step by Step

When an employee leaves, the employment ends on paper only when the employer has cancelled two things: the work permit with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE), and the residence visa with the immigration authority. Until then, the employer is still the sponsor on record, and the employee cannot start with a new employer. This guide sets out the order of the steps, what each one needs, how long they take, and the grace period the employee has afterwards.

Who these rules cover

This is the process for private-sector employees on the mainland. Free zone companies cancel through their own free zone authority, and government employees and domestic workers follow separate processes. The rules come from Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, the UAE labour law, its executive regulations in Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022, and the service pages of MOHRE, the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) and the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFA).

The order of the steps

1. Settle the final dues. Pay the employee's wages, leave, notice pay where owed, gratuity and the ticket home, and have the employee sign that they received them. The law gives the employer 14 days from the end of the contract to pay. Our guide to the final settlement calculation in the UAE sets out each part.
2. Cancel the work permit and employment contract with MOHRE. This is what most people mean by cancelling the labour card.
3. Cancel the residence visa with ICP, or with GDRFA for a Dubai residence visa. The residence authority asks for the work permit cancellation first.

The order matters: MOHRE will not cancel the permit until the dues are settled and acknowledged, and the residence authority will not cancel the visa until the permit is cancelled.

Cancelling the work permit with MOHRE

The employer applies through MOHRE's "Cancellation of Work Permits and Employment Contracts" service, on the MOHRE website or app, signed in with UAE Pass. The service asks for:

• any fines for issuing or renewing the permit late, paid first;
• the establishment's statement that the employee's rights, dues and entitlements have been paid in full;
• the employee's signature agreeing to the cancellation and confirming receipt of all dues;
• the MOHRE cancellation form, plus the residence visa details if the employee is outside the UAE, a medical form if they are unfit because of a contagious disease, or a death certificate.

Employees who are abroad, deceased, unfit because of a contagious disease or administratively cancelled are exempt from signing. The service is free through MOHRE's own website and app apart from federal charges, a business service centre may charge a capped commission, and it takes about two working days.

Cancelling the residence visa

Once the work permit is cancelled, the employer cancels the residence visa:

Residence visa issued in	Authority	Published service fee	Time
Dubai	GDRFA Dubai	AED 100, plus AED 20 in knowledge and innovation fees	About 48 hours
Any other emirate	ICP	AED 50 application fee, plus AED 100 smart services fee	About 2 days

Fees are as published on each authority's service page on 14 October 2026; check the page before applying, because they change. GDRFA asks for MOHRE's work permit cancellation for a private-sector employee, and ICP asks that family members the employee sponsors are cancelled first, or put on hold against a guarantee.

The grace period after cancellation

After the residence visa is cancelled, the former employee has a grace period to leave the country or change status. It depends on the emirate and the residence category:

Who	Grace period
Dubai residence (GDRFA)	60 days
ICP: most categories	30 days
ICP: permits issued with a guarantor or host	60 days
ICP: skilled workers at levels 1 to 3, property owners	90 days
ICP: golden, green and blue residence holders and their families, and some other groups	180 days

ICP charges a fine of AED 50 a day for staying past the grace period. A new employer has 90 days from the old permit's cancellation to apply for a transfer work permit for the same person.

Cancel, or transfer?

If the employee is moving to another UAE employer, they do not need to leave the country. On MOHRE's side the old work permit is still cancelled, and the new employer applies for a transfer work permit within 90 days of that cancellation; what the transfer saves is the exit and re-entry. The steps are in our guide to staff visa transfer in the UAE.

Where cancellation gets stuck

Unpaid dues, or an employee who will not sign. MOHRE will not cancel without the acknowledgement. If the dues are disputed, either side can file a labour complaint with MOHRE, which tries to settle it first. Where a labour court case is already open, MOHRE has a separate service to cancel the permit, which takes about 14 working days.

Late renewal fines. Fines for a permit issued or renewed late must be paid before cancellation, which is one more reason to track expiry dates on a system.

An employee who has stopped coming to work. After more than seven days of absence, where the employer does not know where the employee is and cannot reach them, the employer can file MOHRE's "absence from work" complaint, with an entry and exit report from ICP no older than 30 days. Once it is approved, the work permit is cancelled automatically. If the report is proven, the employee cannot get a new work permit for a year, with exceptions such as family-sponsored residence or in-demand skills. Filing it against an employee who is simply on leave, or before seven days have passed, is grounds for the report to be cancelled.

Family members still sponsored. Dependants on the employee's sponsorship are cancelled first, or the residence cancellation waits.

What employers need in place

A clearance checklist that starts on the last working day. Dues, signature, permit cancellation, residence cancellation, in that order, with the 14-day payment deadline on top.

The dues already calculated. Cancellation waits on the settlement, and the settlement is only fast when leave, overtime and gratuity have been tracked all along.

One owner for the case. A cancellation touches payroll, MOHRE and the immigration authority. When nobody owns it, it stalls between them, and the employer stays the sponsor on record for longer than it should.

For the hiring side of the same process, see our guide to the UAE employment visa process for employers.

The bottom line

Employment visa cancellation in the UAE runs in a fixed order: settle and get the dues acknowledged, cancel the work permit with MOHRE, then cancel the residence visa with ICP or GDRFA Dubai. Each step takes a day or two once its conditions are met, and the employee then has a grace period that depends on the emirate and the residence category.

When tamdeed employs the people who work for a client, visa and employment processing is handled in-house, end to end, so the settlement, the cancellation and the residence steps are run as one case on the platform. See HR outsourcing in Dubai, or for a company with no UAE entity, employer of record.

Sources: MOHRE service pages for cancellation of work permits and employment contracts, absence from work complaints and the transfer work permit; ICP's cancellation of residency permits; GDRFA Dubai's cancellation of residence permits; the UAE Government portal's general provisions for the residence visa; Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, Articles 49, 50 and 53, and Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022, Articles 7 and 28. Checked on 14 October 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice; confirm your own case with MOHRE or the immigration authority.

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