Guía
Who is authorised to handle UAE visa and licensing work
La respuesta corta
Every UAE visa, residency and licensing transaction is submitted to a government authority, and only centres that authority has designated may submit them on your behalf. In Dubai, Amer is the customer-facing channel of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA Dubai) for residency transactions, delivered through private centres GDRFA has approved; Tasheel is the equivalent channel of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation for labour transactions. You can check a provider by asking which authority issues the document, looking that centre up in the authority's own published directory, and confirming you can track the application on the authority's own portal or app. An advisory firm that plans a structure is a different thing from a designated service centre, and neither is a government body — Velarozone is the former: an independent advisory, not a government channel and not a designated service centre.
The confusion here is real, and the authorities have said so in their own terms: ICP warns that its name and logo are misused in fake calls and counterfeit websites, and asks that its services be obtained only through official and authorised channels. Search results will not sort this out for you. A commercial site can rank above an authority's own domain for the name of a government service, and ranking is not a signal of authorisation.
The line that matters is between authorised and unauthorised, not between private and government. Designated centres are private businesses. That is by design, and it does not make them unofficial.
What Amer actually is
Amer is GDRFA Dubai's customer-facing service channel for residency and immigration transactions in Dubai — entry permits, residency issuance and renewal, cancellations, exit permits and related files. It is delivered through centres that operate under GDRFA authorisation. GDRFA's own portal treats opening an Amer centre as a business an investor applies for and must meet the directorate's guidelines and approvals to run.
So an Amer centre is a licensed private outlet performing a designated public-facing function. It is not a branch of the directorate, and it is not an unofficial workaround either. Both readings are wrong, and the second one is unfair to operators who hold a real designation.
GDRFA Dubai publishes its centres in a searchable directory that separates Amer centres, its own customer service centres, and partner service centres. That directory, on the authority's own domain, is the reference point — not a listing on a third-party site.
One naming note, offered because it causes real confusion: the directorate is commonly written as the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai, and recent official coverage also renders it as the General Directorate of Identity and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai. The abbreviation GDRFA Dubai and the domain gdrfad.gov.ae are the stable identifiers.
What Tasheel is, and why the two are constantly mixed up
Tasheel is the counterpart channel of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE), covering labour transactions rather than residency ones — work permits, employment contracts, and related employer filings. It too is delivered through service centres the ministry approves, and the ministry publishes the categories of centre it has approved on its own site.
The two are confused because a single hire touches both. The labour side of an employment file sits with MOHRE; the residency side sits with the immigration authority. A provider handling one is not automatically handling the other, and a centre approved by one ministry is not thereby approved by the other.
Which immigration authority owns your file depends on where the establishment is registered. Dubai residency files sit with GDRFA Dubai. The Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) runs federal identity services and residency channels used elsewhere. Free zones add their own layer, since some zones route immigration work through their own portals before it reaches the immigration authority. Ask which combination applies to your entity rather than assuming.
What a designated centre can and cannot do
- It can prepare, type and submit applications to the authority that designated it, within the transaction types that designation covers.
- It can collect the authority's own charges and its own service charge, and both should appear on documentation you keep.
- It can give you the official reference for your application so you can follow it yourself.
- It cannot decide your application. Approval sits with the authority, on the authority's criteria.
- It cannot create an eligibility you do not have, or convert a refusal into an approval.
- It cannot bind another authority. A residency channel does not speak for a labour ministry, an economic department or a free-zone registrar.
- It cannot lawfully act outside the transaction types and the emirate its designation covers.
How to verify a provider before you hand anything over
This is the practical part, and it is mostly a matter of order. Establish the authority first, then check the provider against that authority — never the other way round.
- Ask which authority issues the document you are applying for, by name. A provider who cannot answer that plainly has told you something useful.
- Type the authority's own domain into the address bar rather than following a link from an advertisement, a message or a search result you did not verify. Government domains end in .gov.ae.
- Look the centre up in the authority's published directory of approved centres. GDRFA Dubai's searchable centre listing sits on gdrfad.gov.ae; MOHRE publishes its approved service centres on its own site.
- Use the contact number published on the authority's own site, not a number supplied by the provider, if you want to confirm a centre or a claim.
- Ask the provider for its trade licence and the name of the authority that designated it for this work. A designation is a specific thing and a legitimate operator can name it.
- Confirm you will get an official reference or transaction number, and that you can check the status yourself on the authority's portal or app.
- Pay the licensed business against documentation, to a business account. Not to a personal account, and not to an individual.
- Keep control of your own credentials. Where a portal account is in your name, it stays in your name.
- If something is wrong, report it to the authority through its own reporting channel. GDRFA Dubai has asked the public to do exactly that.
What GDRFA Dubai has actually warned about
In June 2026, GDRFA Dubai said its Investigation and Follow-up Department, within the Violators and Foreigners Follow-up Sector, had identified and acted on violations across digital platforms involving the promotion of visa and residency services by parties not authorised to provide them. The stated concern was that people dealing with them could be exploited or given inaccurate information about official procedures.
The directorate's guidance was straightforward: obtain visa and residency services only through official and approved channels, do not respond to unverified advertisements or offers circulating on digital platforms, verify the source of a service before sharing personal information or making any payment, and report suspicious activity.
It is worth stating what this was not. It was not a statement that private centres are illegitimate, and it named no category of licensed operator as suspect. It was about parties promoting services they were not authorised to provide.
ICP publishes a similar position on its own portal, emphasising that its services and information should be obtained only through official and authorised channels, and warning that its name and logo are misused in fake calls and counterfeit websites.
Service centre or advisory firm — two different jobs
A designated service centre transacts with an authority. It takes a decided application and submits it through a channel it is authorised to use.
An advisory firm works at a different point in the process. It establishes what you are trying to do, which authority and which structure fit the activity, what the sequence is, what the conditions are, and what could go wrong — then coordinates the submissions with whoever is authorised to make them. It establishes what you are trying to do, which authority and which structure fit the activity, what the sequence is, what the conditions are, and what could go wrong — then coordinates the submissions with whoever is authorised to make them.
Neither replaces the other, and confusing them is where people lose money. Buying a submission when what you needed was an assessment produces a licence that does not match the business. Buying an assessment and assuming it includes a submission leaves the file sitting still.
What each does, so you can tell which one you are talking to.
Submits to the authority
- Designated service centre
- Yes, within its designation
- Advisory firm
- No — it coordinates with those who can
Decides your application
- Designated service centre
- No
- Advisory firm
- No
Chooses the authority and structure
- Designated service centre
- Not its role
- Advisory firm
- Yes, as advice on your facts
Holds a government designation
- Designated service centre
- Yes, from a named authority
- Advisory firm
- No
Is a government body
- Designated service centre
- No
- Advisory firm
- No
| Pregunta | Designated service centre | Advisory firm |
|---|---|---|
| Submits to the authority | Yes, within its designation | No — it coordinates with those who can |
| Decides your application | No | No |
| Chooses the authority and structure | Not its role | Yes, as advice on your facts |
| Holds a government designation | Yes, from a named authority | No |
| Is a government body | No | No |
Red flags, as behaviours rather than names
These are patterns to watch for in how a provider behaves. None of them identifies any particular company, and the presence of one is a reason to ask more questions rather than a verdict.
- Cannot tell you which authority issues your licence, permit or visa.
- Guarantees an approval that is at the authority's discretion, or a decision timeline the authority does not itself publish.
- Presents itself in government styling, colours or wording that implies it is the authority rather than a provider dealing with it.
- Exists only as a messaging or social account, with no named licensed entity behind it.
- Asks for payment to a personal account, or in cash with nothing issued in return.
- Asks you to sign blank forms, or to hand over portal credentials that belong in your name.
- Discourages you from checking your own application status with the authority.
- Suggests an exception can be arranged, or hints at a contact inside an authority.
- Will not give you the official reference number for a submission it says it has made.
- Answers a question about its designation by changing the subject to price.
What Velarozone is, stated plainly
Velarozone is an independent company-formation advisory. We plan structures, assess which authority and licence fit an activity, prepare the file, and coordinate submissions with the parties authorised to make them.
We are not a government body, not a government channel, and not a designated service centre. We hold no authority's delegation to submit residency or labour transactions, and we do not present ourselves as an extension of any authority. Where a transaction must go through a designated centre or an authority's own portal, it does, and you keep the official reference.
Nothing on this site is legal, tax, immigration or banking advice. Where a question turns on law or on an authority's discretion, the answer comes from the authority or from a licensed professional, and we say so rather than guessing.
