Who is authorised to handle UAE visa and licensing work

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.