Labour card renewal: deadlines, fines and what it blocks

CHECKED 28 SEP 2026

The labour card — the MOHRE work permit — is the employer's document as much as the employee's. Letting one lapse costs a fine that is smaller than most sites claim, and risks something considerably more expensive: a suspended establishment file that stops every other filing in the company.

The term and the window

Standard work permits are valid for two years. The exceptions are shorter: one year for a juvenile permit, three months for student training, twelve months renewable for a national trainee. MOHRE currently lists thirteen permit types.

Renewal can be submitted from 60 days before expiry, and MOHRE states two working days to complete. The legal framework is Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 with Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022; the fees and fines sit in Cabinet Resolution No. 21 of 2020, as amended in 2022.

The late fine, and the figure that does not exist

Cabinet Resolution No. 21 of 2020 sets the penalty for failing to renew a work permit within a period not exceeding 60 days from expiry at AED 200 for each month, capped at AED 2,000.

The same article contains a second, narrower row — failure to renew within a period not exceeding seven days from expiry, at AED 100 a month capped at AED 2,000. Both are in the official text and the English translation does not label which category each applies to, so both are quoted here rather than merged into one tidy answer.

The AED 500 fine repeated across commercial PRO and HR sites is not in the Resolution at all. Neither is the "50 days" deadline that sometimes accompanies it.

One thing to be careful about: none of this is a penalty-free grace period. The official wording penalises the failure to renew within 60 days — it does not grant 60 free days.

What it costs

Permit fees are set by how the establishment is classified: AED 250 in the first category, AED 1,200 in the second, AED 3,450 in the third, for two years. There is an AED 50 work permit application fee, and business or typing centre commission is capped at AED 72 per transaction. UAE and GCC nationals are exempt in every category.

The classification is worth understanding, because it is the largest single number in this guide. Falling into the third category — for breaches of the labour law, worker-rights rules or the diversity policy — takes the fee per permit from AED 250 to AED 3,450, which is roughly fourteen times as much, on every permit the company files.

MOHRE and the Government portal label the three tiers differently — first, second and third on one, A, B and C on the other. They are the same tiers.

The real risk: a suspended file

Ministerial Resolution No. 543 of 2022 sets out four grounds on which MOHRE suspends new work permits for an establishment.
Unpaid fines or violations under Cabinet Resolution 21 of 2020 — suspended until the fines are paid.
Failure to provide compliant labour accommodation — suspended until it is provided.
Human-trafficking allegations — suspended until cleared, and for two years after a final conviction.
Abuse of the electronic powers granted to access the Ministry's systems — six months from the date the violation is proven.

Why a suspension stops renewals too

MOHRE's own conditions for issuing a permit are an available electronic quota, a valid licence with no violations, a worker aged 18 or over, and no active permit elsewhere for that worker.

An unpaid fine fails the "no violations" condition. So the suspension does not only stop new hires — it stops the renewals of people already employed, which is how one unpaid AED 200 fine becomes a company-wide standstill.

There is a grievance route, through the committee established by Ministerial Resolution No. 45 of 2022.

The establishment card sits underneath all of it

MOHRE requires a valid trade licence and a valid rental contract to issue or renew an establishment card. GDRFA Dubai warns of an AED 100 monthly fine for not renewing it.

So the order of dependency runs licence, then establishment card, then every employee's permit. A company date and a staff date are not separate problems.

Other employer fines worth knowing

Employing an expatriate without obtaining a work permit, or letting him work for a third party: AED 20,000 per violation.
Hiring staff who are not under your own sponsorship, per GDRFA Dubai: AED 50,000.
Filing a false absconding report: AED 5,000. An actual absconding must be reported within 10 days.
Failing to give MOHRE the employment contract within 60 days of the worker's entry: AED 100 a month, capped at AED 2,000.

One 2026 change to be aware of

A new Wage Protection System resolution took effect on 1 June 2026, replacing the 2022 rules. Wages are reported as being due on the first day of each Gregorian month for the preceding month, with the compliance threshold raised from 80 per cent to 85 per cent, and an escalation schedule that reaches suspension of new work permits within days rather than weeks.

The official text of that resolution was not retrievable from MOHRE at the time of checking, so the detail above is from legal commentary rather than from the instrument itself. Treat it as a reason to confirm your own WPS position with MOHRE, not as a figure to rely on.

Staying ahead of it

Track each employee's work permit as its own date, beside their visa and Emirates ID.
Start the permit renewal with the residence visa renewal, not after it — the permit comes first in the sequence.
Clear MOHRE fines as they arise rather than at renewal time, because an unpaid one blocks everybody.

SOURCES

UAE fees and fines change. This guide is general information checked on the date above, not legal advice — confirm current figures with the authority before acting on them.