PRO Services in Dubai Delivered as a Structured Compliance Function
As businesses grow, government liaison activities become far more than routine administrative tasks. Once an organisation operates multiple licences and manages a sizeable workforce, regulatory filings, visa administration, and government approvals require consistent oversight and accountability.
Our PRO services are delivered through a dedicated team, defined service levels, and transparent reporting. Every request is managed through established processes with clear turnaround times, while monthly statements provide complete visibility by separately itemising government charges and professional service fees. This structured approach helps businesses maintain compliance, reduce administrative burden, and ensure critical government-related obligations are handled efficiently and accurately.
Operated by IMC, a member firm of Andersen Global.
Ask the PRO desk
PRO services in Dubai are the government-facing transactions a licensed company must complete in order to trade and to employ people. They cover trade licence issue and renewal, the establishment card, MOHRE work permits and labour contracts, entry permits and residence visas, Emirates ID registration, medical fitness, document attestation and licence amendments.
A PRO, or public relations officer, is the person authorised to lodge those applications on a company's behalf at DET, MOHRE, GDRFA, ICP and the Tasheel and Amer service centres. A corporate PRO service replaces that single individual with a team, a schedule and a record of every submission.
Where PRO work actually breaks in a corporate group
None of these are failures of effort. They are failures of sequence and visibility, and they surface at the worst possible moment, usually when someone is already booked to travel or a client contract is waiting on a signature.
The establishment card expires quietly
It has no customer-facing consequence until the day it blocks every new work permit in the group. HR discovers it when the first offer letter is rejected, not before.
Quota runs out mid-hire
The labour quota is checked at offer stage, not at planning stage. A five-person hiring round stalls because the licence carries capacity for two, and the quota increase depends on office space already leased.
Medical results outrun the entry permit
An entry permit has a fixed validity. When the medical, the status change and the biometric appointment slip past it, the permit lapses and the whole sequence restarts at the company's cost.
EJARI blocks the licence renewal
The tenancy contract sits with facilities, the licence sits with finance, and nobody owns the dependency between them. The renewal window closes with the file incomplete.
An authorised signatory resigns
Until the amendment is filed, portals reject submissions and the bank freezes changes. The resignation date and the amendment date are rarely the same week, and the gap is where the damage sits.
Renewals cluster without a calendar
A group of five entities can carry sixty renewal dates across licences, cards, visas and tenancies. Held in a spreadsheet, that calendar survives exactly as long as the person maintaining it.
Four commitments that separate this from a typical PRO arrangement
Most PRO providers in Dubai compete on speed and friendliness. Neither is measurable. These four are.
A named team, and a named backup
Every account has a lead PRO and a second who holds the same portal access and the same file. Leave, illness and resignation stop being a service interruption.
A published turnaround
Each transaction type carries a working-day commitment measured from complete documents to submission. The commitment is written into the engagement letter, not implied in a brochure.
Government fees at cost
Authority fees, typing charges and medical fees are passed through at cost with the receipt attached. Our fee is a separate line. There is no margin hidden inside a government charge.
A monthly statement and an audit trail
Every submission is logged with its authority reference, date, status and cost. The statement is built for a finance team to reconcile and an auditor to test.
What the PRO desk handles
Nine service lines, all delivered by the same team, on the same file, under the same retainer.
Corporate PRO services
Retained government liaison for groups holding mainland, free zone and DIFC or ADGM entities in one structure.
How the retainer worksPRO outsourcing
A full replacement for an in-house PRO headcount, including portal custody, renewal calendar and cover during leave.
Compare against an in-house PROEmployment visa processing
Offer letter through to residence stamping, run as one sequence with the dependencies mapped rather than as six separate errands.
See the visa sequenceEmirates ID applications
ICP registration, biometrics scheduling, replacements and the renewals that quietly fall out of step with the visa.
Emirates ID handlingMOHRE work permits and labour cards
Quota management, offer letters, labour contracts, and the amendments that follow a promotion or a salary change.
MOHRE transactionsMedical, typing, Tasheel and Amer
The counter work that consumes an employee's day. Scheduled in batches, with the appointment sequenced against permit validity.
Counter servicesTrade licence renewal
Renewal managed backwards from the expiry date, with EJARI, establishment card and immigration file treated as dependencies.
Renewal managementAttestation and legalisation
Degree certificates, corporate documents and powers of attorney, routed through the correct chain the first time.
Attestation routesLicence amendments
Activity changes, signatory changes, share transfers, capital changes and address moves, filed in the right order.
Amendment filingsHow a corporate PRO engagement runs
Four stages. The first two happen before any fee is agreed.
Position review
We list every entity, licence, card and visa in the group with its expiry date, and identify what falls due in the next 90 days. Delivered as a register, whether or not the engagement proceeds.
Scope and service level
Transaction volume by type sets the retainer band. Turnaround commitments are agreed per transaction and written into the engagement letter.
Handover
Portal access, powers of attorney and document custody are transferred under a signed inventory. Nothing depends on one person's phone.
Run and report
Renewals are actioned from the calendar rather than from a reminder. Each month closes with a statement of submissions, costs and what falls due next.
Fee structure
Two components, always shown separately. Retainer bands are set by transaction volume, not by headcount alone, because a stable team of eighty generates less work than a rotating team of thirty.
| Band | Typical profile | Included each month | Monthly retainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single entity | One licence, up to 15 on the visa book | Renewal calendar, an agreed volume of transactions, monthly statement | On application |
| Growing company | One or two licences, 16 to 60 on the visa book | All of the above, quota planning, named backup PRO | On application |
| Group | Three or more entities, mixed mainland and free zone | All of the above, consolidated group register, quarterly review with the CFO | On application |
| Project | One-off amendment, liquidation or bulk visa round | Scoped and quoted as a fixed fee | On application |
Who this service suits, and who it does not
Being specific about the second half saves everybody a call.
A good fit
- Groups running more than one licence, particularly where mainland and free zone entities sit side by side
- Companies where an in-house PRO has resigned and the portal access left with them
- Finance teams that need government spend reconciled to receipts rather than absorbed into a single invoice
- Regional headquarters carrying visas for staff who work across the GCC
Not a good fit
- A single free zone licence with one or two visas and no near-term hiring, where the free zone portal handles most of it directly
- Buyers whose first and only question is the lowest per-visa price, since this model costs more than a transactional agent and is built to be worth it
- Anyone seeking a shortcut around an eligibility rule, a quota or a ban period
PRO services in Dubai: questions finance and HR teams ask
What is the difference between PRO services and corporate PRO services in Dubai?
PRO services describe the individual transactions, such as a visa application or a licence renewal. Corporate PRO services describe a retained arrangement in which a provider holds the calendar, the portal access and the document custody for one or more entities, and reports on the whole position monthly. The transactions are the same. The accountability structure around them is not.
Do we still need an in-house PRO if we retain your team?
Most groups do not. Where a company keeps an internal coordinator, the usual split is that they own the internal approvals and employee communication while our team owns the authority submissions, the calendar and the record. What matters is that the portal access and the powers of attorney sit somewhere that survives a resignation.
How are government fees handled?
They are paid on the company's behalf and recharged at cost, with the authority receipt attached to the line. Our service fee appears as a separate line on the same statement. A provider who quotes a single all-in figure per visa is either absorbing the risk of a fee change or building margin into the government charge, and neither is visible to the client.
Can you take over mid-year from our current PRO or agency?
Yes. The transfer runs on a signed inventory covering original documents, portal credentials, powers of attorney and any transaction already in progress. The first deliverable is a register of every licence, card and visa with its expiry date, which usually surfaces one or two items that had been missed.
Which authorities do you deal with?
Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism for mainland licensing, the relevant free zone authority for free zone entities, MOHRE for work permits and labour contracts, GDRFA and ICP for entry permits, residence visas and Emirates ID, plus the Tasheel and Amer service centres and the notary public. DIFC and ADGM entities follow their own registrar processes and are handled on the same file.
How quickly can you start?
The position review can begin as soon as licence copies and a staff list are provided, and normally takes a few working days. Live submissions begin once portal access and powers of attorney are in place, which depends on the authority rather than on us.
Talk to the PRO desk
A 20 minute scoping call covers entity count, headcount, renewal dates and the transactions falling due in the next 90 days.