UAE Visa Cancellation Process: Everything Employers Need to Know

When an employee leaves a company, whether through resignation or termination, the employer is responsible for formally cancelling that employee's visa, and getting this process wrong (or simply not doing it) can create liability that lingers well after the employee has actually left.

The cancellation process generally starts with the employer applying to MOHRE to cancel the employee's labour contract and labour card, which the employee must also sign as part of confirming the end of the employment relationship. As part of this step, the employer typically needs to confirm, in writing, that the employee has received all owed wages and end-of-service benefits. Once the labour side is cancelled, the employer applies separately to GDRFA or ICP, depending on the emirate, to cancel the residence visa itself. Both steps need to happen; cancelling only the labour contract without also cancelling the residence visa leaves the employee's immigration status unresolved, which can create complications for both parties later.

Employers generally have a defined window, commonly within 30 days of employment ending, to complete visa cancellation, and delays here typically escalate into fines the longer they go unresolved. It's also worth noting that if the departing employee sponsors their own dependents, those dependent visas generally need to be cancelled before the primary sponsor's own visa can be cancelled, which adds an extra layer of coordination for family-sponsoring employees leaving a company.

Once a residence visa is cancelled, the Emirates ID tied to that visa is cancelled automatically as part of the same process, so there's no need for a separate Emirates ID cancellation step in most cases. After cancellation, the former employee generally has a grace period, often extending to a few months depending on their situation, to either find new sponsorship, convert to a different visa status, or exit the country, so timely, correctly completed cancellation by the employer directly affects how much runway the departing employee has to sort out their next steps.