Visa renewal and cancellation in Dubai
Renewing or cancelling a UAE residence starts by naming the permit. A standard employment visa is the employer’s two-year visa, renewed or cancelled with the company still in the file. A Golden Visa is renewed against its own category, not by an employer’s PRO letter. A Green Visa is a five-year self-sponsored permit with its own conditions. THAJ coordinates the Dubai paperwork for the permit you hold. We do not print an overstay fine, because the page we cite for the work visa does not.
Renewal is a new look at the same permit
- Employment visa: the employer is still the sponsor. u.ae says the two-year visa is renewable on the authority’s terms. Start before the card expires. The passport, Emirates ID, licence and establishment card should all still be valid enough for the authority to accept the file.
- Golden Visa: renewal re-checks the category. A property investor who has sold, or a skilled professional who no longer meets AED 30,000, should not assume the next ten years. Use the process page and time outside the UAE.
- Green Visa: ICP says the five-year residence can be renewed, and it mentions specified grace periods without printing the number of days. Do not borrow the Golden Visa’s six-month absence sentence. See Green Visa vs Golden Visa.
- Family permits follow the sponsor. If the sponsor’s permit is the one ending, the family’s renewal is not an independent Golden Visa.
Cancellation
THAJ already handles cancellations for employees, investors and family members, coordinated with the labour and residency steps. The safe promise is the coordination. It is not a fine table.
The order of labour cancellation and residence cancellation is whatever MOHRE, the free zone and the residency authority require for that file on that day. Printing a single sequence would be wrong the moment a free zone differs from the mainland. We follow the authority that issued the permit. Overstay and absconding penalties are real, and they are not listed here. If someone has already overstayed, say so before we file, so the quote includes the authority’s charge rather than a surprise.
Cancelling an employee visa does not cancel a Golden Visa, and resigning does not by itself cancel a Golden Visa. The outside the UAE page explains that job loss is not described as an automatic Golden Visa cancellation, while renewal can still fail. Do not ask a PRO to “cancel the Golden Visa like a staff visa” unless you have decided to give the permit up.
What the price covers
Each renewal or cancellation is quoted on its own, or it sits inside the retainer on the pricing page. Government fees are at cost. VAT & Corporate Tax Support is separate: Get connected with our licensed accounting and tax partners for VAT registration, Corporate Tax registration, return filing and bookkeeping.
Frequently asked questions
When should I renew a Dubai employment visa?
Before it expires. u.ae describes a two-year visa that is renewable on the authority’s terms. Leaving it until after expiry is an overstay question, and the fine is the authority’s.
Does leaving a job cancel a Golden Visa?
Not as an automatic rule on the ICP page this site cites. Renewal of a skilled-professional Golden Visa can still fail if you no longer meet that category.
Can you cancel a visa for someone who has left the UAE?
Often yes, with the right passport and authority requirements. Tell us where the person is before we promise a particular channel.
Do you publish cancellation fees?
No. The authority’s charge is billed at cost and THAJ’s fee is in the written quote. We do not print an overstay tariff we have not cited.
Official sources
Facts on this page were checked against these sources on 5 November 2026. Rules and fees can change; the authority’s current page always prevails.
- Work visa — green visa and the standard employment visa — The UAE Government portal (u.ae)
- Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation — services — MOHRE
- GDRFA Dubai — residency services — General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs Dubai
- Golden Residency Guide — Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security (ICP)
- Green Residence Guide (page updated 12 September 2026) — Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security (ICP)
Name the permit and the expiry
A photo of the residence page is enough to start. We will say which renewal rule applies.