The UAE's Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) has announced that, as part of the national Zero Bureaucracy initiative, it has eliminated the requirement to submit supporting documents for 13 types of work permits, while cutting the number of required data fields for certain permits by 75 to 97 per cent.

The permits affected cover a wide range of employment categories: private tutoring, recruitment of workers from outside the UAE, employer transfer permits, family-sponsored residents, temporary work, mission-based work, part-time work, juvenile work permits, student training and employment, permits for UAE nationals and GCC citizens, Golden Visa-linked work permits, national trainee permits, and freelance work permits.

Under the new system, applicants will no longer need to upload extra supporting documents to have their applications processed, which the ministry says will significantly speed up approval times across these categories. The move continues the UAE government's broader push to simplify administrative procedures and cut red tape for both employers and workers.

MoHRE said a public consultation period is still open, inviting feedback from employers, workers and labour-market stakeholders on further improvements, with submissions accepted until the end of July. The ministry said this input will feed into the next phase of reforms to work permit procedures.

UAE labour market analysts described the move as a positive step that should make hiring easier and reduce administrative costs for companies, particularly in fast-growing categories such as part-time work, student employment and freelancing. For foreign residents looking to change their residency or employment status, the simplified process is also expected to cut processing time considerably.