A UAE project is manned from a programme, not from a job ad: structure crews first — steel fixers, formwork carpenters, concrete gangs, scaffolders — then blockwork, plaster, tiling and finishing, each in ratio to the floor cycle. The Philippines has supplied those crews to the Gulf for forty years. This guide covers crew composition, the job-order mechanics for large numbers and the obligations that keep a crew on site.
We take your manning schedule by month and build job orders by trade, so that each wave arrives against a phase, not all at once.
Set-out and finish tasks by trade at Prime Search's Makati facilities: a steel fixer reads a bar schedule and ties a column cage, a carpenter builds a form from a drawing, a mason lays blocks to line and level, a plasterer renders a panel to flatness, a tile mason sets and grouts to a pattern, a scaffolder is assessed on components and inspection — watched live by your site team, with interviews the same day. Most candidates have Gulf site experience already; we verify it against passports and prior visas, not CVs.
One accreditation of your company at the Migrant Workers Office with jurisdiction for the emirate — Dubai and the Northern Emirates at MWO Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain at MWO Abu Dhabi — covers every job order that follows. Each job order states the trade, the number, the basic and the package; the master employment contract and the contingency and evacuation plan are filed once; documents in two sets, submitted by an authorised employee of your company or our accredited liaison officer. Per worker: verified contract, medical, pre-departure orientation, Overseas Employment Certificate. MWO Dubai verifies skilled contracts at a minimum basic wage of AED 1,500 a month, and the DMW's standard minimum provisions for land-based contracts sit on top of the basic: free transport to and from the worksite, free food and suitable accommodation or the agreed allowance, free emergency medical and dental treatment, repatriation at the end of the contract. The UAE Labour Law adds the rest — health insurance, 30 days' annual leave, end-of-service gratuity, overtime rules, wages through the Wage Protection System. The basic is what the gratuity, overtime and leave pay are calculated on, which is why the MWO looks at it rather than at the total package.
Labour accommodation that meets the standards the emirate enforces, transport to site, food or an allowance that candidates understood before they signed, wages on time through the Wage Protection System, the midday break from 15 June to 15 September, and a Filipino camp boss or welfare officer who speaks for the crew. We brief every candidate on the camp, the shift, the climate and the net pay before selection ends; crews that were told the truth in Manila do not abscond in Jebel Ali.
On the UAE side, your company is the sponsor: a signed job offer, MoHRE work-permit approval (or the free-zone equivalent), an entry permit valid sixty days, then medical, Emirates ID biometrics, contract registration and the residence visa — typically two to four weeks once documents are complete. Roles are classified by MoHRE skill level; levels 1–2 require an attested degree, levels 3–4 a diploma. Our UAE company, licensed for HR consultancy in Dubai, advises on classification, attestation and Emiratisation standing and coordinates the sequence with your PRO — it does not place or supply workers, and the employment relationship is yours.
Recruitment in the Philippines runs through our own DMW-licensed agency, Prime Search Manpower Agency Inc. in Makati (licence DMW-027-LB-11182024). Your company is accredited as a principal at the Migrant Workers Office in Dubai or Abu Dhabi — recruitment agreement, job order, master employment contract, undertaking, contingency plan and trade licence — and the verified file is registered with the Department of Migrant Workers. Every selected worker leaves Manila with a verified contract, medical clearance, pre-departure orientation and an Overseas Employment Certificate.
Everything here is subject to applicable UAE MoHRE or free-zone, licensing, attestation and visa requirements.
Fifty to a hundred per wave, several waves per project; eight to twelve weeks from a signed job order to the first wave on site, driven by the MWO processing, the medical and the entry permits rather than by sourcing.
Helpers are recruited as part of trade gangs where the job order and package justify it; the Philippine pool is strongest in skilled and semi-skilled trades, and the MWO package rules make skilled hiring the better value.
Yes — your site engineer or foreman watches the trade tests in Makati live or online and interviews the same day; most contractors send one person for the first round.
MWO Dubai and Northern Emirates for Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah; MWO Abu Dhabi for Abu Dhabi and Al Ain — accreditation follows the sponsor's licence and the site.
Your company, under its MoHRE licence. Through a labour-supply company the structure changes — see the labour-supply guide.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.