One process from your brief to the first shift: sourcing and testing in Manila, MWO accreditation of your company, the MoHRE or free-zone permit, mobilisation. You are the sponsor and the employer; we run both ends of the route.
Filipinos are the UAE's third-largest expatriate community — about one million people, around 450,000 of them in Dubai — and the reason is the same one that fills Dubai's hotels, clinics, offices and workshops: English as a working language, service culture, TESDA-certified trades and a government system at home built to deploy workers abroad in an orderly way.
For a UAE employer, that system is the point. The Department of Migrant Workers licenses the agency, its Migrant Workers Office in Dubai or Abu Dhabi accredits your company, the contract is verified before departure, and the worker arrives documented. Done properly, the Philippine side is the most predictable part of the process.
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.
The Philippines bans direct hiring of its workers by foreign employers, with narrow exemptions. In practice a UAE employer recruits Filipino staff through a DMW-licensed Philippine agency accredited to it by the MWO — which is exactly the structure we run.
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.
Everything here is subject to applicable UAE MoHRE or free-zone, licensing, attestation and visa requirements.
Your company. You hold the work permit and the residence visa, the employment contract is between you and the worker and is registered with MoHRE or your free zone. We are the recruitment and process partner on both sides — never the employer.
For hospitality, office and trade roles typically six to ten weeks from brief to arrival: two to four weeks to a tested shortlist in Manila, two to four weeks for the UAE permit once your company's MWO accreditation is in place, and the Philippine exit steps in parallel.
The UAE permit is issued by MoHRE for mainland companies and by the free-zone authority for free-zone companies; Emiratisation quotas apply to mainland only. The Philippine side is identical.
No. Recruitment of Filipino workers is performed in the Philippines by the DMW-licensed agency the MWO accredits to you. Our UAE company advises and coordinates on your side; it is not a manpower supplier.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.