Working as an agent in Dubai
The short answer
Working as a real estate agent in Dubai means getting licensed, with a visa, the RERA exam and a broker card, and then earning through a commission split at a brokerage. Compare the split percentage with the amount it applies to, any proposed deductions, the payment trigger and any salary or draw. Leads, visa sponsorship and the costs you carry also affect what the job pays.
What a brokerage owes you, what the job pays once the costs come out, and what to do when an agency withholds a visa or a commission. Most of this is discussed anonymously in forums because no brokerage will put its name to it.
We are a brokerage, and we recruit. So read these pages the way they tell you to read any agency: check what is sourced, and ask us the same questions.
Questions about this
The ones that come up most often, answered without a pitch.
Yes. You need a real estate professional practice card from the Dubai Land Department, which requires UAE residency, the RERA certified training and a pass in the broker exam. The card is tied to the licensed brokerage you work for.
Not as a freelancer. A Brokers Registration Number must sit under a brokerage holding an Office Registration Number, so working without one means establishing your own licensed firm.
The Dubai Land Department states a processing time of five minutes for issuing the card itself. The longer part comes first: residency, the certified training and the exam, and a position at the licensed brokerage the card attaches to.
What it agrees in writing. Before you sign, that should cover the commission split and the event that triggers payment, how leads are allocated, who sponsors your visa and holds your Brokers Registration Number, and who pays for portals and marketing.
Written by House Of Orange, a licensed Dubai brokerage that also recruits agents
House Of Orange Real Estate is a licensed Dubai brokerage, ORN 49865. We publish this because we recruit, and we would rather you put the questions on these pages to us than take our word for anything. If a firm cannot answer them, that is the answer.