How to become an agent in Dubai

What are you actually applying for?

Two things are easy to confuse. The brokerage holds a business licence and an Office Registration Number (ORN). You hold an individual real estate broker card and a Brokers Registration Number (BRN). The card's validity is linked to the trade licence of the firm you are registered under, so the firm you join matters to the card. The broker card guide explains both numbers and how to check them in the Department's licensed-brokers directory.

Starting a firm of your own is a different service. The Land Department's Real Estate Licensing Application is a licence application made through the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism and Trakheesi, with its own terms, and the card is applied for after the licence is approved. This guide covers joining a licensed brokerage as an individual broker.

What does the Land Department list for an individual broker?

For adding a broker to a real estate establishment, the Department's FAQ lists passing a real estate qualification course, a valid Dubai Police certificate of good conduct, a photograph, residency on the same licence, the card fee, and copies of the passport and the residency. The card service page lists a personal photo and a copy of the Emirates ID among its documents, a certificate of good conduct among its terms, and a broker exam with published exemptions.

Those are the Department's own lists, not a complete statement of what applies to you. Confirm which qualification course applies to your application, its provider and duration, and the training and exam languages before booking.

How do residence and the right to work fit in?

Residence and permission to work are separate from the broker card. The Department's FAQ asks for residency on the same licence when adding a broker. Its separate answer on the wife of a non-citizen under her husband's sponsorship says she may apply provided the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) approves and she provides the required documents. That is one case the Department addresses, not a rule for every family or self-sponsored arrangement.

For private-sector employment covered by MOHRE, the UAE government portal summarises the Labour Law: a worker needs a valid work permit issued by MOHRE, and an employer may not recruit or employ a worker without one. MOHRE issues its permits to registered establishments and has several types, including one for recruiting a worker from outside the UAE, one for transferring a worker between establishments, one for a resident on a family sponsorship and a freelance permit. Whether and how this applies to your arrangement depends on the facts, and this guide does not say.

What do the exam and the card cost?

These are separate charges and do not make up a complete cost of joining. The Dubai Land Department's training page lists the Real Estate Brokerage Exam at AED 772.50. Its practice-card page separately itemises the exam and associated charges, and lists AED 500 as the fee line for issuing the real estate broker card, with further lines for the exam, a knowledge fee, an innovation fee and an ERES fee, and a note that terms and conditions apply. Confirm each amount and what it includes before you pay. The exam guide and the broker card guide set out the details, including the exemptions.

What should you ask a brokerage before you commit?

The card shows that you are registered. It does not tell you what the job will be. Ask in writing how commission is paid and what triggers it, how leads are sourced and allocated, who handles each application, who pays for portals and marketing, and what happens to your deals if you leave. The brokerage questions guide sets out five things to put to any firm, with its sources.

A short checklist before you start work

Five things to have settled, in whatever order your situation allows:

1. 01

   The firm

   A licensed brokerage with a current ORN, checked in the Department's directory.

2. 02

   The applications

   Which of them the brokerage will handle, and when.

3. 03

   The exam and the card

   Whether an exemption applies, how the exam is booked, and what each charge covers, itemised.

4. 04

   Residence and work permission

   Confirmed for your own arrangement, as set out above.

5. 05

   Starting activity

   Your firm confirms that your registration, broker card and other work requirements are in place before you start. The first ninety days guide covers what to do until then.