Who can become an agent in Dubai

What does the Land Department actually publish on eligibility?

Two Dubai Land Department pages carry almost everything: the service page for issuing a real estate professional practice card, and the broker section of the department's Frequently Asked Questions. Read together they answer most of what people ask from abroad. The table below takes the questions one at a time, says what those pages state, and names the body that confirms the answer for your own case.

Where a cell says a condition is not listed, that means it does not appear on the DLD pages we checked on 14 October 2026. It is not a promise that no such condition exists, and rules change without announcement. The steps themselves, from training to the card, have their own piece in the section on getting licensed.

Is there a nationality or age limit?

For working as a broker inside a licensed firm, the Land Department's list states neither. Its FAQ answer on adding a broker to a real estate establishment asks for the qualification course, a valid good conduct certificate, a photograph, residency on the licence, the card fee and copies of passport and residency. Nationality does not appear, and nor does an age.

The same FAQ gives a different answer to a different question. Asked about the conditions for a real estate broker licence, it says individuals can obtain one only if they are Emirati or GCC citizens, over 18, and have completed a real estate diploma or qualification course. Elsewhere on the same page it says any person has the right to obtain a broker's licence under the required conditions, and that an expatriate can own a brokerage licence provided there is a citizen services agent. The FAQ does not explain how those answers fit together. If you intend to hold a licence in your own name rather than work under a firm's, ask the department directly.

The Land Department also runs the Dubai Real Estate Brokers Programme, and its page states that the service is only for UAE nationals. That is a programme for nationals, not a condition placed on anyone else.

On age, the only minimum the DLD publishes is the one above: over 18 for an individual broker licence, and 18 or older for a manager or partner. The figure of 21 repeated across third-party guides does not appear on any DLD page we checked, so it is not on this one. At the other end, the card service page exempts individuals above 55 years of age from the broker exam, which is the only mention of age on that page.

Do you need a degree, or Arabic?

Neither appears among the Land Department's published conditions. What it asks for is the real estate qualification course and, on the card service page, a pass in what it calls the annual test to practise the profession. What those involve, and who is exempt from the exam, has its own piece in the section on getting licensed.

One detail in the FAQ is worth reading closely. For managers and partners it refers to "a real estate qualification course for university students" and a "diploma course for non-university students". The FAQ says no more than that. If you do not hold a degree, ask the approved training provider which course applies to you before you book.

Arabic is not listed as a condition on any of the DLD pages we checked. The department's own list of circulars includes one from 2017 on broker certification courses in Chinese, which shows the courses have not been run in one language only. Which languages the training and exam are offered in today is a question for the provider at the point you register, because it is the kind of detail that changes without notice.

Can you get the good conduct certificate before you arrive?

The Land Department asks specifically for a certificate of good conduct issued by Dubai Police and directed to the DLD or RERA. A police certificate from your home country is a different document, and nothing on the DLD pages says it substitutes for this one.

Dubai Police lists the service as open to citizens, residents, visitors and applicants outside the UAE. Its page also states that if the certificate is requested from outside the UAE, the applicant must have previously entered the UAE, and it lists a personal photo, a passport copy and a copy of a previous residence visa as the documents for those applying from abroad, and says applicants abroad without a ten-print fingerprint on record must send one certified by the UAE Embassy. If you have never been to the UAE, read that condition before planning to arrive with the certificate already in hand.

The certificate is valid for three months from the date of issue, according to the Dubai Police page. That makes it a timing question as much as an eligibility one: obtained too early, it can lapse before the card application it supports. Where it falls in the order of steps from abroad is covered in the piece on that sequence.

Can you work on a spouse's, golden, investor or visit visa?

These are the questions asked most from abroad, and they are immigration and employment questions before they are licensing ones. We are a brokerage, not an immigration adviser, and the answer this guide gives everywhere is to name the body that decides, and stop. The table at the top of this page lists who that is for each.

What the Land Department itself says is short. Its list for adding a broker to a firm asks for a copy of your residency and includes the line "Ensure their residency is on the same licence". The same FAQ, asked whether the wife of a non-citizen may apply for a broker's licence while under her husband's sponsorship, says yes, provided MOHRE approves and she provides the required documents. The published guidance does not explain how those two answers sit together, and it does not address other forms of family sponsorship. If your residency is or will be held anywhere other than the brokerage you join, put the question to RERA and MOHRE before you rely on any arrangement, including one a brokerage proposes to you.

Asked whether a non-citizen must have lived in the country for a set period before applying for a brokerage licence, the FAQ answers that there is no specific duration.

Everything beyond that belongs with the General Directorate of Identity and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) for Dubai residency, the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security for federal residency and identity, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation for the right to work. The trade-offs between company sponsorship and holding residency another way are covered in the section on choosing a brokerage, written as a decision rather than as immigration guidance.