Legal and business experts in the UAE are warning that freelance visa scams targeting residents are on the rise, with many victims only discovering they have been defrauded years after buying the visa. In one case that has come to light, a 55-year-old Dubai resident identified as M.H. bought a two-year freelance visa for Dh7,000 through a social media advertisement. The arrangement appeared trouble-free until renewal time, when it emerged he had actually been issued a partner visa for a blacklisted company — leaving him liable for the firm's outstanding fines and debts left behind by absconding partners.
"He was issued a partner visa of a company that he knew nothing about," said Firose Khan, CEO of Arabian Business Centre. Noushad Hussain, managing director of Alhind Business Center, cautioned that some advertisements offer visas for as little as Dh1,000 a month, and that unusually low price should be the first red flag, since all visas are issued by the UAE government at the same official rate.
In a separate case, a man lost Dh8,000 to a fraudulent agent who contacted him on social media while he was trying to regularise his visit visa status.
Salam Pappinissery, CEO of YAB Legal Services, said victims should act immediately: "Contact the bank, card issuer or exchange house and request a payment recall, chargeback or fraud investigation."
Experts stress that genuine freelance visas are issued only through designated free zones and require documents such as a passport, a portfolio of work, degree certificates and a no-objection certificate — and that any offer bypassing that process should be treated with suspicion.