Establishment Card

The establishment card (also called the company immigration card) is the registration a UAE company must hold with the immigration authority — ICP federally or GDRFA in Dubai — before it can sponsor any foreign employee's entry permit or residence visa. A parallel registration with MOHRE (the company's labour file or establishment file) is required before work permits can issue. The card records the entity's legal identity, licence details, and authorised signatories, and must be renewed and kept consistent with the trade licence; an expired establishment card silently blocks every visa transaction in the pipeline, which is the classic reason a company suddenly 'cannot process visas'. It matters in practice during company formation (a first-step registration after licensing), in M&A and licence amendments (name or activity changes must propagate to the card), and in winding-down, where employee visas cannot be properly cancelled if the card has lapsed.