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Fake job offer in Dubai: how to check if an offer is genuine

The UAE Government says a genuine offer comes on an offer letter issued by MOHRE, which you can check by its reference number on the MOHRE enquiry service. Confirm the company in the National Economic Register, expect an electronic entry permit after you sign, and never pay: the employer bears recruitment costs, and a visit visa gives no right to work.

How do I check if a Dubai job offer is genuine?

The short answer, and what the UAE Government says

As shown by the UAE Government portal (u.ae) in October 2026, anyone offering you a job in the UAE has to give you an offer letter issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE), signed by the authorised manager. You can check that offer using its reference number through the enquiry service for application status on the MOHRE website. After you sign, the employer sends an electronic entry permit for employment. Confirm the exact service name and steps on the official page, because portals change.

The same page says the employer is responsible for recruitment expenses under the UAE Labour Law, and that a visit or tourist visa does not give you the right to work. If an offer cannot pass these checks, treat it as unverified until it does. A forged letter can look polished, so the check is the reference number on the official service, not the design of the PDF.

Red flags in a fake Dubai job offer

What you see	Why it is a warning	What the official sources say
You are asked to pay for a visa, medical test, "processing" or "offer letter"	A real employer pays these costs	u.ae says that if a hiring company or agency asks for money to process a visa or medical test, it is not a genuine company
An agent asks for a fee to place you	Charging recruitment fees to prospective employees is illegal in the UAE	u.ae (labour rights page) states this; its job-search page says job seekers need not pay any recruitment agency
The offer has no MOHRE offer letter reference, or the reference does not verify	The offer cannot be confirmed with the Ministry	u.ae says to verify the job offer by its reference number on the MOHRE enquiry service
You are told to come on a visit or tourist visa and "convert" it later	A visit or tourist visa does not give you the right to work	u.ae says working on one results in fines and legal liability; a residency visa cannot be processed for applicants outside the UAE
The recruiter writes from a free email address or an address that does not match the company	Fraudsters copy real company names	u.ae advises checking that the email domain reflects the organisation's own name
The company name is not in the National Economic Register	The firm may not legally exist	u.ae advises searching the company's English and Arabic name in the register
A "visa guarantee" from a social-media agency	Only the issuing government decides on a visa	The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate General in Dubai, in an advisory dated 12 October 2026, say no agency can guarantee a visa and warn against paying on such promises
Pressure to pay today or lose the job	Pressure stops you from checking	No official page requires an upfront payment from you to secure a job

How to verify an offer and the employer, step by step

Ask for the offer letter in writing and read it for the employer's name, job title, salary and signature. u.ae says it must be issued through MOHRE and signed by the authorised manager. Keep a copy of every version you are sent.
Take the reference number on the letter and check it on the MOHRE website under the enquiry service for application status, as u.ae describes. If you cannot find or run the check, contact MOHRE on the number or email in the contacts section below.
Search for the company in the National Economic Register using its English and Arabic names, as u.ae advises. A match proves a registered business exists. It does not by itself prove that the person messaging you works for it, so also contact the company through the phone number or website you find independently, not the one in the message.
Compare the sender's email domain with the company's own website. u.ae says it should reflect the organisation's domain name.
Compare the job in the offer with the job you were told about. u.ae's Know Your Rights summary says the terms of your employment contract must be consistent with the job offer you signed in your own country, and that you should keep a copy of the signed offer.
After you sign, expect an electronic entry permit for employment. To check an entry permit issued in Dubai, u.ae points to the GDRFA website; for Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah or Fujairah it points to the ICP eChannels platform.
If your passport is ECR, complete emigration clearance through eMigrate before you travel for employment. If an agent in India is involved, check that the agent is registered first.

What a genuine employer or agent does not ask you to do

Pay fees from your own pocket for the visa, the medical test, the offer letter or the entry permit. u.ae says to treat such a request as a sign the company is not genuine.
Send money, or share banking details or passwords. MOHRE has told job seekers to avoid offers that ask for fees, transfers or bank details, as reported by UAE media in 2026. We could not open the MOHRE news pages directly, so confirm this wording on mohre.gov.ae.
Take your passport and hold it. u.ae says the confiscation of workers' passports is prohibited.
Make you sign a different contract after arrival. u.ae says the contract's terms must be consistent with the offer you signed in your own country.
Ask you to work before your papers are in place. A visit or tourist visa does not give you the right to work.

Visit visa versus employment entry permit: the common trap

The usual pattern is a promise that you can fly in on a visit visa and be switched to a work visa in Dubai. u.ae says working on a visit or tourist visa leads to fines and legal liability, and that a residency visa cannot be processed for someone outside the UAE: you must enter on a valid entry permit and stay until the residency process is finished. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs, in its FAQ for intending emigrants, tells people who are urged to go on a tourist visa and have it converted later to complain through the Protector General of Emigrants, the Indian mission or the MADAD portal.

A separate and legitimate route exists: a jobseeker visit visa lets you look for work in the UAE for a single trip without a host or sponsor, at 60, 90 or 120 days according to u.ae. That is a search permit, not a job, and it does not give permission to work. See our UAE job seeker visa guide and the Dubai work visa guide for how each route differs.

If you have been scammed: who to contact

Stop paying, stop sending documents, and keep every message, receipt, bank transfer record and screenshot. If you gave away a passport copy, a bank detail or an OTP, tell your bank promptly. The contacts below are copied from the official pages we read in October 2026. Numbers and emails can change, so confirm them on the linked official page before calling.

Who	What for	Contact as shown by the official page
MOHRE (UAE)	Enquiries about employment contracts and recruitment	009716-802-7666 or ask@mohre.gov.ae, or live chat (per u.ae)
MOHRE Labour Claims and Advisory Call Centre	Labour grievances and legal matters, including wages	Toll-free 80084 (per u.ae); within the UAE
Consulate General of India, Dubai: Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra	Indian nationals needing help in Dubai and the Northern Emirates	Toll-free (800INDIA) 80046342; WhatsApp +971 54 309 0571; pbsk.dubai@mea.gov.in (per the Consulate website)
Overseas Workers Resource Centre (OWRC), India	Information and complaints about overseas recruitment	1800 11 3090 toll-free in India; +91-124-2341002; round-the-clock, per MEA
Protector General of Emigrants, via eMigrate	Complaint against a recruiting agent	Lodge the complaint on emigrate.gov.in, per MEA; see Protector of Emigrants offices
MADAD portal (MEA)	Grievance to the Indian mission	madad.gov.in, per MEA

Complaint routes

If you are in the UAE and employed on paper but not given the agreed job, or not paid in full and on time, u.ae says to contact MOHRE promptly. Its portal page lists online complaint services for private sector employees, free zone employees and domestic workers, plus a salary complaint service.
If the problem is an agent in India, the MEA says you can lodge a complaint with the Protector General of Emigrants, contact the Indian Embassy or Consulate, register on the MADAD portal, or call the OWRC.
If the scam came from a visa or migration processing agency advertising online, the Consulate General in Dubai and the Embassy in Abu Dhabi have published an advisory on such agencies; read it on the Consulate website and raise your case with the Consulate.
We did not retrieve an official Dubai Police page on reporting online job fraud, so we do not give an eCrime reporting link here. Check the Dubai Police website directly. In an emergency the UAE Government site lists Police: 999.
More background is in our overseas job scam guide.

What the official pages do not say

They do not give a way to verify a forged letter beyond the reference-number check, so a forger who also controls the phone number can still mislead you. Verify through channels you find yourself.
The pages we read do not publish scam statistics or a list of fake employers, so any figure you read elsewhere about how many offers are fake is not backed by them.
The u.ae page tells workers to contact MOHRE but does not promise that money you paid to a fraudster can be recovered.
We could not open mohre.gov.ae directly during research, so we rely on the u.ae pages for the MOHRE steps. Confirm the current service names and links on the MOHRE site.
They do not state how long a MOHRE offer check takes or whether every offer shows in the enquiry service.

Job Spectra note

Job Spectra is run by Spectravault Group LLP, with offices in Deira (Dubai), Bengaluru and Sugauli (Bihar). We do not currently hold an eMigrate recruiting-agent registration, so apply the same checks to us that this guide describes. Our no-upfront-job-fees policy is on the Trust Center, and we do not guarantee jobs or visas. You can browse current vacancies or submit your CV; you should never need to pay to be considered.

Official sources

Last reviewed 2026-10-19. Information only, not legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if a Dubai job offer is genuine?

The UAE Government says the offer letter should be issued by MOHRE and signed by the authorised manager, and its validity can be checked by reference number on the MOHRE enquiry service. Also confirm the company in the National Economic Register.

Is a Dubai employer allowed to charge me for the visa or recruitment?

No. u.ae states that charging recruitment fees to prospective employees is illegal in the UAE and that the employer is responsible for recruitment expenses. It also says a company asking for money for a visa or medical test is not genuine.

Can I work in Dubai on a visit visa?

No. u.ae says a visit or tourist visa does not give you the right to work and that working on one leads to fines and legal liability. It also says a residency visa cannot be processed for someone outside the UAE.

How can I verify the company that sent me an offer?

Search its English and Arabic names in the National Economic Register, check that the sender's email domain matches the company, and contact the company on a phone number or website you found yourself. u.ae lists these checks.

What is the MOHRE contact for job offer and contract questions?

u.ae lists 009716-802-7666 and ask@mohre.gov.ae for enquiries about employment contracts and recruitment, and a toll-free 80084 line for labour claims and advice. Confirm both on the official pages before relying on them.

Is an overseas job consultancy genuine if it is not on eMigrate?

For recruitment of Indians, the Ministry of External Affairs says to deal only with registered recruiting agents, which can be checked on eMigrate. Registration is a minimum check, not a guarantee, so also verify the employer and the offer. Use our agent check guide.

What should I do if I already paid a fake agent?

Stop paying, keep all receipts and messages, and complain to the Protector General of Emigrants through eMigrate, the Indian mission, the MADAD portal or the OWRC (1800 11 3090). Tell your bank if you shared financial details.

Do Indians need emigration clearance for a genuine Dubai job?

If your passport is ECR and you are going for employment, yes: the UAE is one of the 17 ECR countries. See our ECR passport guide.