Recruitment agency fees in the UAE are illegal. What do you owe an agent offering an Australian job?

Tips · 2026-10-23 · 10 min read

An Arab professional checks her phone at a Dubai Marina café, with coffee and a closed laptop beside her.

Recruitment agency fees charged to job seekers in the UAE are illegal: Abu Dhabi Police state it plainly, and the UAE government says the employer pays recruitment expenses under the UAE Labour Law. Australia and New Zealand take the same line from the other side, because sponsoring employers there must carry their own recruitment and sponsorship costs. So if someone in Dubai, Sharjah or Doha wants a "processing fee" before putting you forward for an Australian or New Zealand job, the honest answer is that you owe them nothing.

What the UAE says about recruiters who charge you

Abu Dhabi Police have warned job seekers about fake companies and social media accounts that ask for a fee to process job applications. In the same warning they state that it is illegal for recruitment companies to charge fees from job seekers.

The UAE government's guidance on avoiding labour and visa fraud adds the principle behind it: under the UAE Labour Law, the employer is responsible for paying recruitment expenses. The same page suggests checking that a company legally exists by searching its name in the National Economic Register at ner.economy.ae.

That guidance was written mainly for jobs inside the UAE, but the logic travels: a Dubai recruiter asking you for money for an overseas role wants you to fund what the hiring side should pay. The police warning is on the Abu Dhabi Police website.

Australia and New Zealand put the cost on the employer too

Home Affairs lists employer fees of AUD420 to become an approved sponsor under the SID 482 program, AUD330 to nominate for the SID 482 visa and AUD540 to nominate for the ENS 186 visa, depending on stream and location.

The department's page on the cost of sponsoring a worker is direct about who pays. The sponsoring employer must pay all costs of becoming a sponsor and nominating an applicant, and cannot transfer them to the visa holder or their family. The Skilling Australians Fund levy cannot be passed on to the applicant either.

Paying an employer to sponsor you for a visa is illegal, including through salary deductions, and it can lead to visa refusal or cancellation, fines or imprisonment. Skills in Demand applicants must also not have asked for, offered, received or provided a benefit in return for sponsorship in the past three years. Our in-depth guide to the 482 Skills in Demand visa explains where that rule sits among the other requirements.

New Zealand's rules read the same way. Employers there cannot charge you fees for a job or make you pay any of their recruitment costs, including indirectly through a third party. Immigration New Zealand will decline an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) application if the applicant or their agent offered or promised money to the employer, or its agent, in exchange for a job offer. INZ also warns that job offer scams are common in India and South Asia, where many Gulf-based readers have family. The AEWV in-depth guide covers the rest of that visa.

Employer Sponsored Jobs looks at the same rule from the Australian side in its piece on how paying for visa sponsorship can penalise both you and the employer.

Costs that are genuinely yours, and who receives them

A sponsored move still has costs of your own. Home Affairs notes that, besides the visa charge, applicants pay for English tests, health checks, police certificates and biometrics. The difference is where the money goes: to the government or an approved provider, never to a recruiter.

Cost	Who it is paid to	What a recruiter should ask for
Australian visa application charge	Home Affairs, through ImmiAccount	Nothing: ImmiAccount is the only official website for applying
AEWV visa fee (from NZD $1540)	Immigration New Zealand, by card on its forms or at an approved Visa Application Centre	Nothing: INZ never asks for visa fees to be paid into a bank account
Sponsorship, nomination and levy	Paid by the employer to Home Affairs	Nothing: these cannot be transferred to you
UAE criminal clearance certificate	Ministry of Interior (AED 100 for use outside the UAE)	Nothing: you apply yourself with UAE PASS
Immigration medicals	Approved panel doctors	Nothing: INZ never asks for medical payments itself

The police certificate is a good example of a real, modest cost you handle yourself. Our guide to choosing the right UAE police clearance for an Australian visa walks through the options and timing.

How a fee request usually looks

Requests for money rarely arrive labelled as a fee for the job. Watch for the shapes the official warnings describe:

A "processing", "file opening" or "registration" fee to forward your CV, the pattern Abu Dhabi Police describe.
Unexpected contact on WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram, a quick hiring process with no interview, and a 'recruitment fee' or training materials to pay for before you start: the Scamwatch warning signs.
An offer to arrange an Australian "work permit" or visa label. Australia does not issue work permits, visa labels or Labour Market Impact Assessments, so anyone offering one is running a scam.
A promise of a visa or permanent residency. Home Affairs says anyone promising an Australian visa or permanent residency is misleading you, and INZ notes that scammers often overstate how likely New Zealand residence is.
A plan to repay the "sponsor" from your future salary. That is still paying for sponsorship, and in Australia cashback schemes, where an employer unreasonably requires payment in exchange for a job, are illegal.

What to do when an agent asks you for money

Pause and pay nothing. Asking who is meant to cover a cost is a reasonable question.
Ask for the request in writing. Keep every message, invoice and the bank or wallet details given to you.
Check the business. Search a UAE company in the National Economic Register; for New Zealand, search the employer on INZ's accredited employer list, which is updated daily.
Check any adviser. Anyone giving immigration assistance with an Australian visa must be a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner or an exempt person, and registered agents appear on the OMARA register with a MARN. For New Zealand, the Immigration Advisers Authority register shows who is currently licensed.
Check the channel. Home Affairs emails end in .gov.au, and official INZ emails end with immigration.govt.nz or mbie.govt.nz. A visa grant you cannot find in VEVO is probably fake; a New Zealand visa can be checked with INZ's Visa Verification service.
Protect your documents. Scamwatch advises never sending your passport or identity documents to an employer or recruitment firm unless you are certain they are genuine.
Report it. In the UAE, contact MOHRE on 009716-802-7666, at ask@mohre.gov.ae or by live chat. If the approach also reached relatives in India, MigrateJobs lists five places Indian job seekers can report a fake overseas job agent.

Immigration New Zealand's page on protecting yourself from immigration scams is worth reading once in full before you reply to any offer.

How a genuine sponsored offer reaches you

A legitimate route looks quieter. On EmiratesPrime, every role we publish comes from an employer prepared to sponsor a visa. You open the role and choose "Apply by email" or "Apply on WhatsApp", then send your CV together with any trade certificates. Applying through EmiratesPrime is free for job seekers: there is no fee to apply and no placement fee.

Each application is checked against the employer's brief, and suitable candidates are put forward. Shortlisted candidates speak with the employer, usually on a video call, and some roles add a practical or trade test. Current openings include a fabricator and welder role in Perth and a heavy excavator operator position in Auckland.

A clear CV does more for you than any paid shortcut. Build AI CV can help you shape your Gulf project experience into the format Australian and New Zealand employers expect. Optional: a verified Talent Tabloid profile lets employers check your experience and can help your application stand out.

Hiring decisions rest with employers, and visa decisions with the governments of Australia and New Zealand. Being shortlisted is no promise of an offer, sponsorship or a visa, so we ask readers not to resign or commit money in the Gulf on a listing alone. Our guide on keeping your UAE residence visa while you apply abroad explains why holding your position matters.

Common mistakes Gulf-based applicants make with recruitment fees

Treating a small fee as harmless. It is still a fee the rules say you should not be paying.
Agreeing to salary deductions. Repaying a sponsor from your wages is still paying for sponsorship, with refusal, cancellation, fines or imprisonment at stake.
Paying visa fees into a bank account. INZ never takes visa fees that way, and Australian applications are made through ImmiAccount.
Using an unregistered helper. Exempt people, such as a sponsor or close family member, may help with an Australian application but must not charge a fee; anyone else charging for immigration assistance should be on the OMARA register.
Resigning before the visa is granted. A false offer can leave you without a job or UAE residence.
Staying silent after paying. People drawn into visa fraud through a scam agent risk refusal or cancellation and a ban from Australia for up to 10 years; reporting early protects your own record.

Frequently asked questions

Is it illegal for a recruitment agency in the UAE to charge job seekers a fee?

Abu Dhabi Police state that it is illegal for recruitment companies to charge fees from job seekers, and the UAE government says the employer is responsible for recruitment expenses under the UAE Labour Law. If an agent in Dubai or Abu Dhabi asks you for a fee to process a job application, treat it as a warning sign and put the question to MOHRE.

Can an Australian employer ask me to pay part of the sponsorship costs?

No. Home Affairs says the sponsoring employer must pay all costs of becoming a sponsor and nominating an applicant, and cannot transfer them to the visa holder or their family. Paying an employer to sponsor you, including through salary deductions, is illegal and can lead to visa refusal or cancellation, fines or imprisonment.

Which costs of an Australian or New Zealand work visa are normally mine?

Home Affairs notes that applicants pay costs such as English tests, health checks, police certificates and biometrics, alongside the visa charge. Each is paid to the official body or approved provider, never to a recruiter.

How can I check whether a New Zealand employer is really accredited?

Search Immigration New Zealand's accredited employer list by the company name or its 13-digit New Zealand Business Number. Some accredited employers choose not to appear in the search results, so if a name is missing, check directly with the employer through contact details you have found yourself.

Where do I report a recruiter in the UAE who asked me for money?

For employment and recruitment enquiries the UAE government lists MOHRE on 009716-802-7666, by email at ask@mohre.gov.ae, or by live chat. Keep the messages, receipts and account details the agent gave you, and send copies rather than originals when you report it.

Key takeaways

Abu Dhabi Police state it is illegal for recruitment companies to charge job seekers fees.
Australian sponsors must pay their own sponsorship and nomination costs and cannot pass them on to you.
New Zealand employers cannot charge you for a job, directly or through a third party.
Your own costs go to official bodies and approved providers, never to a recruiter.
Check registers, keep records and report fee requests.

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