Broker cards and licensing for real estate hires in Dubai

Who issues the card, and through what

The Dubai Land Department describes its Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) as the body that manages the real estate licensing and training systems. Its stated core service areas include licensing and regulating brokers, developers and other real estate professions, and professional training and qualification programmes delivered through the Dubai Real Estate Institute.^[1]

RERA publishes a Real Estate Brokerage Practice Guide, second edition, dated November 2024. It points to UAE Bylaw No. 85 of 2006, which regulates the Real Estate Brokers Register in Dubai, lists ten ethical duties for licensed brokers, and says that all brokers must download the Dubai REST app. Trakheesi, the system the guide names for licences and permits, practice cards and any violations or warnings issued to a company, is where the card application is made.^[2]

The guide sets the route out in four steps. A real estate licence is obtained from the licensing authorities, that licence is registered in Trakheesi, an application for a broker card is submitted through Trakheesi, and the electronic card is issued once fees are settled.^[2] For an employer this means the firm's own licence and Trakheesi registration come first. A new agent cannot be carded through a firm that is not registered.

What a hire has to provide

The Department's service page describes creating an account, entering details and uploading documents, receiving acceptance, paying online and printing the card. It lists a personal photo and a copy of the Emirates ID among the required documents. Its service terms require a Dubai Police certificate of good conduct and a pass in the annual test for the mediation profession. It covers several card types, including real estate broker, national broker, mortgage broker and real estate consultant, and it links the validity of the card to the validity of the trade licence.^[4]

Because a copy of the Emirates ID is required, the card application follows the hire's own identity documents. That sequence is an inference from the document list and not something the page states. It matters for planning, because the documents the employer must organise for the hire (see the guides on recruitment and on onboarding) come before the card.

Fees listed

The fees below are those listed on the Department's pages when they were read, in October 2026. They are the Department's to change, and the live page governs.

The pages read do not say whether the employer or the individual bears these costs. The Decree-Law prohibits an employer from charging a worker the fees and costs of recruitment and employment, directly or indirectly, but whether a professional card falls within that wording is not established by the sources reviewed.^[9] An employer should settle the question in the written terms, with advice if it is unsure.

The annual test and exemptions

The card terms require a pass in the annual test for the mediation profession. The page lists exemptions from the broker exam only for people above 55 years of age and for brokers with five consecutive years of service in the same real estate office, and says start-up licence holders are exempt from exam attendance.^[4]

Several points could not be confirmed from the official pages and are left out here: the length and content of any broker course, the exam format and pass mark, and whether a specific course is a formal prerequisite for the exam. For these, ask the Department directly.^[3]

Timing against probation and advertising

Two clocks run together in the first months of a hire. Probation under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 is capped at six months from the start of work and cannot be extended.^[9] The card process has its own steps and depends on the test, the certificate of good conduct and the Department's processing, none of which the pages read give a time for.

The Department says all sales personnel must be registered with cards issued.^[5] RERA's guide also requires a permit through Trakheesi for any real estate advertisement, with the number displayed.^[2] The sensible reading is that a new agent should not advertise, or hold themselves out as a broker, before the card is issued, but the employer should confirm the position with the Department for the specific case.

For the employer the planning point is to write the card steps into the first-weeks plan with dates, and to avoid judging a new agent on sales activity that the licensing steps have not yet allowed. If the card is late, the evidence of progress in probation has to come from other activity.

Renewal and validity

Renewal is available through Trakheesi and the Dubai REST app. The documents listed are a copy of the Emirates ID and a valid passport copy. The page lists AED 500 to renew a real estate broker card plus the two AED 10 fees, and its terms say the applicant must have passed the annual test and that all sales personnel must be registered with cards issued.^[5]

How long a card lasts is described in two ways. The issuance page links validity to the trade licence.^[4] A June 2025 Department news item says participants in the Dubai Real Estate Broker Programme who complete the required training are issued a card valid for three years.^[6] The sources do not reconcile these statements, and the programme item concerns a scheme for Emirati citizens, so the validity period that applies to each person should be confirmed with the Department.

A card lapses quietly. The date tends to sit in one person's calendar, and the first sign of trouble can be a problem with a permit or a transaction. A shared register, read monthly by a second person, is a modest control. Useful fields are the name, the card type, the issue and renewal dates, which official page set the validity period, the date of the annual test, the visa and Emirates ID dates, and who last checked.

Training, pathways and what a certificate is

The Department's training page says courses are conducted only in English, that people whose visa is not under a company can still apply, and that participants receive a certificate of completion. Asked whether an exam follows the training, the page answers that there is none, although exams are conducted separately for certain categories such as brokers.^[3] A course certificate therefore records that a course was completed. The card is obtained through the licensing and Trakheesi process.

The Dubai Real Estate Broker Programme is aimed at Emirati citizens and offers training, a national broker licence and employment support. The Department's June 2025 statement says the number of qualified Emirati brokers exceeded 180 per cent of the annual target and that 231 new brokerage firms had been licensed. These are the Department's own figures. The programme page, read in October 2026, said registration for the second phase had closed.^[6][7]

In September 2026 the Department highlighted a Level 4 Diploma in Real Estate and Property Management with the Higher Colleges of Technology, accredited by the National Qualifications Centre, with a first cohort scheduled for autumn 2026.^[8] These academic routes are separate from the broker card. For employers, the Emiratisation rules in the government portal list real estate activities among the sectors where companies with 20 to 49 workers had to hire at least one UAE citizen.^[10]

A hiring checklist

• The firm's licence is registered in Trakheesi before the application is made.
• The hire's identity documents, photo, certificate of good conduct and test date are tracked with dates and an owner.
• The question of who pays the fees is answered in writing.
• The first-weeks plan says what the agent may and may not do before the card is issued, confirmed with the Department.
• The validity period is confirmed for each person and entered in the register with the renewal date.

The Works ATS, which The Works Group sells and which is in build, keeps a date on each of nine stages from identified to joined.^[11] What happens after a person has joined, including the card, sits outside what its product page describes, so a register of the kind above would be kept in a document.

Questions