Deel partners with the UAE Government to attract top talent and companies to the region

It’s official: Deel, the fast-growing global payroll and onboarding company, has partnered with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government to attract the best global talent and high-growth companies to its region. The UAE aims to become the premier global tech hub for remote workers by offering flexible visa categories for engineers, executives, and remote workers. 

Now, tech workers wanting to relocate can count on the UAE and Deel to welcome them with open arms, via faster employment visas for tech workers, streamlined residencies, plus the high-quality global onboarding, payroll, and compliance support Deel is known for. All of this translates to more talent pouring into the UAE, which will drive even greater economic growth and innovation in the region. This collaboration is a first-of-its-kind solution to speed up worker relocation.

How it works

Over the past few years, the UAE's Office for AI, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications has successfully launched various initiatives to attract digital talent and innovative companies to the country. The government has pledged to double the size of its digital economy contribution to non-oil GDP by 2031 through a multitude of various strategic initiatives, one of which is by attracting the best digital talent and remote workers to the UAE. 

The strategic partnership with the UAE Office for AI, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications aims to enable Deel’s built-in platform, support, and customer base for remote work employees moving to the UAE. Deel currently has over 8,000 customers, including Coinbase and Shopify. It has raised more than $700 million, cementing its position as the highest-valued company in the global hiring, payments and compliance space.

The two visa categories Deel customers will have faster access to include the Golden and Green Visas. UAE Golden Visa is a long-term residence granted to highly skilled workers and professionals. It consists of 10 years self-sponsored residence with automatic renewal, no maximum number of support service laborers, residence for family members including spouse and children, and no nullification of residence visa for any duration of stay outside the UAE. The UAE Green Visa consists of various flexible arrangements, one of which is a 1 year self-sponsored Remote Work Residence or 5 year self-sponsored Free-Lancer Residence for self-employed employees. 

In addition to offering a the Golden Visa and Green Visa for Deel customers, Deel has built a network of partnerships to facilitate flights and accommodation. The company is also providing customers health insurance and with 24/7 live hotline support to help them with fast mobility and onboarding. That means hiring in the UAE just got faster, easier, and a lot more attractive for Deel customers wanting to relocate.

Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote work Applications, said, “The UAE’s agility enables it to strive to become one of the most prosperous nations by pioneering its digital economy. The UAE adopts emerging technologies and enables skilled talents to achieve the UAE centennial 2071 vision of digital transformation". He added, “To accelerate the digital development in the region, we have to adopt innovative approaches in work models, and continue developing the systems and practices of remote work. Applying remote work in government and private sectors as one of the primary work models reflects the flexibility of the government and its determination to adapt and develop with the unprecedented ventures of the digital economy, and in alignment with the prioritization of wellbeing and quality of life in the UAE.” 

Why it’s important - beyond the UAE

The longer-term goal is that this collaboration can serve as a blueprint for what Deel and other governments can do to facilitate the growth of new talent pools all over the world. 

Deel’s co-founder and CEO Alex Bouaziz: “Deel’s vision is to give anyone in the world the opportunity to work for amazing companies, in turn accelerating economic growth and transforming new regions into talent centers. Partnering with the UAE brings us one step closer to realizing that vision.” 

About Deel

Deel is a leading global compliance and payroll solution that helps businesses hire anyone, anywhere. Deel’s technology offers unmatched payroll, HR, compliance, perks, benefits, and other capabilities needed to hire and manage a global team. Using a tech-enabled self-serve process, Deel’s customers can hire independent contractors and full-time employees in over 150 countries, compliantly and in minutes. With more than 250 legal, accounting, mobility, and tax experts as partners, Deel enables any business to create, sign and send compliant localized contracts from a library of templates and pay teams in more than 120 currencies with just a click. Founded in 2019 by Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang, Deel is a fully distributed company with employees based worldwide. Learn more about Deel here.