Track your GDRFA Dubai applications through an API

What you can build on GDRFA Dubai

• Check an application's status

  Build this

  Searches by Application on the status inquiry page, with the application number, transaction number and payment date, and reads the status shown.

  Takes

  Application number, transaction number, payment date

  Returns

  Application number, transaction number, status as shown

• Check a residence file

  Build this

  Searches by File on the status inquiry page with the first name in English, file number, nationality and date of birth, and reads the file's status.

  Takes

  First name in English, file number, nationality, date of birth

  Returns

  File number, name, nationality, status as shown

• Check your establishment

  Build this

  Searches the status inquiry by establishment, with the establishment number and expiry date, and reads what it shows for that establishment.

  Takes

  Establishment number, expiry date

  Returns

  Establishment number, status and expiry date as shown

• Apply to cancel a residence permit

  Build this

  Signs in on the Establishment / Typing Center tab, opens Cancellation of all types of residence permits, fills in the application and attaches the documents.

  Takes

  Sponsored person's file number, sponsor's passport, sponsored person's passport, MOHRE work permit cancellation extract

  Returns

  Application number, service, fee, status

Automate GDRFA Dubai with a workflow

A workflow runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

• Morning status of every open application

  Build this

  Starts

  Every weekday at 8:00 Dubai time

  Step 1

  For each application in your list, check its status on the status inquiry page.

  Step 2

  Keep the applications whose status changed since the last run.

  Step 3

  Email you the list with application number, transaction number and the new status.

• Weekly check of your employees' residence files

  Build this

  Starts

  Every Monday at 9:00 Dubai time

  Step 1

  For each employee in your list, check the residence file by file number, first name, nationality and date of birth.

  Step 2

  Keep the files whose status changed since the last run.

  Step 3

  Post file number, name and status to your HR system's webhook.

• Cancellation status after you file

  Build this

  Starts

  When your system calls the webhook with an application's numbers and payment date

  Step 1

  Check the cancellation application's status on the status inquiry page.

  Step 2

  Stop if the status is the same as on the last run.

  Step 3

  Email you the application number and its new status.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a method, it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “Check an application's status” would look like.

curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "smart.gdrfad.gov.ae/check_application_status",
    "input": {
      "application_number": "2026-118-0042719",
      "transaction_number": "84107362",
      "payment_date": "2026-11-09"
    }
  }'

{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "application_number": "2026-118-0042719",
    "transaction_number": "84107362",
    "status": "Approved"
  }
}

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

GDRFA Dubai’s own options

GDRFA Dubai lists no API for establishments or typing centres. Its services run digitally on the smart services website and the smart application, around the clock, and in person at Amer Service Centres and Customer Happiness Centres. Its open data page offers yearly statistics as XLSX and PDF, not application data.

Read on November 12, 2026: Cancellation of all types of residence permits, Establishment Card for Institutions in the Private Sector/ Free Zone, GDRFA Dubai open data.

Signing in to GDRFA Dubai

GDRFA Dubai's sign-in page has two tabs, Individuals and Establishment / Typing Center, and service pages say you sign in to the smart services system with UAE PASS or a username. Typing centres apply for a preregistration account first. With Fous you sign in once through the site's own sign-in with your own account: the login is sealed with AES-256, never returned by the API, and code and AI agents never see it.

Worth knowing

Private sector cancellations start at MOHRE

For private sector employees, the residence permit cancellation needs an extract of the work permit cancellation from the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation. The cancellation must come from that ministry.

60 days of grace after cancellation

After a residence permit is cancelled or expires, the person may stay in the country for 60 days. That is the window to track a new permit or a departure.

48 hours to process

GDRFA Dubai gives 48 hours as the processing time for issuing a private sector residence permit, cancelling one and issuing an establishment card. A daily status check matches that pace.

Three ways to look a record up

The status inquiry searches by Application (application number, transaction number, payment date), by File, or by establishment. Keep those numbers when you submit, because the inquiry asks for them.

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