 Hi guys! You are watching OxyBlocks. If this is the first time here and you would like to know more information about life in Dubai, how to get a job in this city, don't forget to hit subscribe button and the notification icon so you will not miss anything. If you are a designer, photographer, videographer and you want to know how to become a freelancer in the UAE, keep watching this video because today I gonna share with you some new information about the freelance visa for those who work in the media and education sectors, how you can get a work permit and how much it costs. First of all, I want to say that freelancing is allowed in the UAE as long as you obtain the required permits and approvals. A couple of days ago the government launched their new great initiative which is called Go Freelance. So now the residents can get a new freelance package which costs 7500 dirhams per year in the media and education sectors with such reasons as Dubai Media City and Dubai Knowledge Park. The media category has around 50 activities such as actor, videographer, animator, journalist and the education sector has only five activities including education advisor, researcher and e-learning advisor. The annual fee which is 7500 dirhams includes the freelance permit and the access to the business center. In order to get for you this freelance permit you need to have a residence visa in the UAE so if you don't have one you need to apply for visa first and these guys can help you to arrange that as well but you need to pay for that separately. If you hold a job visa in Dubai or you're sponsored by your wife or husband you need to get a no objection certificate from them, NOC when you apply for the freelance permit. Also you need to prepare your passport, visa copy, resume, bank reference letter, portfolio if you work in the media sector and credentials and certificates if you work in the education sector. When you prepare all your documents submit your application form online on this website. Once your application form is approved you will get a notification email. After that you need to go to one of the business centers in Tikom, sign your documents, pay the fee and afterwards shortly you will receive an email with your freelance permit. So guys those who have been asking me about how to become a photographer and videographer in Dubai, build your portfolio, connect with people, obtain a freelance permit and start earning money. Last week we were shooting a real estate project for Danny's YouTube channel and I met with his videographer Asad there. So guys here is Asad, can you tell us a bit about your story, how you moved to Dubai and where you're from? Oh I'm from Pakistan, came here ages ago, I came here about 13-14 years ago and I had a career in banking which I left last year, I was going steady, I was fine, but I left to do filmmaking, a bit of videography because that's my passion, that's something I really enjoy. When you just started to do videography? About a year ago? And you started on your own? Yeah I do what everybody else does, you know you watch tutorials, you watch YouTube, there's so much to learn, I plan to make my own videos as well to teach people what I've learned and then I can teach them more people as soon as I have some time. And how long have you been in Dubai? In this is 2004. 2004, wow, it's more than 10 years. What are your tips you can give to people who are planning to move to Dubai and they want to work as a photographer or videographer? There's so much to do for a photographer, this is a dreamland because architecture wise and so many landmarks, so many nice things, so many pretty places, so many things that you can photograph and make films of, it's a great opportunity for people coming here and it's so easy to set up your own business which is what I did and start working and the environment over here, everybody's very encouraging and they support each other, so yeah I would say it comes out here. But do you have like a finance visa or you have a company? No I've got my own company, I set up a company, I've got my own company. And what projects do you specialize in? I do all kinds of projects, Do you have any favorites? I'm new in this, so I've not been doing this for many years, so at this point I pick up, I accept whatever project I get and I'm trying to guarantee, trying to build up my portfolio and see where that takes me. So what are the three main steps for people who are just moving to Dubai and they want to start a career in this field? Just go for it, get yourself a company license, it doesn't have to be in Dubai, you can get a company license from other emirates as well and it's very flexible, these things are very possible, so that's the first thing you should do, come here, meet people, talk to people, go out, see what the market is like, decide what you want to do, what you're an artist, photographer, decide, think about what kind of substance you want to show, practice as much as you can. And I think you need to have a portfolio, right? Yeah, the thing with this business is in order to have a portfolio you need to build a portfolio, so just keep doing the work, don't worry about, don't worry too much about, you know, the money side of it. But I think it's very risky to come to Dubai without a portfolio because the competition is high and the competition is high in any business, I think the competition is high in any business, you have to start somewhere. Yeah, but you need to have quite a lot of money to survive while you're building your portfolio. Yeah, well, I guess it's different, I cannot say that I have a lot of money, but what I do have, I've been here a lot and that's it, yeah, so I have this banker, so I have a salary, a job and everything, but if you want to come in, you know, come with a good plan, do your research before coming in, there's a lot of opportunity here. Can you share with us the price of the license? The kind of license I got, it was something around twenty, twenty three, twenty four thousand dollars for the year, the license and the visa and everything. So yeah, it's reasonable, it's not, it's not too much, so it shouldn't be something that should discourage people from coming here, because as I said, the opportunity is a lot, more and more businesses are hiring freelancers today because it allows them to be more flexible and cut some costs. There are so many great projects in Dubai and if you are really good at what you're doing, just start approaching people, collaborate with other creative professionals offer free service, build your portfolio and I'm sure you will succeed. So guys, that's it for now. Thank you for watching. I hope this information was useful for some of you and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below. Don't forget to hit the like under this video and I will see you very soon. Bye-bye!