The 90/60/30 Rule: How I Make Sure No Visa or ID Ever Expires by Surprise

By RIM · September 2026

Every employee in Dubai comes with a set of dates. A visa that expires. An Emirates ID that expires. A medical insurance card, a labour card, a trade licence, an establishment card. None of them expire on the same day, none of them renew themselves, and every one of them costs money the day after it lapses.

Most small companies keep these dates in someone's head, or in a spreadsheet that was accurate the day it was made. Then that someone goes on leave, or gets busy, or resigns. That is how a company with eight staff ends up paying overstay fines it never budgeted for and losing a week to paperwork it could have done in an afternoon.

I run the back office for a small company, and I used to live with that anxiety — the quiet feeling that something was expiring and I wasn't sure what. The fix was not a better memory. It was a rule I could apply to every date, the same way, every time. I call it 90/60/30.

The rule in one line

That's it. The power is not in the numbers. It is in the fact that each warning means something different, so I never have to decide what to do when one fires. The decision was made once, in advance, for every date I will ever track.

What each warning is for

90 days: the money conversation

Three months out, nothing is urgent yet — which is exactly why this is the moment to talk about cost. A visa renewal is not one fee; it is a medical test, an Emirates ID, an insurance policy, typing charges and, for some, a new labour contract. At 90 days I put the total in front of the person who signs off on spending, and I ask one question: are we renewing this person?

That question sounds cold, but asking it at 90 days is the kindest version. It gives everyone room. Asking it at 20 days, when the medical is already booked and the fines are already counting, is the version that goes badly.

60 days: the paperwork

Two months out is when I gather everything. Passport copy and validity (a passport with less than six months left will block a visa renewal, and I have watched that catch people twice). Photo. Current Emirates ID. The insurance renewal, if it is due in the same window. Any change in the employee's title or salary that needs to be reflected in the contract.

The goal at 60 days is simple: by the end of this week, the file is complete and sitting in a folder, ready. If something is missing — a passport that needs renewing first, a document the employee has to bring from home — I still have a month to chase it without panic.

30 days: the submission

One month out, the prepared file goes to whoever submits — the company's PRO, or the owner, or me handing it over with the exact steps. Nothing is being gathered at this point. Nothing is being decided. Someone is clicking submit on something that was ready two weeks ago.

Thirty days is the buffer for the things I do not control: a portal that is down, a medical appointment that gets pushed, a typing centre that closes early. If everything goes smoothly, we are done with three weeks to spare. If it doesn't, we are still done with a week to spare.

What this looks like on a real week

Here is a made-up but realistic Monday. Names changed, dates the kind that actually land together.

Three items, three different jobs, none of them urgent. That is the whole point. On a good system, nothing is ever urgent, because urgency only exists when a warning was missed — and the warnings don't miss.

Which dates go on the list

If it expires and expiry costs money or stops someone working, it goes on the list. For a typical Dubai small business that means:

I keep the list boring on purpose. One row per date. Employee name, what it is, when it expires, who submits, and a status column that only ever says one of four things: Not due · Decided · Ready · Submitted. Those four words map exactly to the three warnings and the finish line.

Why 90/60/30 and not 60/30/7

Because the three jobs need different amounts of time, and the first one — the money decision — needs the most. A renewal cost is real money for a small company. Giving the owner three months to see it coming, plan cash flow, and make a calm decision is worth more than any other part of the system.

And because the last window has to be a real buffer, not a deadline. Seven days out is not a warning; it is an emergency with a nicer name.

Where AI fits

I do not trust software to know when something expires — that information comes from documents, and I read the documents. What I do trust it for is the arithmetic and the reminding. Every date on my list is entered once, and the 90, 60 and 30 flags are calculated and surfaced for me each Monday, grouped by which job they belong to. I look at the list, I do the job for each flag, I update the status. That is my Monday morning, and it takes less time than one panicked renewal used to.

The rule is the part that matters. The tool just stops me from having to remember it.

Try it this week

Take your staff list. Write down every visa and Emirates ID expiry you can find. Then, next to each one, write the three dates: minus 90, minus 60, minus 30. Look at what is already inside the 30-day window. That list — however short or long — is the reason to build this properly.