Desk research against primary sources. Figures are traced to the issuing UAE authority and linked on the page.
The risk is not symmetric between you and your employer, but neither side comes out ahead. You face deportation and a ban for working on the wrong visa category, while the employer is exposed to a fine of AED 50,000 per illegal worker — a cost that scales with how many people they have doing the same thing, not a flat one-off penalty. An employer who tells you it is fine ‘while the paperwork goes through’ is making a decision that only they benefit from if it goes unnoticed.
The 90-day job seeker route is easy to misread as a work visa because it lets you be in the country and meeting employers, but it only covers the search itself. Actual employment still requires a proper work visa to be issued before you start — accepting a role and beginning work on the strength of a job offer alone, before that visa exists, is the same violation as working on any other tourist or visit visa, regardless of how close the paperwork is to finished.