Bay Area assignments are about hardware that does not exist yet. Engineering samples, first silicon, a bring up board, a pre-production unit that has not been announced. There may be five of them in the world, they are worth a programme schedule rather than a unit price, and the company will not put them into a network that hands them between depots.
Open · United States desk
On Board Courier, San Francisco
The prototype lane. Carry engineering samples, silicon and unreleased hardware between the Emirates and the Bay Area, under seal.
OnBoard Courier is a United Arab Emirates company, contracted by ICSL FZE and run from Dubai. A country named on this site is a country we cover and route through, not a separate company in that country. Assignments are contracted under UAE law, and the terms are published in full under legal and policies.
GatewaySFO · San Francisco
Distance from Dubai≈13,000 km
Air time15h 56m
CarriersEmirates
EngagementFreelance · per assignment
Fee per assignmentAED 900 to 2,600
Apply for this position
Applying is free. Freelance · self-employed ·
posted 7 September 2026 · open until 7 March 2027
What the work pays
The fee for an assignment is agreed with you in writing before you accept it. These are the figures the site publishes, and what the desk covers on top of them.
Top published feeAED 2,000The highest fee the site shows for a single assignment: sealed medical samples in a cooled case, Dubai to Singapore.
Published band, per assignmentAED 900 to 2,600A document pouch to London is AED 1,200, an aircraft part to Frankfurt AED 1,500, an escorted watch on the Berlin lane AED 1,800.
What the flight costs youAED 0The desk books and pays the ticket, the transfers and, where the routing needs it, the hotel. A courier never fronts the fare.
The one payment you makeAED 199, returnedThe Academy, paid once. It comes back in full on top of the fee for your first completed assignment. Applying itself is free.
Fees vary with the lane, the notice, the waiting time and whether the return is immediate, so the desk quotes each assignment individually rather than pretending one number fits every trip. You are self-employed and there is no minimum: accept or decline whatever you like, and declining costs you nothing. Earnings are paid per delivery by bank transfer, they appear in your courier portal, and you can request a payout once the balance reaches AED 200. Apply and see the flight board.
You fly as a passengerOne consignment in the cabin, one handover against signature. No warehouse, no van, no round.
The desk books and pays the ticketFlight, transfers and, where the routing needs it, a hotel are booked before you leave for the airport.
Paid per assignmentA fee agreed in writing before you accept, paid to your bank account after the signature. Applying is free.
How to start, in four steps
1
Apply once
One application covers every country desk. Tell us which passports you hold and where you can travel.
2
Verification and the Academy
Identity and background check, then a short course on customs, handovers and chain of custody.
3
Your first offer
The desk sends the routing, the dates and the fee in writing. You accept or decline, nothing is automatic.
4
Fly, hand over, get paid
Collect, board, clear customs in person, hand over against signature, and the fee is paid to your account.
The assignment
Emirates flies the Gulf to San Francisco nonstop, about sixteen hours, and the handover is more often in Santa Clara, San Jose or Palo Alto than in the city itself. The peninsula drive is short but the addresses are campuses with security desks, so the offer names the building and the person expecting you.
Why this lane exists
Silicon design happens in California and a growing share of the testing, deployment and data centre build out happens in the Gulf. That produces a two way flow of hardware that is pre-release on one side and urgently needed on the other, with a non-disclosure agreement wrapped around every unit.
There is also a straightforward finance and corporate stream. Venture and acquisition documents, board consents and closing sets still travel as executed originals when the deadline is tight, and the eleven hour difference means a signature obtained in Dubai in the afternoon can be on a Palo Alto desk the same morning.
What you would be carrying
- Engineering samples, first silicon and bring up boards under non-disclosure
- Pre-production units and reference designs ahead of an announcement
- Data centre and networking spares for an installation with a fixed window
- Executed closing sets and board consents with a filing deadline
The clock
San Francisco is eleven hours behind the UAE in summer and twelve in winter, which is why a Gulf morning departure arrives at the start of a California morning.
Airports you would fly into
| IATA | City | Airport | From Dubai |
|---|---|---|---|
| SFO | San Francisco | San Francisco International | ≈13,000 km |
The engagement, and who we are looking for
The engagement
- Type: freelance, self-employed. You are an independent courier accepting individual assignments, not an employee, and you decide which ones you take.
- Where it runs: the assignment runs between the United Arab Emirates and San Francisco, the United States, with the return leg agreed per mission.
- Hours: variable. An assignment is a single trip, not a shift or a roster.
- How you are paid: a fee per completed assignment, agreed in writing before you accept it. The fees published on this site run from AED 1,200 for a document pouch to AED 2,000 for a cooled medical consignment, and the figure for your assignment reflects the lane, the notice, the waiting time and whether the return is immediate.
- What the desk pays: the flight, the transfers and, where the routing needs it, the hotel. A courier never pays for the ticket and never fronts the fare.
- Applying is free. No payment is required to apply, to be screened or to be placed on the courier list. The Academy costs AED 199, paid once, and is returned in full on top of the fee for your first completed assignment. It is the only payment a courier ever makes to us.
What we look for
- A passport with comfortable remaining validity and free pages, and the right to enter the United States. The desk checks the visa position for your specific passport before any assignment is offered.
- A clean background check and a willingness to be verified. Couriers carry other people’s property.
- Availability at short notice. Most assignments are confirmed hours, not days, before departure.
- Presentable, calm and articulate at a customs counter. The consignment is only as smooth as the person carrying it.
- A working phone, reachable on the number you gave us, for the whole assignment.
What we provide
- The ticket. Always. A courier never pays for the flight and never fronts the fare.
- The paperwork, prepared before you reach the airport, and a named contact at the desk on both ends.
- A briefing on the consignment, the consignee and what the customs position at the far end looks like.
- A fee per completed assignment, agreed with you in advance and paid by bank transfer after the handover.
Questions about courier work to and from San Francisco
01What does non-disclosure mean in practice for a courier?
You do not open the packaging, photograph the contents, discuss the client, or post anything about the trip. Some assignments also ask you to sign the client’s own confidentiality undertaking, and you are told that before you accept, not at the airport.
02Are campus handovers complicated?
They are formal rather than complicated. You arrive at a named building, you are on a visitor list, you show identification and you hand over to the person named in your briefing. Allow more time than a street address would need.
03Do I need a US visa?
Yes, in almost every case. You need a valid visa or an approved authorisation for the passport you hold, and the desk checks that position before an assignment is offered.
04Could the hardware be export controlled?
Some of it is, and that is checked and documented before the assignment exists. Where a licence or an end user statement is required it travels with the consignment, and you are never asked to carry something that has not been cleared.
05How is my fee agreed?
The desk sends the routing, the timing and the fee for that specific assignment in writing. You accept or decline it. Nothing is deducted or charged without your written agreement.
Apply to fly the San Francisco lane
One form, a short screening call, and you are on the list the desk calls when a prototype has to reach a Bay Area campus in a sealed case.
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