This is the question that stops most people before they enrol. The honest answer turns on a distinction that is rarely explained clearly: the difference between an accredited university degree that happens to be delivered online, and an online course that was never an academic qualification to begin with.
UAE authorities do not sort qualifications by how they were delivered. They sort them by what they are. An accredited university awarding a Bachelor, Master or Doctorate through distance study is issuing an academic qualification, and that qualification enters the recognition system like any other.
A short online course from a learning platform is a training certificate. It was never an academic award, so it does not go through recognition at all, and it will not satisfy a degree requirement in a government post.
Until recently, degrees earned through affiliation, open learning, e-learning and correspondence were excluded from recognition in most cases. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research updated the system, and those modes became eligible for consideration under defined conditions.
The exclusion of distance learning was dropped outright, along with the requirement to be physically present in the country of study.
For roles that require a degree, what is normally requested is the recognition report issued by the Ministry, not the certificate on its own. That report is used for employment, further study, visa procedures and government services.
So the practical question is not whether an employer accepts online study. It is whether your qualification can obtain a recognition report.
Every one of those conditions is knowable in advance. Ask who awards the qualification, confirm that body is accredited in its own country, and confirm the programme is open rather than restricted to a single group.
Finding this out before you pay costs nothing. Finding it out after you graduate can cost years.
This page is general guidance. It does not replace checking with the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and it is not a guarantee of the outcome of any recognition application. Conditions change, so confirm with the official source before deciding.