Six-month ban on job- remains in UAE, but with conditions

Employees need to work a minimum of two years in a company and can transfer to another facility of the same employer

Labour Ministry has clarified the amendments it made to labour laws early this week and said the six-month ban on job transfers remains, but with certain conditions, reported Arabic language daily Al Khaleej.

Humaid bin Dimas Al Suwaidi, Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs, said: "While the amendments in labour laws aim to improve employer-employee relationship and make it easier for people to switch jobs, if the agreements between the two parties are not adhered to or employees breach any of the labour laws, such as not spending a minimum two years with an employer, then they can face a six-month ban."

"There will be no ban if employees transfer to another facility of the same employer or to those companies in which the employer has a share in or is a partner" he said.

Employees will not be banned on taking up another job if the facility is shutting down or they are not paid salaries for more than 60 days. But in such cases the employee must alert the Labour Ministry and submit a report from the Inspection Department within two months, Al Suwaidi added.

Alternatively, employees can also approach the Labour Ministry in cases of unfair dismissal from work without justification; termination before the contract period ends; denial of contract renewal without a valid reason; etc. However, employees should be clear of any breach of practice.

Al Suwaidi said, as per the new amendments, all categories of workers have the right to transfer jobs, but did not specify the number of times a worker can transfer employment.

"The system of transferring sponsorship, which has been valid for more than 30 years, is abolished," he said and called on employers to speeden up renewal of labour contracts.

Meanwhile, according to a source in the ministry, establishments that fall under Category 1 is exempted from providing a bank guarantee.

The Ministry of Labour has amended the labourers' Visa Transfer Law, which, I believe, are in favour of both - the labourers and the labour market. The ministry has ceased the previous condition that obligates the labourer to complete one year continuous service for his/her employer before being permitted to transfer his/her visa to another employer.

According to the new rule, the Ministry of Labour no longer requires such a condition. So, any labourer who has not completed a year's service for his/her employer may transfer to another employer after obtaining a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the employer to transfer the visa to another employer, provided that the newly imposed fees should be settled. Such fees are called "the one year non-completion fees" which is calculated at the rate of Dh500 per month. For instance, if the employee continues a period of two months service only then he/she would be obliged to pay a fee of Dh5,000 for 10 months.

Now any labourer, who completes a period of  years service and who could not obtain an NOC, can resign and can approach the Ministry of Labour and the ministry - as per his demand - will cancel the visa and apply a six-month ban. With the new rules and upon completion of three years' service, this ban can be lifted and the employee can transfer to another employer without the need to obtain such NOC from the previous employer, provided that the newly imposed fees should be settled in addition to the visa transfer fees. Such new fees are called 'ban lifting fees'. Worth saying is that this new law is not applicable in Abu Dhabi but might be in the future. Therefore, the reader as per the new law will not have any problem as long as the company has promised to grant him a n NOC to transfer his visa.

Visa renewal : Emirates ID card to be linked

Abu Dhabi: The national ID card registration will be linked with residence visa issuance and renewal in Western Region in Abu Dhabi from Sunday, the Emirates Identity Authority (Emirates ID) announced on Tuesday.

The preventive medicine centres (PMC) conducting visa medical tests at Madinat Zayed, Sila and Delma will start linking the process with ID card registration from April 24. The PMC in Ghaythi will link the medical test with ID card registration on May 1.

In focus: All you need to know about the ID card

This will require all expatriates in the Western Region residents to apply for the ID card before applying for or renewing their visas, said a statement issued by Emirates ID. A resident's visa application form should have the Emirates ID's seal, as proof of registration.

Residents can visit authorised typing centre to fill out the application form and pay the fee, complete the visa medical test at a PMC and then visit the Emirates ID registration centre to complete the registration process.

This has already been implemented in Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah as part of Emirates ID's 2010-'13 strategy to enrol all expatriates in the country as part of process to procure a residence visa.

Apart from expanding the linking process emirate-wise, Emirates ID has started linking the visa medical tests and ID card registration at small preventive medical centres across the country, a senior official told Gulf News recently. This is to expedite the linking process, Dr. Ali Al Khoury, Director-General of Emirates ID, said.

UAE residency visa, labour card validity in the private sector cut to two years from January 2011

New rule to reduce the life of the labour card for all workers and employees in the private sector to come into effect next month. A new decision has been approved to reduce the life of the labour card for all workers and employees in the private sector, to two years from the current three, officials confirmed on Tuesday.

A senior official at the Labour Ministry told Gulf News the rule will be implemented in January 2011. "As the labour card will be for only two years, naturally the residency visa will also be for two years," the official explained.

According to a statement by Humaid Bin Deemas, Acting Director-General of the Ministry of Labour, carried by WAM, "The UAE Cabinet has reduced the validity of labour cards of all categories of people who work in private sector from three years to two years in a bid to regulate the labour market."

The Cabinet decision aims to unify the labour card validity for all work categories to be similar to that of drivers, domestic helpers and other similar categories who are given only two-year labour cards and residence visas by the Department of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, while other professions currently get three-year labour cards and three-year residence visa.

Major General Nasser Al Awadi Al Minhali, Assistant Undersecretary at the ministry's Naturalisation and Residency Affairs department told Gulf News the change in the validity of the labour card will impact the expiry date of the residence visa issued to expatriates.

"When we get an application for a residence visa we look at the validity of the labour card issued by the Ministry of Labour; if it is for two years then we will issue a two-year residence visa," he explained.

Significant amendments

He also revealed that the ministry is currently studying significant amendments to the current law which deals with residency and foreigners' affairs.

Bin Deemas said the decision will help private sector employers to "save Dh678 million annually", as ministry statistics show that 70 per cent of labour cards are cancelled before two years have passed.

He said total licence and work permit fees for 2009 were Dh2.25 billion, and that it cost 70 per cent of employers who paid the three-year irretrievable fees, a sum of Dh1.757 billion.However, they could have saved Dh678 million if the cards were valid for two years.

"The decision would also achieve certain flexibility in the relationship between employers and employees; it would give both parties the ability to end the relationship without big losses for the employers and in a way that will not violate the labour laws," he said, adding that for the employees, the decision will help enhance competitiveness and movement in the job market.

Kenyans who work in Dubai are under no threat of losing their jobs

President Mwai Kibaki has now ordered Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula to travel to Dubai and resolve the visa row between the two countries should the mission in Abu Dhabi not sort it out by Friday.

Mr Wetangula assured the country on Wednesday that he was in constant communication with United Arab Emirates officials and was working to have the new requirement for Kenyan visa applicants traveling there to possess degrees scrapped.

The Minister who spent hours in a meeting with the President earlier in the day said that in the last two days he had secured the issuance of pending work permits for Kenyans and renewal of those that had expired.

“I want to give an assurance that Kenyans who work in Dubai are under no threat of losing their jobs. Our mission in Abu Dhabi has been following the matter very successfully,” he said.

The new requirement is a retaliatory move by the United Arab Emirates after Kenyan authorities arrested and deported four of its citizens on suspicion of being terrorists. There were reports that some of the suspects arrested were from a royal family in the UAE.“I don’t want to call this a crisis as it has been referred. It is an incident borne out of another incident which we have overcome by now and we want to move on into the future,” Mr Wetangula said.

It is estimated that over 36,000 Kenyans work in Dubai in the hospitality and construction industries. Thousands others frequent the free port city on business trips. Since the introduction of the new rules dozens of business people have been denied visas to travel there.

Many Kenyans pass through the country while heading to other parts of the world.The Minister confirmed that in the last two weeks two ministers and dozens of Members of Parliament had also been denied visas.