Sponsor’s nod not needed on visa transfer in six conditions in UAE

The sponsorship transfer will be granted without the need to get the first sponsor’s approval in six conditions. The ministerial order which came into effect from 10 th September 2005 in implementation of Article No. 5 of the Cabinet Decision No.18 of 2005 has specified six conditions when the Ministry will grant sponsorship transfer without the need for the sponsor’s approval :
· For unpaid workers in the private sector, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs will grant sponsorship transfer to them if their complaints of pending wages for three months or more are upheld after a joint investigation by the Labour Relations and Inspection Departments of the Ministry.
· If the worker filed a complaint to the Ministry which was later transferred to the Court, the Ministry will grant the worker a sponsorship transfer based on a relevant judicial order.
· Sponsorship transfer will also be granted by the Ministry in case of the closure of the company following the death of its owner. The closure should be documented before the Ministry.
· Sponsorship transfer will be granted by the Ministry should the ownership of the company be transferred to another establishment. This means that the worker of a sold company will be transferred by the Ministry without the approval of the seller, under the name given by the buying company. This is also applicable in case of mergers between companies. The ownership transfer of the company should be proved in documents before the Ministry. If part of the company was sold to another company, workers of the sold part of the company can be granted exemption for sponsorship transfer.
· The closure of the company against an administrative or judicial decision gives the Ministry the right to grant sponsorship transfer to the workers.
The Minister will endorse sponsorship transfer for cases that are recommended and submitted to him by the concerned departments of the Ministry.
The other conditions referred above in the first paragraph on this chapter should also be fulfilled.

Work permit and residence visa cancellation Dubai UAE

Normally your employer will arrange cancellation of your residence visa and work permit when the time comes to leave the UAE, or when changing jobs. The procedure will usually involve closing bank accounts, returning credit cards, cancelling telephone subscriptions, electricity and water accounts, moving out of company provided accommodation, and anything else for which the employers sponsorship was required. If you are remaining in the UAE, you will have to negotiate some way of retaining bank accounts, telephone lines etc, with your employer.

It's worth considering carefully your departure procedure before you hand in your resignation notice, because once you do tell your company, certain events may be set in motion which can cause complications for you, especially if you have a less than harmonious relationship with your employer. These are some items to deal with:

• Money in the bank - will you still have access?
  
• Outstanding loans - do they need to be paid off and when?
  
• Credit cards - will they be cancelled, and when do they have to be fully paid off?
  
• Final salary and bonus / gratuity - how will it be paid and when?
  
• Accommodation (if company provided) - when do you have to move out or can you stay if you want to, and how are the lease terms affected (rent may go up, there may be a transfer cost to change name)?
  
• Telephone, internet, water, & electricity connections - if you want to retain them, how, or when are they cancelled?
  
• Shipping goods to another country if you are leaving
  
• School fees if paid by company
  
• Residence or employment ban - will you be subject to either or both?
  
• Changing jobs - will you transfer sponsorship, or will you leave country and return and make a new application?
  

Doing a runner - no we're not advocating this method, or telling you how to do this, just saying that you should consider the implications carefully if you choose this option - it's likely you'll be banned from re-entering the UAE forever, or for a long time at least. You'll of course lose any gratuity and final salary the company might owe you.

Telephone lines

Employers may not have a problem with you keeping your telephone line, but if they do, a possible alternative is to transfer the number to a friend who has a residence visa in the UAE, or visit Etisalat and leave a hefty deposit as a temporary solution while changing sponsorship (note that it is unknown if this method is an officially sanctioned option, or just luck of the draw depending on who you talk to at Etisalat). Note that prepaid subscriptions (Al Wasel with Etisalat) should not need to be cancelled anyway, and some people get a second line as a back up in case their main mobile phone account is cancelled.

Bank accounts

Bank accounts are a different story, it would be unusual for an employer to allow you to keep an account open once you're off their sponosrship. As soon as you inform your employer that you will be leaving, it is common for them to notify your bank of your departure, and it is possible that your account gets frozen. Therefore you may want to withdraw any cash before you let your employer know of your departure, unless you're fairly certain that access to your account won't be prevented.

You could also consider opening another account at another bank before you inform your employer of your departure. A company may only be interested in the bank account where your salary is deposited.

Accommodation

If you are in company provided accommodation, then you are supposed to be allowed to stay there for up to 30 days (not 1 month) after cancelling your work permit but check your contract carefully.

Visa cancellation grace period

Once your residence visa is cancelled, you also have up to 30 days (not 1 month) to exit the country, otherwise you will be considered an overstayer and will have to pay fines of 100 dhs per day plus an initial 100 dh charge.

Cancellation request denied

According to a report in the Khaleej Times 28 May 2008, the employer must not refuse a worker's request to cancel their visa, in response to a complaint from a secretary in Abu Dhabi that her employer would not cancel her visa. "The worker should abide by the law informing the employer before the notice month that he/she will resign. The sponsors have no right to detain the workers like this," said Obaid Rashid Al Zahmi, the Executive Director of the Inspection Section at the Ministry of Labour (MoL) in Abu Dhabi. If a company will not cancel a visa, the employee should file a complaint at the Disputes Department at the MoL.

Negotiation

As with many rules and procedures in Dubai, you may find a degree of flexibility in how company policies are applied - a good reason to stay on the right side of your PRO and other administrative staff at your company.

UAE- Mission Visa - 90 to 180 days

This is a relatively new visa arrangement intended for people working in the UAE temporarily with the permission of the Labour Ministry. The DNRD website information is not very clear - this information comes from articles in the press.

Visa is issued for 3 months, cost is 600 dhs. Extension for another 3 months costs 1200 dhs. Maximum stay is 180 days (so if you stay 6 months, you may be in trouble for the extra couple of days although there is apparently a grace period of 7 days for 3 month visas - may not apply for the second 3 months).

Apparently you need to get a Temporary Work Permit from the Ministry of Labour first before applying for the Mission Visa. MOL website does not have further information about a TWP (at least, not in English).

According to the Interior Ministry, it is only available to expatriate doctors, engineers, lawyers and technicians.

Residency Visas with property purchases in Dubai and Ajman

If you own property in Dubai, Ajman, or Ras Al Khaimah then you are probably entitled to apply for a residency visa. There are some conditions and restrictions thoughThe residency visa is only available to the first named owner of the property (consider which name to put first if it's a joint purchase).

The residency visa is not available until after the property is completed.

You can only apply for a residency visa under this scheme if you don't have any other way of obtaining a residency visa.There will be a charge (about 5000 dhs in January 2008) for the residency visa application. For that, the developer makes the application on your behalf. That's not something you have a choice about.

Owning a property does not guarantee successful application for a residency visa. The immigration department decides that, not the property developer.

The residency visa only entitles you to live here, not to work here - you still need to apply for a work permit for employment.

Expat residents can still be deported for the normal deportation reasons.

In early 2008 there was a report that residence visas could be applied for before completion of property but no further information found to confirm that. Treat with skepticism any comments from property agents that indicate you can do this.

In mid-2008, the whole residence visa with property thing was in a state of flux in Dubai, due mostly to property developers and real estate agents misleading customers by advertising a "guaranteed residence visa" with property purchases, when there was no way they could "guarantee" a visa. Some developers have put applications on hold, and some reports say that authorities are no longer issuing residence visas on this basis. Get information from either the DNRD or the master property developer before committing to a purchase if your decision depends on whether or not you are eligible for a residence visa. Treat whatever a real estate agent or developer says (other than the master developer - and even then be careful) with a pinch of salt.

Residency visas have been on hold or suspended since around mid-2008 for most/all Dubai and Ajman property purchases - check with the master developer or the relevant government authority (RERA in Dubai), don't take the word of the real estate agent or property developer as some have been issuing misleading advertisements about the residence visa eligibility. Ras Al Khaimah property purchases may still allow application for a residency visa.

The Federal National Council calls for tightening of sponsorship rules in UAE

Abu Dhabi: The Federal National Council (FNC) on Tuesday proposed increasing the minimum salary requirement to sponsor families of expatriates in the UAE.

According to the proposal, the minimum salary required for an expatriate - without company accommodation - to sponsor a family should be Dh10,000 and an expatriate with company accommodation, Dh8,000. The FNC resumed its session yesterday after National Day and Eid holidays.

An ad-hoc committee of the House also suggested that family-visa applicants should be asked to submit bank statements of six months, detailing salary transfer.

In its first ever open session to discuss the demographic structure of the UAE since its establishment in 1972, the House also suggested that an only an expatriate with a minimum salary of Dh15,000 should be allowed to sponsor housemaids.

---

---

It also recommended increasing the annual fee for sponsoring a housemaid to Dh7,000.

According to a report worked out by the committee, there are 5.5 million foreign workers, including 3.1 million workers registered with the Ministry of Labour and 2.4 million registered with the Ministry of the Interior, while the total population was 6.3 million by the end of last year.

The legislature said the Labour Ministry issued 640,000 work permits over the first four months of this year, an increase of 100 per cent compared with the same period last year.

These include 525,000 work permits for individual workers and 115 group permits.

The House expected that 1.920 million permits would be issued by the end of this year, taking into account the visas issued by the Ministry of Interior.

The House was told that foreign workers account for 90 per cent of the total workforce in the UAE at the end of 2006.

Asian workers represented 87.1 of the labour force, while workers of other nationalities including Arabs account for 12.9 per cent.

An estimated 98.7 per cent are concentrated in the private sector, namely in the construction, agriculture, retail business, and also restaurants, hotels, fisheries, security and guarding and cleaning companies.