Children under 15 now need ID card -Eida

Abu Dubai authorities have cancelled a decision to exempt children under 15 from having a national ID card and told their families to register them before the end of a new deadline on October 1.

The announcement by the Emirates National Identity Authority (Eida) follows a decision by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) that all children must produce a national ID card when registering for the new school year.

“Emirati and expatriate families of all children under 15 must apply to register their children with the national identity,” Eida said in a statement carried by the Sharjah-based Arabic language daily 'Al Khaleej'.

“This is a compulsory measure…they should do so before the end of the deadline on October 1 or they will have to pay delay fees.”

The statement said children who do not have separate passports would not be given an ID card, adding that applicants under that age need not come to Eida registration centres as applications can be submitted by their parents.

'Al Khaleej' said Adec’s decision applies only to public schools and the report did not mention whether such measure would be extended to other emirates.

Visa and Emirates ID to be link in Dubai from April 1

Plans to link the national identity card to visas will be enforced in Dubai on schedule on April 1 after it was implemented in all other emirates.

The Emirates National Identity Authority (EIDA), which is carrying out a nation-wide ID project, said applicants would not receive their cards before their residence visas are renewed or issued.

It said those applying for an ID and residence at the same time must first fill an application at an EIDA registration office before they are allowed to have blood test, which is a pre-requisite for have a visa issued or renewed.

“The link-up between the ID and residence visas is now almost complete after it was enforced in all emirates except in Dubai,” EIDA said in a statement carried by the Dubai-based Arabic language daily Emirat Alyoum.

“This link will be implemented in Dubai on April one in coordination with the residence and immigration department in the emirate.”

EIDA said the link-up, once completed, would allow its registration offices at preventive medicine departments to handle at least 22,000 applications a day.

EIDA’s fresh warning for card collection delay

The Emirates National Identity Authority (EIDA) has issued a new warning to applicants who miss the 90-day deadline to collect their national cards, saying the card will be destroyed and holders will be fined Dh300.

EIDA’s director general Ali Al Khoury said those who apply for a new card or renewal of their cards must collect them within three months after they receive the first notification by SMS on their mobile phone, adding that Emirates Post (Empost) normally send six notifications to card holders.

“Cards which are not collected within 90 days from the first notification will be destroyed but that does not mean the applicant’s data will be annulled…they will be retained by EIDA and in this case holders must apply for a replacement,” he told the Sharjah-based Arabic language daily Alkhaleej.

He said a replacement can be issued at registration offices or online by filling a new application for a fee of Dh300.

“We call on all applicants to collect their cards within 90 days from the first notification to avoid having their cards destroyed,” Khoury said.

He said EIDA, which is overseeing a landmark nation-wide ID project, has signed agreement with Empost to deliver cards to all applicants in their respective emirates. “Empost sends six SMS in English and Arabic to the mobile phones of the applicants asking them to come and collect their cards,” he said.

Khoury’s comments follow growing public complaints that cards end up at Empost centres located far from their areas. Others say that a 90-day deadline is not enough as they could be outside the UAE for more than three months.

“Last month, I had to take a day off work to travel nearly an hour outside Abu Dhabi to collect my card…I applied in Abu Dhabi city but Empost informed me my card is in Suweihan, which I have never visited,” Imad Hariri said.

In press remarks last week, EIDA said it is planning to replace the present delivery system with on-the-spot facility that allows holders to receive their renewed cards just after they apply at registration centres.

“Eida has gone a long way in addressing this problem,” Eida Ali Mohammed Al Khoury said after an Authority meeting on Tuesday.

“We are in the process of creating what is termed as decentralised typing centres…four such centres will be set up on a trial basis soon…they will allow applicants to receive their cards within minutes.”

UAE loses 13,500 millionaires to recession: Wealth report

The number of UAE’s high net worth individuals (those with $1 million or more in financial assets, not including the house in which they live) declined by 3.5 per cent to 52,600 in 2010, on top of an 18.8 per cent decline in 2009, according to the 15th annual World Wealth Report, released yesterday by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini.
The population of UAE millionaires fell from over 66,000 in 2008 due to a decline in the market capitalization of firms listed on the stock markets, coupled with the falling values of property in the country, which saw 1,900 UAE millionaires lose the coveted status in 2010 along with over 11,600 less millionaires in 2009, taking the total tally of UAE individuals losing the 'millionaire' status to more than 13,500 in two years since the onset of the global economic slowdown.
Elsewhere in the region, the number of millionaires in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain grew in 2010. Saudi Arabia had 113,300 millionaires in 2010, an increase of 8.2 per cent from 2009. In Bahrain, there were 6,700 millionaires in 2010, up 24 per cent from 2009.
Overall, the number of world’s high net worth individuals and the wealth they possess expanded in 2010, surpassing 2007 pre-crisis levels in nearly every region.
The Middle East had the second highest global growth rate in the number of millionaires, after Africa, with the number of regional rich rising by 10.4 per cent to 440,000, the report said, adding that the combined wealth of regional millionaires increased by 12.5 per cent to $1.7 trillion in 2010.
Globally, the number of millionaires grew 8.3 per cent in 2010 to 10.9 million, and their wealth increased by 9.7 per cent to reach $42.7 trillion (compared with growth rates of 17.1 and 18.9 per cent, respectively, in 2009). The global population of ultra-rich (those with more than $30 million in financial wealth), grew by 10.2 per cent in 2010 and their wealth by 11.5 per cent.
“The past few years have seen great fluctuations in [the millionaires’] wealth and population,” said Tamer Rashad, Head of Middle East, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. “In 2010, we saw growth rates slow down from the higher double-digit levels of 2009 when many markets were quickly returning from significant crisis-related losses.”
The global millionaire population remained highly concentrated in the US, Japan and Germany, which together accounted for 53 per cent of the world’s millionaires. The US is still home to the single largest rich individuals segment in the world, with its 3.1 million millionaires accounting for 28.6 per cent of the global millionaire population.
“While over half of the global [millionaire] population still resides in the top three countries, the concentration of [millionaires] is fragmenting very gradually over time,” said Karthikeyan Rajendran, Sales Director, Middle East, Global Financial Services, Capgemini.
“The concentration of [millionaires] among these areas will continue to erode if the [millionaire] populations of emerging and developing markets continue to grow faster than those of developed markets,” said Rajendran.
Asia-Pacific beats Europe for the first time
Asia-Pacific posted the strongest regional rate of millionaire population growth in 2010 among the top three markets. While millionaire wealth had already overtaken Europe in 2009, Asia-Pacific has now surpassed Europe in terms of millionaire population, expanding 9.7 per cent to 3.3 million, while Europe grew 6.3 per cent to 3.1 million.
Asia-Pacific millionaires’ wealth gained 12.1 per cent to $10.8 trillion, exceeding European millionaires’ wealth of $10.2 trillion, an increase was 7.2 per cent in 2010. Asia-Pacific is now the second largest region for both millionaire wealth and population, second only to North America.
Also of note in the Asia-Pacific region, India’s millionaire population became the world’s twelfth largest in 2010, entering the top 12 for the first time.

Employers, domestic workers need to submit written contracts

Domestic workers would get a full-day rest every week and would not be required to remain with employer’s household during their annual leave or rest days, according to the International Labour Organisation’s landmark treaty signed on Thursday.

The UAE and other Gulf states supported this landmark treaty – which means this could be implemented in the region.

"This is a historic moment at the 100th session of the International Labour Conference, and we are making an important turning point," a UAE envoy, speaking on behalf of Gulf states, all of which supported the treaty, told AFP.

However, employers and domestic workers would also be required to submit written contracts mentioning the latter’s rights. The new convention would ensure domestic workers enjoyed conditions "not less favourable" than other workers.

The convention, which was adopted with 396 votes for, 16 against and 63 abstentions, will come into effect upon the ratification of two countries. The Philippines and Uruguay have already said they would ratify the accord.

ILO data, which is a compilation of national statistics, indicate that there were at least 52.6 million domestic workers worldwide in 2010.

Despite the large numbers, domestic workers are still among the most exploited and abused. Many are required to work irregular and long hours for low pay and are given insufficient rest. Live-in domestic workers in particular, can be on call at all times of the day. They are also largely excluded from social protection such as maternity benefits and social security.

Nevertheless, joining the convention is only the first step. Countries would not have to implement the treaty until ratification, while others can also opt not to sign up, which could reduce its bite.

While it has secured the support of countries ranging from the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil, others, such as Britain, abstained.

Britain said it could not vote for the convention as it was "unable to ratify in the foreseeable future."

It noted for instance that it was not practical to apply the same health and safety standards, including inspections, to private households employing domestic workers.

It added that it would be "inappropriate to hold elderly individuals... to the same standards as large companies."

But supporters of the convention and activists believe that the strength of the treaty is that it sets a standard.

"There's an understanding that major sending countries... are in support. They will want the protection that will be provided when dealing with other countries," South Africa's chief negotiator Virgil Seafield told AFP ahead of the vote.

medical examination for licence seekers who are 60 years and above

Roads and Transport Authority is planning to introduce medical examination for licence seekers who are 60 years and above. This includes even those who wish to renew their expired licence. The move aims to ensure drivers are healthy and free from illnesses, reported 'Emarat Al Youm'.

Ahmed Bahrouzyan, Executive Director of the Licensing Department, RTA, said: "RTA will undertake a comprehensive study to modify and develop procedures for obtaining driving licence in coordination with the Interior Ministry and the Dubai Health Authority (DHA)."

RTA has not yet determined the age category where the new procedures will be applied, but in all probability it would cover those above 60 years, he added.

He said the body meets regularly with the Dubai Health Authority, to identify the types of medical examinations and age groups that should be subjected to tests as well as to identify chronic diseases that would aggrevate due to driving.

Bahrouzyan said the RTA seeks to implement best global practices in the service of security and safety on the roads.

He added the RTA is currently considering the application of a British study related to drivers of commercial vehicles and heavy vehicles to transport hazardous materials. It would later be submitted to the DHA to be discussed and modified to implement in the region.

The licencing department issued 33,142 licences in the first quarter of this year, he said and added that the success rate in obtaining driving licences witnessed a significant increase of 29 per cent.

RTA is seeking to develop its services to ensure the success of raising the proportion of applicants for driving licence by 35 per cent.

Registering property under a free zone firm is an option still under discussion: Official

Dubai has not finalised any new residence visa system for property owners and the talks of granting residency visa are very “premature“, a senior government official .

“At a recent meeting, ways of giving residency visas were discussed and one option was to allow people to register their properties as companies in free zone. This will then allow them to get residency visa. But, this was just a proposal and nothing has been finalised,” the official said on conditions of anonymity.

“There is no way a retired person who wants to live in Dubai can get a residency visa even if he owns a property. We are trying to help people like them.”

He reiterated “it was just a proposal in the meeting… nothing has been worked out.”

Last year, this website had reported that certain developers in Ras Al Khaimah were offering residency visa linked to properties if registered with a free zone. Real estate agents said that companies there were still helping buyers to get free zone visa.

When called, Rakia CEO, Dr Khater Massaad denied offering any such visas at all, saying, “We are fully committed to following the federal regulations on granting property visas.”

The federal law currently entitles foreign owners of the UAE property to a six-month multiple-entry visa, which came into effect on June 1, 2010. According to the law, applicants would have to own a property of not less than Dh1 million and earn Dh10,000 a month. The visa needs to be renewed every six months at the cost Dh2,000.

credit card surcharge ban from July 1-UAE gov.

Ministry of Economy has warned retailers in the UAE to stop charging fees on credit cards from July 1.

Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, Minister of Economy and Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Consumer Protection, headed the second meeting of the committee for 2011 which passed resolution prohibiting retailers from imposing charges on credit card usage as commission.

The committee also agreed on liberalising trade of 15 new products including detergents and washing powders, dairy products and juices, drinking water, livestock, feed, fats and oils, and the list will be sent to the cabinet for approval.

”This is strategic to reduce monopoly and exploitation, and will enhance market competitiveness,” said Al Mansoori.

The committee reviewed a report on the advertisements for fast food outlets, and recommended that awareness measures must be initiated to ensure that customers are not misled by catchy advertising and resort to unhealthy eating, especially of junk food.

The committee also reviewed a report on the status of the Call Center in the Consumer Protection Department, and another on the difference between the prices of key food items sold at cooperative societies and major retail outlets.

The committee discussed the Electronic System for Goods Monitoring which is expected to be operational during the second half of 2011. Currently, the ministry is undertaking a pilot phase with some commodities and the results will be generalised for other goods. The new system works through electronic links between the major trading centres and UAE customs ports, and can monitor the prices of 200 commodities on a daily basis.

The committee discussed a report on the increase of prices at gas stations and recommended to open channels of communication between the Ministry of Economy and all petrol stations with the participation of representatives from economic departments to identify the reasons for rise in price.

The committee was briefed on a proposal to reduce rental fees at retail outlets and cooperative societies. The committee recommended the distribution of marketing margins equally between retail outlets and consumers.

Eida to introduce online ID registration soon

Applicants seeking to register in the UAE national identity could fill the needed form at home and avoid standing in long queues at packed registration centres when authorities introduce an online service soon.

The Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA), which oversees the landmark ID project, said it was in the process of introducing such online service that will allow all applicants of filling the ID form, paying fees and getting an appointment for finger printing without having to go to registration centres.

“We are developing an electronic ID form so applicants themselves can fill it online without having to deal with registration centres…the form will be available online shortly,” EIDA director general Ali Alkhouri told Emarat Alyoum daily.

“Once this service is enforced, applicants will only have to fill the form online though EIDA’s website, upload all needed documents and pay fees online…they then can get an appointment for finger printing online.”

Khouri said existing authorized registration centres would remain in operation for those who do not wish to have their applications processed online.

He told the paper the online service would be introduced on a limited trial basis in September before it is fully enforced by the end of the year.

“This is a strategic move as the new service is expected to largely increase the rate of registration…applicants will be able to register online at their homes or offices without having to wait for long periods at registration centres.”

Khouri said the new service would cut fees paid by applicants by nearly 40 per cent as they will not be required to pay up to Dh70 in fees for registration.

Anti-tobacco law approval by cabinet soon

Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali, UAE Minister of Health, and Chairman of the Health Council, emphasised that the council continues to study and examine the required recommendations to raise the health services in the UAE and achieve the strategic national goals and objectives.

"The council has lately examined the recommendations to develop medical practices, serve the ambitions of the medical staff and health services providers and care for the patients of all public and private health facilities in the UAE", said the minister while chairing the Health Council meeting in Dubai.

The meeting made the final review the anti-tobacco executive by law of the federal decision No. (15) of 2009 and decided to present it to the cabinet for approval.

The council also discussed the health survey for the emirate of Dubai and the unification of the medical staff licensing system in addition to the project of the health research handbook.

The Minister stressed the importance of speeding up the unified system for medical licensing to begin with doctors and followed by the licensing of other establishments and resources.

Another meeting will be held soon with representation from the health authorities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

The health council also approved the health research handbook to be printed and distributed to all the competent authorities and organizations as a guideline to determine researches and statistics in the healthcare field in the UAE.

Dr. Salem Al Darmaki, Acting Undersecretary of the Ministry of health and member of the health council, said that the council has conducted several studies which led to a number of ministerial and cabinet decisions about certain health programs and projects.

Eida cancels thousands of ID applications

The Emirates Identity Authority (Eida) last week cancelled 5,000 applications of candidates who missed their second consecutive registration appointment.

According to a news report in Gulf News, the application fee of such defaulters has been forfeited by the authority. “The cancellation of application means the entire pre-registration process has been cancelled; when they do the process again, definitely they have to pay the fee [again],” Dr Ali Al Khoury, Director General of Eida, has been quoted by the daily today.

According to the official, Eida gave the defaulters a second chance by rescheduling their appointment after applicants failed to turn up the first time. Those who missed the second appointment too will now have to go through the whole process once again, he said.

Al Khoury said the authority had to take strict action because many people fail to turn up for registration on appointment. “They waste their time and others’ too,” he said.

UAE ID card is must for all children

However, kids are not required to be present in person for the registration National Identity Cards for children under 15 years of age has been made mandatory.

The Emirates Identity Authority (Eida) has confirmed that ID cards will henceforth be mandatory for children under 15, apart from them being registered in the population register, reported 'Gulf Today'.
Until now children only had to be registered in the population register. ID cards were not a necessity.
Eida will shortly restructure the procedures of registration in the population register and issuance of ID cards for kids at the designated typing centres.
However, children will not be required to be present in person for the registration, Eida added.
Documents required include: Valid passport; valid residency; coloured photograph with light blue background (size 3.5x4).
The registration fee will be Dh50, in addition to Dhs70 services charges, Eida said.

More than 60% of UAE employees want a new job

survey reveal 23% participants are very optimistic and believe this is the best time to be on the lookout Even though 2011 may not be a high growth year and a time when employers remain in command, more than half of employees in the UAE would like a new job.

According to an online poll run by a popular news paper, more than half of the workforce in the country has plans on looking for a new job. The survey reveals that 61 per cent of the employees in the country are looking to change their job.
According to the poll conducted over the past couple of weeks, almost a quarter (23 per cent) of participants are very optimistic on the job front and believe this is perhaps the best time to be the lookout for a new job. On the other hand, dissatisfaction runs high in more than a third (38 per cent) of the respondents, and they cite that as a reason of looking for better avenues. “I am unhappy with my current job,” they said in the online survey.
Despote this, ther are a those that prefer to sit on the sidelines for the moment as they are either happy in their current role, or fear jobs are still scarce in the market and that it isn't worth their while risking their current job to get a new one.
According to 16 per cent of the respondents, a job in the hand is too precious to risk whereas another 23 per cent said that they are happy in their current position.
Discontentment with salary stagnation seems to be high on the agenda of many people. “I’ve not got any hike for the past three years. There has been no bonus as well,” commented a respondent. High salary satisfaction in the UAE seems low in the current market scenario.
“The UAE recorded 3 per cent of respondents with high satisfaction, 50 per cent with medium and 47 per cent with low. Elsewhere in the Gulf and wider Middle East area, a peak of 5 per cent of professionals highly satisfied with their salaries was witnessed in Kuwait and a low of just 2 per cent of professionals highly satisfied in Jordan and Lebanon amongst other countries,” Lama Ataya, Chief Marketing Officer Bayt.com told this website, explaining the trends revealed in one of the jobs site's surveys.
According to a study by Gulf Talent, the UAE and the entire region at large is expected to grow this year, which may give hope to those looking for a change.
“Across the region, anecdotal evidence suggests slowly rising business confidence which should help accelerate economic activity and with it employment. Obtaining bank lending and collecting customer payments, however, remain two key challenges for many businesses, preventing a full‐scale recovery,” it said.

UAE not planning to cap residence visa, says Al Mansouri

Based on indicators in the first five months of 2011, the UAE gross domestic product is expected to grow between 3 to 3.5 per cent this year, Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the 21st meeting of GCC ministers for planning and development in Abu Dhabi, Al Mansouri said the GCC invitation for Jordan and Morocco to join the group would, if takes place, contribute to expanding the GCC Common Market and harnessing the huge human, investment and financial resources available in the eight countries.

“The UAE is not thinking of capping the residence of foreign workers in the UAE,” the minister emphasised, calling for creating a thorough advanced statistical system to provide accurate data on the demographic structure and workforce.

He disclosed that the ministry had prepared a list of commercial agencies that would allow traders to import goods from the origin producers directly without referring to the local agents.

The move, he added, aims at provision of commodities at local markets directly at lower prices in a bid to curb soaring prices.

He said the list would be submitted to the federal cabinet within few weeks for approval.

GCC set to remain reliant on expat labour

Gulf hydrocarbon producers will likely remain heavily reliant on expatriate labour given the relatively high growth in their economies and the shortage of skilled manpower in their native population, experts said on Wednesday.

Although Saudi Arabia is planning to enforce a partial six-year limit on the stay of expatriates in some of its firms in a bid to tackle festering unemployment, a similar move is unlikely in the UAE and other high-income members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) given their low jobless rates.

The six-year limit announced by Saudi labour minister Adel Faqih on Monday sent brief shivers across the large foreign community in neighbouring countries before Riyadh issued a statement on Tuesday clarifying that the decision would only affect local companies that do not abide by job Saudization plans.

In their comments , many expatriates in the UAE voiced concern that the Saudi decision could spread into other GCC members and some of them even went further by saying Indians and Filipinos could be the main victim.

Analysts doubted the Saudi plan would be fully enforced even on companies failing to adhere to job nationalization rules, dubbed by the labour minister “yellow and red” companies.

Those which support the programme are classified as “excellent and green” companies and will get “generous” government incentives.

“The decision will only apply to companies rated as yellow on the traffic light system they announced recently.…the color of a company depends on their Saudization ratio…. if it is too far low (i.e. red) then the company won’t be allocated any new employment visas for expatriates,” said Paul Gamble, head of research at the Riyadh-based Jadwa Investments.

“If it is yellow (not high enough) then there will be restrictions on visas(such as the one on people that have been here six years),… if it is green then the company can get the visas it wants,” he told.

Gamble said he believes there should be a full and detail policy announcement on the revised Saudization plan soon.

But he added that companies have been able to get round their quotas in the past, so it all depends how aggressively it is enforced.

“For those GCC countries where unemployment is very low – UAE, Qatar, Kuwait – the policy will not be considered. Elsewhere, they are likely to see how effective the policy is before deciding whether to follow it.”

Another Saudi-based expert ruled out a full implementation of the Saudi six-year limit on the grounds it could adversely affect the country’s economy.

“The minister needs to qualify his statement because if it includes all foreigners then those who heavily contribute to the local economy will negatively impact the output and productivity of the private sector,” said John Sfakiankis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi.

“I don't expect that such rules, if implemented will change the dependence on expatriates as one laborer will be replaced by another……. structurally nothing will happen. I don't know if this might be replicated in the region but even if does it will not change the labor market structure and dependence on expat labor….such policies are misdirected.”

Clarifying the labour minister’s statements, a Saudi government spokesman said the six-year limit would affect only red and yellow firms, part of an aggressive job nationalization programme dubbed “Nitaqat”, to be launched in June.

"What the Labor Minister meant by his statement was that the measure would be applied on those foreigners who work for companies in the yellow category," said Hattab Al-Anazi, official spokesman of the labour ministry.

He said visas for foreign workers in red category companies would not be renewed at all, irrespective of the years they have spent in the Kingdom.

"The new Nitaqat system allows renewal of iqamas (work visas) without any condition for expatriates who work in companies in the green and excellent category," Al-Anazi said, quoted by local newspapers.

He noted that the measures would not affect domestic workers as their visas would be renewed without considering how many years they stayed in the country, the largest Arab economy and the world’s top oil exporter.

In a recent study, a prominent global organization said it expected the GCC nations to seek more foreign labour because of the sustained growth in their economies and lack of skilled national manpower.

The Swiss-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated at more than 16 million expatriates live in the GCC, an increase of nearly 20 per cent over their number in 2005.

“The high growth in foreign labour in the GCC is due to several factors including the national demographic structural imbalance, and the steady growth in most sectors of their economies such as services, real estate and trade,” it said.

“These countries will continue to rely on Arab and international labour in the future to ensure their needs of skilled workers and expertise.”

The study gave no breakdown but Saudi Arabia has the largest number of expatriates in the GCC, estimated at around 8.4 million. The UAE has over six million foreigners while the rest are based in Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.

Asians, mainly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines account for more than half the expatriate community in the GCC, which controls just over 40 per cent of the world’s recoverable oil wealth and a quarter of the global gas resources.

Foreigners began streaming into the Gulf nearly half a century ago when the discovery of oil kicked off one of the largest infrastructure construction drives in history. The drive has largely receded but regional nations continue to be heavily reliant on expatriates as more experienced and less costly labour.

In another study, the GCC’s private sector itself said it expected member states to hire more foreign workers in the future because of higher growth rates.

Given their heavy reliance on expatriate workers, the GCC countries should prepare for such growth by taking measures to regulate the movement of foreign labour within them, the Saudi-based Federation of the GCC Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FGCCI) said early this year.

The report expected flow of foreign direct investment into the GCC to pick up from around $48 billion in 2009 to $64.4 billion in 2010 and $81.3 billion in 2011. It projected private capital to swell from around $50.7 billion to $55.9 billion and nearly $68 billion in the same period.

“The job market requirements in the GCC states are projected to record sharp growth in the coming years due to an expected expansion in the regional economies……..demand for qualified labour, whether nationals or expatriates, will largely increase,” it said.

“At the same time, pressure from international labour groups will gain momentum and this should prompt regional nations to adopt flexible laws and regulations that will take into consideration the interests of all parties and meet the demands of their membership in the World Trade Organization.”

GCC states have often been urged to support the private sector as their only means to absorb the rapid rise in national job-seekers on the grounds the public sector has become saturated and is not growing enough. Another reason is that the private sector is dominated by expatriates given the preference by nationals of government jobs for more attractive financial benefits.

According to a joint study by National Bank of Kuwait and International Bank of Qatar, the number of national employees in the pubic sector stood at nearly 50 per cent of the total work force in Saudi Arabia and as high as 88 per cent in Qatar, 85 per cent in the UAE and 82 per cent in Kuwait.

“The GCC countries face two serious challenges in the coming decade…they include their ability to create enough jobs for their people and the possibility of the return of large deficits to their budgets,” it said.

“The public sector is expected to have a limited capacity to absorb new employees and its ability could weaken further in the future as it has become saturated and a possible drop in oil prices could curb high public spending and push the budgets of member states into shortfalls again.”

The study said such challenges should prompt the GCC to take measures to encourage the private sector to absorb millions of nationals.

“The GCC countries must allow the private sector to play a bigger role in the domestic economy with the aim of creating sufficient jobs for nationals…it also should be enabled to become the main provider of public services instead of the government…to do so, GCC governments must adopt policies that will facilitate the expansion of the private sector and remove unnecessary barriers for investors…despite some progress in this regard, a lot more needs to be done.”

Saudi issues clarification on six-year expat visa limit

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday put an end to speculation that it is about to kick out all its expatriate workers after six years, clarifying that the decision applies to only those private sector firms that do not abide by the country’s job nationalization quotas.

A government official was reacting to statements on Monday by Saudi Labour Minister Adel Faqih, who said a new incentive programme for the private sector to recruit more Saudis includes limiting the stay of foreign workers to six years.

The minister said the programme would be implemented in June and would give four classifications to companies, including “excellent and green” for those who abide by Saudization quotas and “red and yellow” for non-compliant firms.

“What the Labor Minister meant by his statement was that the measure would be applied on those foreigners who work for companies in the yellow [non-compliant] category,” said Hattab Al-Anazi, official spokesman of the Labour Ministry.

Quoted by the Saudi Arab News daily, he said that companies in the yellow category that did not fulfil Saudization conditions should correct their status in order to get visas of their workers renewed.

He said visas for foreign workers in red category companies would not be renewed at all, irrespective of the years they have spent in the Kingdom.

“The new Nitaqat system allows renewal of iqamas (work visas) without any condition for expatriates who work in companies in the green and excellent category,” Al-Anazi said.

He noted that the new measure would not apply on house servants as their visas would be renewed without considering how many years they stayed in the country. “They are not at all linked with the Nitaqat system,” he said.

Expats fear other Gulf states may follow Saudi’s 6-year visa limit

A decision by Saudi Arabia to limit the stay of expatriate workers to six years appears to have triggered fears among foreigners residing in the region that such a move could also be enforced by other Gulf oil producers in line with a proposal discussed at the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in 2008.

Nitaqat (limits), the new Saudi government programme to be enforced in June, compels the Gulf Kingdom’s private sector firms to recruit Saudis and providing incentives to companies which abide by the new rules. The programme will limit the stay of foreign workers, mainly unskilled, to six years while it will also ban new visas for non-compliant companies.
Saudi Labour Minister Adel Faqih did not provide many details of the new decision, but businessmen hope it would apply only to unskilled labour, estimated at around 3m in Saudi Arabia and 10m GCC-wide.
“This decision apparently targets a quantitative rather than a qualitative policy... in other words, if the decision is issued in this form, this means the Ministry of Labour is focusing on quantity not quality,” Khaled al Suleiman, a well-known Saudi economist told Al Arabiya television.
More than 18 million expatriates live in the six-nation GCC, remitting home tens of billions of dollars every year, seen by regional economists as drainage of the Gulf countries’ wealth.
The programme comes amidst reports that unemployment in Saudi Arabia is widening because of the private sector’s preference of the cheaper expatriate labour and the fact that the population is growing faster than the economy.
Faqih put the official unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, at around 10.5 per cent but noted female joblessness largely exceeds that rate, standing at nearly 26.6 per cent. Unemployment among Saudi high school graduates is also as high as 40 per cent.
He said nearly six million foreigners work in the Saudi private sector, accounting for around 90 per cent of the sector’s total workforce.
“We have nearly half a million unemployed Saudi in the country while around 8m expatriates live here…6m of them work in the private sector, transferring nearly SR100 billion every year,” he said.
Faqih is expected to face a storm of protests when he meets Saudi businessmen in the eastern region tonight in case the decision affects foreign labour across all skilled classes. The meeting will cover Saudization of jobs while the minister will explain the new programme, according to Abdul Rahman al Rashid, chairman of the chamber of commerce and industry in Saudi Arabia’s eastern region.
“The decision to limit the stay of expatriate workers to six years is not clear and needs further clarification as is the case with Nitaqat,” said Suleiman.
“Tackling the expatriate labour problem in Saudi Arabia in a bid to reduce unemployment among Saudis should be based on the experience and qualifications of the expatriate workers to be imported by the Kingdom.”
“Nitaqat will be an effective tool to eliminate malpractices in the labour market… We are not completely stopping visas for foreign workers but we want to find jobs for our people… Companies in the green zone will not have any problem while there is a plan to limit the stay of most expatriate labour to six years,” Faqih said.
Government data released early this year showed Saudi Arabia is suffering from very high jobless rate among young men as more than 43 per cent of citizens aged between 20 and 24 years are unemployed. The rate at the end of 2009 was higher than in 2008 despite an ongoing campaign to find jobs for the fast-growing nationals.
The report by the government statistics and information centre showed about 43.2 per cent of the Saudi males and females aged 20-24 years were unemployed at the end of 2009, nearly 20 per cent above the 2008 rate.
“This comes at a time when one million labour visas for foreign workers were issued last year,” the report said. “The private sector continued a drive to import foreign labour although nearly 111,000 Saudis were looking for jobs,” it said.
Saudi Arabia, which controls over a fifth of the world’s recoverable oil deposits, is suffering more from unemployment than other Gulf hydrocarbon producers given its large population and the slowdown in its economy in some years.
The government is now seeking help from the private sector to create jobs for Saudis. “The present situation requires strong cooperation and coordination between the government and the private sector to tackle the unemployment challenge as hundreds of thousands of Saudi continue to search for jobs,” Faqih said.
“Nitaqat is just one of 10 new programmes to be implemented in the coming stage… Our aim is to make Saudisation of jobs an advantage to companies.”
Suleiman, on the other hand, said he saw several ambiguous aspects of the new decision. “These include how the ministry will deal with housemaids and low-paid jobs in the construction sector, which are still shunned by the Saudis,” he said.
Suleiman said the Ministry of Labour has been issuing successive decisions because it has been under pressure to tackle unemployment. “Under such pressures, which are often highlighted by the Saudi media, the ministry appears to be looking for a way out by presenting such ideas.”
He warned against the repercussions of that decision on the Saudi private sector, which relies heavily on “cheaper” expatriate labour. He said job nationalization in the Saudi private sector would boost cost of labour and this in turn would increase the financial burden on national companies.
Suleiman also criticized the deadline for the implementation of Nitaqat, which requires national firms to start Saudization of jobs within three months. “These decisions will hurt the private sector because they should not be presented in such a random way,” he added.
Other analysts believe Faqih’s announcement of the six-year limit is intended to block the way for Saudi-based foreigners to demand political rights, including Saudi citizenship. But Suleiman believes such demands are not “in the pipeline” on the grounds that many expatriates have been residing in Saudi Arabia for more than 50 years and have not made such demands.
He noted that the idea of replacing the foreign labour with nationals was discussed by the GCC heads of state in Bahrain several years ago.
In Egypt, Minister of Manpower Ahmed Al Burghi said he had contacted his labour representatives in Riyadh and Jeddah and was told that they have not received any official notification about the new decision.
Saudi Arabia is home to around 1.5 million Egyptian workers, who could be sent home in case that decision was fully enforced.
The new programme will give four classifications to companies including “excellent and green” to those which adhere to job nationalization and “yellow and red” to firms which fail to employ enough Saudis.
Analysts described the programme as the most radical measure taken by the Saudi government to force its private sector establishments to employ more Saudis following the failure of previous procedures.
The government in the world’s dominant oil power has not yet published details of the programme but its labour minister said it includes “generous” incentives to compliant companies and punitive measures against non-abiding firms.
“Companies which abide by Nitaqat will be moved to the green zone, which will allow them to receive many benefits, including visas and others,” Faqih told businessmen this week. “It will also allow them to get skilled labour from firms in the red zone.”

ID registration procedures online in 7 languages

Expatriates wondering about the procedures to register in the UAE national identity can now see them online in seven languages that involve the bulk of the country’s eight million people, according to the ID issuers.

The Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA) said it had just introduced these procedures on its website in Arabic, English, French, Persian, Chinese, Urdu and Hindi so all residents in the country can have access to them before heading for registration offices with the required documents.

“This move is within a number of new measures taken by the Authority to upgrade services and ensure that all residents are registered,” said Abdul Aziz Al-Maamari, marketing director in EIDA.

More than three million Emiratis and expatriates based in the UAE have been registered in the national identity, an ambitious project launched by the country a few years ago to create an accurate demographic data base.

EIDA had set a registration deadline at the end of June but it is expected to be extended again as millions others have not registered yet.

staff from Free zone can't move courts directly

Labour disputes in free zones should be first reported to the free zone authorities before moving the courts. In the event the free zone authority fails to reach a satisfactory settlement of the dispute, the case should then be referred to the Labour Court.

The Dubai Court of Cassation established the new legal principle while considering the appeal filed by an employee working in Jebel Ali Free Zone before the Labour Court to demanding his company pay him of Dh558,000 in dues.

The employee (plaintiff) said he had joined the company as Managing Director on Dh35,000 monthly salary. On his return from annual leave he was surprised to learn that a report of him having 'escaped' was issued by the company. He alleges the company took such a step to avoid paying him teh dues.

He said the dues include salary until the end of his contract which is about Dh345,000; compensation for unfair dismissal which is about Dh105,000; annual leave allowance Dh7,000 for the last two years; Dh73,000 as service bonus; and air ticket alowance Dh1,500.

The Court of First Instance refused to accept the case because he failed to present his complaint to Jebel Ali Free zone Authority first.

He then moved the Court of Appeal which again rejected the appeal and upheld the appellant.

But the employee was not satisfied with the verdict and moved the Court of Cassation which issued the new principles mentioned above.

The Court of Cassation said its ruling: “The legislator in the decree of establishing the authority of Jebel Ali Free Zone and its implementing regulations gave authority to the free zone of Jebel Ali (power and competence) to receive complaints and requests for workers and companies and institutions working in the geographical scope of the free zone of Jebel Ali of any legal disputes."

The court added also it has given the power to settle the dispute amicably, and in case the authority failed to reach a settlement, it is entitled to take the decision it deems appropriate, such as refer the case to the competent court.

UAE Central Bank issued regulations to streamline High service fees charged by banks

High service fees charged by banks and excessive lending practices are affected as part of a host of retail banking rules issued yesterday by the Central Bank.

The new rules cover personal and car loans, with limits capping the amount banks can lend to customers at 20 times their salary. They also set the period of loan repayment at 48 months.In addition, the rules restrict service fees lenders can impose for personal accounts, cheques and debit cards.

Some of the new fees for bank transactions are as follows:

For opening new account – none

If balance is less than the minimum “monthly” - Dh25

Non-arrival of salary - none

Closure of account (if closed within one year of opening) - Dh100

Lack of sufficient credit in the account - Dh25

Issuing certificate of account balance - Dh50

Issuing clearance certificate - Dh50

Non-moving accounts - no charges

Teller transactions at branch (6 transactions monthly free) - Dh10 for each additional transactions

For cash withdrawal or deposit - none

Postpone the payment of the loan – Dh100 for each time

Loan restructuring - Dh250

Bounced cheques - Dh100

Periodic statement of account - Dh25 outside period agreed on

Previously there was a Dh250,000 (US$68,066) ceiling on personal loans but few other limits on service fees. As a result, banks were able to extend huge loans to consumers.

"We have compared fees in the region and put them slightly above regional fees, but not as high as banks wanted," said Suwaidi.

Under the rules, banks will be limited to charging a maximum of Dh25 for replacing lost or stolen ATM cards.

Closing an account within a year of opening will cost customers no more than Dh100. The cost of issuing a chequebook will be capped at Dh30.

Fees for loans will also be regulated. Processing fees for personal loans will be capped at 1 per cent of the loan amount.

Penalties for early payment of a loan will also be curbed. Banks will not be allowed to charge more than 1 per cent of the remaining loan balance if a customer settles a loan early.Those not complying with the rules will face fines