Emirates ID cards to replace labour cards from next year

 “The move is part of plans to fast-track four million transactions — one million applications for new work permits, another million for renewal of these permits, a third million applications for new job contract and a million for renewing job contract every year — so that any transaction will take maximum 48 hours to complete instead of a minimum of 15 days at present,” said Humaid Bin Deemas Al Suwaidi, Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs, told a news conference.

Al Suwaidi added plans for re-engineering of transactions, which will have no impact on fees, would ease the lives of more than four million workers in 250,000 private companies across the country, allowing workers and employers to obtain work permits and job contracts online and saving time and effort.

“The move will mean that an employer will submit only a job contract signed by both the worker and the employer to obtain a work permit online, in keeping with plans to make the UAE one of the world’s top five governments by 2021,” Al Suwaidi said.

Once labour cards are scrapped, millions of dirhams of penalties levied for failing to obtain, renew or cancel these cards, will be waived.

Government fees account for more than 57 per cent of the UAE budget revenues

The Labour Ministry is the third largest revenue generator after the ministries of Finance and Interior, with revenues for this year are put at more than Dh3.5 billion.

It is also planned that the Emirates ID will also replace all other identification cards for the residents such as driving licence and health insurance card.

Al Suwaidi said that pushing towards a smart government would mean a customer-centred departments which provide efficient services.

Al Suwaidi encouraged workers, companies and other stakeholders to share their proposals an views on how to improve quality and efficiency of services being offered at present.

“We’ve received proposals to get away with job contracts, but these contract will only be developed within the framework of the labour law, others proposed a one-stop shop so that firms would deal with only the Interior Ministry to have their work permits, job contracts and residence visa completed in one step,” Al Suwaidi said.

Stressing that all these proposals and others will be addressed, Al Suwaidi vowed no effort will be saved to meet expectations of nearly 13 sectors and 2,000 professions in the private sector companies.

A one-year ban is currently being imposed on anyone who obtains a labour card with a company they are not really working for. A Dh1,000 fine is also being imposed for failing to obtain or renew labour cards after 60 days from the date the worker enters the country or from the date of the expiration of the labour card is for each month of delay or part thereof.

Abu Dhabi: As Emirates ID registration of all foreign workers in the country has been completed, work permits, better known as labour cards, will be scrapped and replaced by the Emirates ID in the first quarter of next year, said a senior Ministry of Labour official yesterday.

Dubai visit visa on your mobile-- DNRD

Dubai’s Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) says its mobile application will soon enable residents to apply for a visa using their mobile phones.

Major-General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director-General of the Directorate told  that certain services of the DNRD have been operational on the e- platform for quite a while now.

Col Khalid Nasser Al Razouqi, Assistant Director-General of e-Service at DNRD who conducted the briefing about the new mobile application said the app is being implemented in two phases.

In the first phase, users will only be allowed to renew and cancel visas.

The second phase will incorporate more extensive services like incorporating the complete visa application process through the mobile app and thereby totally avoiding the typing centre.

The  app is being developed by Emartech. ‘Naqadi’ the payment gateway built and managed by Emartech will be incorporated into the application to manage visa payments and other fees and charges of DNRD.

According to Al Razouqi the application should be completely up and running incorporating all features by the end of next year.

Health card, insurance mandatory to obtain UAE residence visa

A valid health card or valid health insurance is a prerequisite to obtain a residence visa in the UAE.

The Ministry of Health confirmed that newcomers to the UAE are obliged to have a valid health card or a valid health insurance in order to get a residence visa, reported Al Ittihad newspaper.

The ministry, in a circular sent to all departments of preventive medicine and registration centres, urged them to inform applicants to pay fees for health card or health insurance in order to complete the transaction.

The MoH circular No 1001 of 2013 stressed on the non-issuance of health fitness certificates without the health card or health insurance.

The circular also stressed that no health card or health fitness certificates can be issued without verifying the fee receipt.

Al Ittihad reported that the ministry took this step following manipulation by some companies in the Northern Emirates, which obtained health fitness certificates for workers without issuing them health cards, in order to save money

Property investors will be able to save Dh30,000 plus in court fees - New Dubai committee to settle property dispute for free.

“The committee will aim to resolves disputes and issue refunds to investors by auctioning the project,” said Sultan Butti Bin Mejren, Director General, DLD.
“People who generally pay over Dh30,000 in court fees will not have to pay anything. The committee will work free of charge,” he added.
No details were shared how investors could file their claims and the time taken to resolve the disputes.
Emirates 24l7 reported that developers had started putting notices of project cancellations, a move that has gained pace after the government set up a committee to liquidate and settle claims on cancelled projects.
The notices being published are as per the regulation set by Dubai’s Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera).
The notices generally give claimants two weeks' time from the first date of publishing of the notice to submit their claims with Rera’s liquidation department. Claimants are asked to provide property reservation form, original property agreement, passport copy and original payment receipts.
In July, the Dubai government issued Decree No. (21) of 2013 setting up a special legal committee for the liquidation of cancelled property projects and the settlement of rights disputes related to such projects.
Rera said earlier it would not release in public the list of cancelled projects, but stated investors in cancelled projects are notified through email.
As per Dubai government’s bond prospectus issued in 2012, 217 projects have been cancelled as of May 31, 2011.
Rera data reveals that 187 projects have been completed since the beginning of 2009; 253 projects are on hold; 232 projects are likely to be completed in due course.
Each of these 253 registered projects is likely to qualify for either the Tayseer or the Tanmia initiative, the bond prospectus said.
In its August newsletter, UAE-based Hadef & Partners law firm said: “It appears Decree 21 will create greater certainty, and a faster and more inexpensive process for aggrieved purchasers to make claims.
"However, given that the decree applies only to projects that have been cancelled by Rera, it is too soon to assess with any accuracy how dramatic the impact of Decree 21 will be in the property market.”

Property investors will be able to save Dh30,000 plus in court fees as the Dubai Land Department (DLD) will set up a new settlement committee from next week to resolve disputes.

Dubai property registration fee doubled to 4% from october 6th

Dubai Sharjah Ajman Abu dhabi Properties: Dubai property registration fee doubled to 4% from...: The Dubai The Dubai Land Department (DLD) on Sunday announced the doubling of the property registration fee to 4 per cent of the control from 2 per cent earlier.

The new registration fees covers all property transactions in the emirate of Dubai except for the industrial sector, including warehouses.

The new fee structure will start to be implemented from October 6, 2013.

DLD Director-General Sultan Butti bin Mejren said: "The move is aimed to stop quick transactions (flipping) which are unhealthy for the market and result in sudden price increases. “The decision has come at the right time… the market has matured and investor confidence is growing. The move in not likely to have any negative impact."

Mejren pointed out that 110 countries in the world had higher property registration rates than Dubai, citing United Kingdom, which charges 4-10 per cent, France 8 per cent and India 7.3 per cent.

As per the decree, the fee will be split 2 per cent each between the buyer and seller. Although the previous law did specify one per cent each for the seller and buyer, in practice the buyer always paid the two per cent.  Mortgage registration fees remain same at 0.25 per cent of the mortgage value to encourage end-users.

No rollback

Asked if the department would consider delaying the implementation, Mejren asserted in no way the decision would be rolled out.

“The mechanism to issue laws in Dubai has evolved. We took almost three months to finalise the decision and I was been reviewed by the financial and legal department and even by investors. The law has been issued and is being executed. There is no way it will be revised.” Although the government hopes to slow down the price rise and discourage flippers, some experts believe this will not discourage genuine buyers because the price increases are based on real demand in Dubai property and not flipping.