UAE Labour Ministry revised fees and fines from January 4

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has issued a resolution revising the Ministry of Labour’s fees and fines.

The Cabinet Resolution No. 40 for the year 2014, amending some of the fines and fees in the Cabinet Resolution No. 10 for the year 2012 will be effective from January 4, according to the latest issue of the official gazette.

• Delay in renewing a job contract for 60 days from the date of the worker’s entry into the country or the date of adjusting the worker’s legal status will invite a fine of Dh500 per month even if the delay is only for less than a month, according to the new resolution. At present the fine is Dh1,000.
• The fine for failure to get a mission contract issued within 30 days from the date of the worker’s entry and the failure to renew it for seven days after its expiry is Dh100 per day.
• Companies that falsify Emiratisation records will invite a fine of Dh20,000 per worker and Dh5,000 will be levied from the companies for providing incorrect information in the Wage Protection System (WPS) to evade or manipulate the regulations per case. The maximum fine in the last case will be Dh50,000.
• Non-settlement of employee’s wage for 60 days will attract a fine of Dh5,000 per worker with the maximum of Dh50,000 if the case includes more than one worker. Companies forcing employees to sign forged documents showing that the payment of their dues was made will have to pay Dh5,000 as fine per worker. Dh20,000 is the fine per case for non-compliance with the workers’ accommodation regulations and for not employing the worker for a period exceeding two months
• Charging the worker for the visa and employment fees or deducting such fees from his wage without any legal reason will attract a fine of Dh5,000. This fine is Dh20,000 at present.
• The fine will be Dh20,000 if the company fails to comply with the Emirati employment policies or doesn’t respond to the Ministry of Labour’s summons within the time frame specified by the ministry.
• Failure to report absconding workers in compliance with the relevant rules and filing a malicious absconding report will also attract a Dh20,000 fine per worker.
• The company will be fined Dh5,000 if it flouts the midday break rule per worker. The maximum fine will be Dh50,000 if the case includes more than one worker.
• Submitting forged documents or incorrect information to the ministry will attract a Dh20,000 fine per case.
• The failure to subscribe to the wage protection system, adhere to the professional health and safety standards, report work injuries, occupational diseases or a worker’s death to the ministry, and/or failure to follow medical hazards and emergency procedures will attract a fine of Dh10,000 per case.
• Failure to remove accommodation violation on time will attract Dh10,000 per case.
• Failure to renew licence of a brokerage agency within 60 days from the date of expiry will attract Dh1,000 per month, while the fine for failing to renew a recruitment agency within 60 days from the date of expiry will be Dh2,000 per month.
• The fee for work permit card for a period of two years will be Dh300 for the first category. The fee for second category employees, which include three levels, will be Dh600, Dh1,500 and Dh2,000 respectively.
• The fee for the third category will be Dh5,000 for renewing their work permits.
• A fee of Dh5,000 will be applicable for issuance of work permits for those more than 65 years with a validity of two years.
• Fines accumulated for failure to obtain or renew labour cards on time, before this resolution takes effect on January 4, will be a maximum of Dh1,000 per worker, provided that payment is made within six months from January 4.
• A Dh500 fine will be collected for delay of payment per month

UAE labour card fines cut to Dh1,000 for 6 months,starting January 4 till June 30 2015.

The UAE’s Ministry of Labour has announced granting all employers a reduction to all issued fines, regardless of their amounts per employee, to Dh1,000 for a grace period of six months starting January 4 till June 30 2015.

“Electronic labour card offences have all been dropped to a Dh1,000 per employee,” said Humaid bin Deemas Al Suwaidi, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry’s Labour Affairs, said during the press conference which was held at the ministry’s headquarters on Sunday.

"The deadline include electronic labour cards that have not been issued or renewed until the end of this current month which mount to 100,000 electronic cards from 40,000 facilities, marking 13 per cent of the total registered facilities in the ministry," he said.

He pointed out that about 95,000 fines were issued for not renewing workers cards and 5,000 have been fined for entering the country without applying for new labour cards or for not cancelling their work permits, or reported missing from duty.

He revealed that fines have reached a total amount of Dh2.85 billion which will settle to around Dh100 million after the application of the decision. “This confirms the government's keenness to support employers and motivate them to settle those fines, which is a tool used by the ministry to control and regulate the labour market and provide protection to the workers," Bin Deemas added.

He explained that there are thousands of cards, of which some have fines reaching up to Dh53,000. “Now that big fine has been settled and reduced to only a thousand dirhams, this is an opportunity for all employers and business owners to settle those fines imposed on them and remove any restriction in their records at the ministry," Humaid said.

Offenders during the grace period, will be stopped from obtaining all kinds of labour permits until they settle all the above mentioned fines. “Starting July 2015 employers will be asked to pay the reduced amount of Dh1,000 fine per card in addition to another Dh500 for each month of delay,” Bin Deemas pointed.

Employment contract fines

Meanwhile, Humaid bin Deemas Al Suwaidi said stated that the Ministry of Labour, starting January 4, 2015, a Dh500 per month will be imposed on employers who fail to provide employment contracts to the ministry (signed by the employee) within a 60 day period starting from the entry of the employee to the country."

He said that the period of 60 days is sufficient enough for the employer to sign a contract with his new employee through Tas’heel service centres to properly document it and any excuses for delay will not be accepted.

He announced that there is coordination between the Ministries of Labour and Ministry of Interior to not to issue a visa, unless the employer signs that agreement during the specified period.

UAE 43rd National Day

India launches e-visa on arrival for UAE and 42 other nations

With the launch of electronic visa (e-visa) facility on Thursday, tourists from 43 countries can apply for Indian visa in four simple steps.The step is aimed at boosting tourism sector and offer hassle-free travel to foreign nationals.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, along with Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Mahesh Sharma launched the Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVOA) service enabled with electronic travel authorisation (ETA) scheme here.
Tourists from countries such as the US, the UAE, Brazil, Cambodia, Kenya, Oman, Singapore, Norway, Thailand, among others can avail this facility."India has a unique advantage in tourism sector owing to its geographical location and that no other country offers such abundance of diversity in weather conditions," said Singh.
This visa will allow entry of the tourists into India within 30 days from the date of approval of ETA and will be valid for 30 days stay in India from the date of arrival in India.
The facility will be extended to other nations in a phased manner.The tourists will be allowed to enter and depart from nine international airports - Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram.
Tourists availing this facility would be able to go for usual sightseeing and recreational activities. The tourism ministry has included facilities like short duration medical visit and casual business visit with e-visa.Partial list of countries
The TVoA enabled with ETA Scheme will facilitate nationals of 43 countries including:

• Australia
•     Brazil
•     Cambodia
•     Cook Islands
•     Djibouti
•     Federated States of Micronesia
•     Fiji
•     Finland
•     Germany
•     Indonesia
•     Israel
•     Japan
•     Jordan
•     Kenya
•     Kingdom of Tongo
•     Laos
•     Luxembourg
•     Mauritius
•     Mexico
•     Myanmar
•     New Zealand
•     Niue
•     Norway
•     Oman
•     Palestine
•     Papua & New Guinea
•     Philippines
•     Republic of Kiribati
•     Republic of Korea (i.e. South Korea)
•     Republic of Marshall Islands
•     Republic of Nauru
•     Republic of Palau
•     Russia
•     Samoa
•     Singapore
•     Solomon Islands
•     Thailand
•     Tuvalu
•     UAE
•     Ukraine
•     USA
•     Vietnam
•     Vanuatu
•  

India begins levying service tax on remittance fee from abroad

India has started levying a service tax on “fees or commission” charged by banks and financial institutions for facilitating remittances from abroad.

This may slightly increase the cost of remittance to India, which will mainly affect the majority of low-income Indian expatriates in the UAE and other Gulf countries who remit money every month to their dependants back home.

However, it will not pose a big burden on expatriates as the tax is imposed only on the “fee or commission charged by banks for facilitating remittances” and not on the actual remittance.

The remittance fee from the UAE to India costs up to Dh20. A part of this amount is paid to the agents in India, which will attract the new service tax. As Gulf News reported on October 16, a circular issued by India’s Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) on October 14 imposed a 12.36 per cent service tax on the “fee or commission” charged for facilitating remittances from abroad. But it was not clear whether the government would start levying it with immediate effect.

The agents in India who facilitate remittances from abroad have recently received notice from the Indian tax authorities to pay the service tax, effective October 15, a senior executive of the remittance service industry told on Tuesday.

“Although the fee or commission charged by agents in India [banks and other financial institutions in India] varies, it may be between Dh5 and Dh10 for remittances from the UAE,” said Y. Sudhir Kumar Shetty, vice chairman of Foreign Exchange and Remittance Group (FERG), an official platform of the companies engaged in the business of money exchange and remittances in the UAE.

Considering the fact that Dh10 is the maximum fee paid to agents in India, the 12.36 per cent tax may go up to Dh1.24 (Rs20.9), Shetty, who is also the COO of UAE Exchange, said.

Although it is a small amount for a single transaction, an agent doing thousands of transactions has to pay a huge amount as tax which may be passed on to the customers, he said.

A prominent financial consultant in India said although the tax is a small amount, it is unjustified as Non Resident Indians (NRIs) deserve incentives for bringing foreign exchange into India.