New law will make it easier for expatriates to change jobs
A new labour law will make it easier for many expatriates to switch jobs.
From January 1, skilled and professional workers will no longer be required to obtain a no-objection certificate from a former employer in order to take up a new position.
Instead, they will need a visa stamp from the Ministry of Labour.
Unskilled and semi-skilled workers will still need their employers' consent, but only in the first two years of a job.
Even for lower-level staff, companies will lose the right to stop them from getting another job if the firm fails to meet basic employment standards, for example, by not paying salaries for 60 days.
Under the current system, employers can refuse to issue a no-objection certificate, forcing expatriate staff to go abroad for six months before taking up a new position. That often makes it all but impossible to secure another job.
Saqr Ghobash, the Minister of Labour, said the move was intended to "improve the labour market and limit any wrong practices".
"The UAE is determined to protect the rights and benefits of the labourers as well as their employers," the state news agency WAM quoted him as saying, "particularly those concerned with international labour policies ... whilst preserving the sovereignty of the UAE over its territories."
Last week, the minister called on the Federal National Council to hold a session discussing the issue. "When the contractual relationship ends between the two parties, logic dictates that each party becomes free in determining the new relationship they want to enter into," he wrote in a letter to the FNC.
At the same time, Mr Ghobash said the Government planned to reform rather than abolish the sponsorship system.
Labour laws are being reformed across the Gulf. Last year, Bahrain scrapped the sponsorship system, while Kuwait is overhauling its labour legislation.
In April, Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, criticised the sponsorship system used in GCC states, saying it tied migrants to their employers and enabled abuse. She urged all Gulf states to replace the system "with updated labour laws that can better balance rights and duties".
Fahima Raof, of the Dubai recruitment agency Scorpion, said the new law will be a relief for "struggling" employees. She said having to leave the country for six months often made it difficult to change employer.
"A lot of people have lost good jobs due to the ban," she said. "Some respond too late for jobs and lose them, some companies pay a fine to lift the ban, but not every company is willing to do so.
"It is hard, especially for Asian workers - they can easily be replaced," Ms Raof said. Ali al Agha, 29, from the Palestinian territories, was able to avoid having to leave for six months by moving to a job in one of Dubai's free zones.
"At the beginning, when I gave my one-month notice to move to another job, my boss said OK, but at the end of the month he said no, he needs me, it is not his problem I didn't want to continue in that job," he said. "So I looked for work in the free-zone area."
He added that the current law sometimes made it difficult for workers to get their end-of-service payment. "They have no one to collect it for them, it is all really such a big hassle," he said.
The change is part of a broader overhaul of federal labour laws that will shorten the period of labour cards from three years to two, as well as creating a structure for penalising firms that breach the law, making them pay more for the cards.
The overhaul also includes minimum wages for skilled workers, depending on their level of qualification. It will also open the job market to more people, creating permits for temporary and part-time workers, as well as people on family members' visas and teenagers aged between 15 and 18.
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