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So my wife got a job in a big & reputable company and the company insisted that her residence visa (currently under my sponsorship) is transferred to their employment visa.

I said (from what I've seen in this forum) to my wife that she can get labour card without transferring the visa.

The HR insisted that it's by law illegal and visa transfer is mandatory (in fact they even won't let her come to office to work before her own residence/employment visa is finished). Is it a new law?

On the other hand, I'm worried that if she got fired or resigned from the company the company refused to give her NOC. It's not funny if she'll get banned (must exit the country) while the family is here.

But the HR has explained (and showed her the law book) that it's by law that she can be transferred back to my sponsorship in any case (by paying some fee).

Apparently in this case the "ban" would probably be that she could no longer work before 6/12 months. And after then, it's subject to ministry's approval before she can apply for new job.

a lot of companies insist on this although it is not law, the reasons are as follows:

if the spouse remains on her husbands visa (but is employed by someone else), her permit with the labour department has to be renewed every year; this costs the company about 10,000 AED per renawal

she would also have to have an annual medical (as the labour card is only valid for 1 year).

all these little expenses add up, so the cost to the company is greater if she works under her husbands residency than if she were under the companies residency.

the labour ban is a seperate issue, and if she left her employer she would get a labour ban, you could however apply to sponsor her under your residency.

as far as i know the law has not changed, so it would be interesting to see what law book they are using - it may only be company policy, not nessicary a law they are quoting

This is strange.

I know someone who employs a secretary on her husbands visa and the costs are as follows.

AED 2,000.00 per year to be re-newed on a yearly basis, after continuous service of 3 years it is then allowed to re-new for a period of 3 years at a charge of AED 6,000.00.

So where does the AED 10,000.00 per year come from??

howdy sage,

my company had to pay 10,000 per annum for my secretary to stay on her husbands visa, but enjoy a labour card from our company.

i looked up a few of the payment tables, which i forwarded to xty, it seems it is based on a combination of two factors:

1. the position that the person is employed in/ level
2. the rating of the company at the labour department (the poorer rating they have the more fees they are charged, the better the rating the lower the fees)

xty, It's not illegal at all. My mother has worked in the UAE for 10 years whilst on my fathers visa, and changed jobs several times. But the company has to apply for a temporary labour card for her.

Thanks for the info.

There are 2 things I see in this case:

- The higher fee as dbxsoul explained.
- The employer wants a security so that the employee (my wife in this case) can't change job easily. Because I assume if she's still under my sponsorship, then if something goes wrong the employer can't put a ban or something (unless criminal case). Is that true?

As explained, the company itself is a big & reputable public-listed company (group of companies). The position is for Personal Assistant to CEO/Director. In the work contract, they will give NOC only after 2 years of service.

If it has to be like this (either company policy or law) then I guess I have no choice than to give her NOC for visa transfer. But only if I'm assured that it can be re-transferred back to my sponsorship in ANY case (fired/resigned even before 2 years of service) without exit/ban.

So to know exactly, I need to get hard/soft copy of labour law (complete). Anyone knows where to get?

- The employer wants a security so that the employee (my wife in this case) can't change job easily. Because I assume if she's still under my sponsorship, then if something goes wrong the employer can't put a ban or something (unless criminal case). Is that true?

Whether she is working under your residiency visa or thiers she can still be banned by the labour department if she chooses to leave her employer.

The current law is that the residency ban has fallen away, this means that if she is under their sponsorship and terminates/ is terminated she has 30 days to exit the country. If she were still under your sponsorship she would not have to leave, but would be unable to work legally for 6 months.

I don't know of anyone who has moved back to their spouses visa after being employed by a company. Although as there is no residency ban in effect, I can't see this as being a problem.

Remember... this is the current situation, it is very difficult to predict how the legal system on labour and residency may look in a year or two's time; there may well be some change that impacts on her legal status at a later date. The best you can do is assume that things will remain the same and plan accordingly.

I have a softcopy of the labour law, pm me your email address, athough it needs to be read throughly first (as some articles impct on others), and must also be read in conjunction with the residency and naturalisation guidelines!

Correct me if I'm wrong.

So from my understanding there are:
- labour ban (by ministry of labour, identified by labour card)
- residency ban (by immigration, identified by residence visa).

For the wife who works but still under husband's sponsorship (with labour card), both may be applied. Means labour ban will only be an "internal record" within ministry of labour (for future reference), without exiting the country while the residence visa remains intact.

But for the wife who works under her own residence visa & labour card (after visa transfer from husband's sponsorship), when the employer put a labour ban (got fired or resigned), I think they will do also at the same time to cancel her residence visa (residency ban) because its sponsored under the company (not under husband's anymore after the transfer). Because it doesn't make sense if the company only put a labour ban but still keeping her residence visa (which they will have to pay or loose a visa quota). This is specifically my concern.

there are no longer 2 seperate bans, the residency sponsorship ban has fallen away about 2 years ago. there is only a 6 month labour ban to worry about.

however!.....

if your wife works under the companys residency sponsorship and her employment with the company is cancelled, they will automatically cancel her residency sponsorship (30 days to leave the country), she is not banned from re-entering the country though - which was the case under the old law (which has fallen away). she would not however be able to be employed for 6 months due to the labour ban.

if your wife works under your residency sponsorship and her employment with the company is cancelled, she would not have to leave the country as you would still be her residency sponsor, however she would not be able to work for 6 months.

if your wife works under your residency sponsorship and YOUR employment with your company is cancelled, both of your residency's would be cancelled, which would mean that she would have to go over to her employers residency sponsorship to be able to remain in the country. in this case the labour ban is NOT applicalble to her only you.

dxbsoul, One interesting thing that has changed as we are currently experiencing with an employee, is that they may not give you a ban, however they could blacklist you, which means you can't re-enter the country once you've left.

I know quite a few people who've fallen victim to this of late, they don't tell anyone about it, but you suddenly find yourself stuck at immigration and unable to enter.

Also another point with regards to labour cards, if you work for a Governmental company, they don't issue labour cards, nor do they have labour contracts.

I've never had a labour card, because I've always worked for a Government run company, they're a law unto themselves and usually UAE labour laws do not apply.

dxbsoul, One interesting thing that has changed as we are currently experiencing with an employee, is that they may not give you a ban, however they could blacklist you, which means you can't re-enter the country once you've left.
I know quite a few people who've fallen victim to this of late, they don't tell anyone about it, but you suddenly find yourself stuck at immigration and unable to enter.

this may be true, but under normal circumstances black listing is reserved for offenders who work on a visit visa, work without a visa, criminals etc. in normal circumstances a case either at the labour department or criminal case is the only justification for black listing.

Also another point with regards to labour cards, if you work for a Governmental company, they don't issue labour cards, nor do they have labour contracts.

I've never had a labour card, because I've always worked for a Government run company, they're a law unto themselves and usually UAE labour laws do not apply.

Again true, all governement employees are exempt from the UAE labour law, this is stated in the opening paragraphs of the labour law. they may however transfer between branches of governement service without a ban, but if they leave the employ of the governement they are automatically given a 1 year labour ban (not 6 months as per UAE law), this is mandatory and there is no NOC to circumvent this

dbxsoul wrote:if your wife works under the companys residency sponsorship and her employment with the company is cancelled, they will automatically cancel her residency sponsorship (30 days to leave the country), she is not banned from re-entering the country though - which was the case under the old law (which has fallen away). she would not however be able to be employed for 6 months due to the labour ban.

if your wife works under your residency sponsorship and her employment with the company is cancelled, she would not have to leave the country as you would still be her residency sponsor, however she would not be able to work for 6 months.

Both carry the same result, can't work until after 6 months. I have no concern for this.

So in my wife's case (the former one), means if the situation happens she whatsoever needs to exit and re-enter the country (for her residence visa to be sponsored back to me)?

Once when we came altogether first time to Dubai, my wife was sponsored by third party company (as I had not got my residence visa as yet). Then there was visa transfer process from third party to mine with stating that she's "in country" (without exiting), with some extra fee. I wonder if that can be applied the same thing also (on the above situation).

xty, i think you should relax a little!
you are already planning for eventualities that may only happen; you've been in dubai long enough to know that you can't really plan from one month to the next - particularly when they are legal issues.

if your wife is only planning on starting this job and already you're looking at it from the perspective that she wants to leave..... ?

i'm not saying planning is wrong, get all the information (which you now have), to make an educated guess, but then you have to leave things up to the "system" on how they turn out. i can almost guarentee that the current legal situation will not be the same when your wife finally deciedes to leave her employer - which will hopefully be after many happy years in their employ.

relax! try and figure out how your'e going to spend the second income!

dbxsoul wrote:relax! try and figure out how your'e going to spend the second income!

thanks for the support. yeah, planning is my strength but also my weakness
i don't know to figure out how i'm going to spend the second income, but my wife surely does know (what else for a woman... shopping for new clothes & shoes! at least now it's not going to come out off my wallet ).

That's the spirit!

I am under my husband's sponsorship and I am working for a big american company, the company got me a labor card that is valid for 3 years., no problems whatsoever.