The Classic Partnership - Employment-based Visa in the UAE
Basics of Employment-Based Visa in the UAE
Visa - image showing stamp
Image credit - Unsplash
One of the most common types of visa in the UAE, based on which majority of the people in the country live - is employment visa, sponsored by their employer.
Unlike other countries where residence and employment are usually separate concepts, in the UAE (similar to other countries in the region), for the majority, employment and visa are linked to each other, which means that the source of the stay of the person is the same as the source of employment.
On the other hands, for people on visas like golden visa, dependent visa, investment visa, there is only work permit to link to their employment, while their residence is derived from the visa type. Having said that, for dependent visa, if the main visa comes from employment, they are also similarly impacted.
Impact of type of visa and employment visa
The moment the employment ends, whether by resignation or termination, the person has 30 days to get a new visa or leave the country. In certain cases, the grace period can be a bit more, like 60, 90, or 180 days, which is a more recent development.
On the other hand - where visa is not linked to employment, they can lose their job but will retain the right to live in the country till the time their visa allows them to.
Some labour law rules are different based on whether one has only the work permit with the company, or also the visa. For example, resignation during probation period is stricter for employment visa than for golden visa.
Duration & Coverage of Employment-based visa in the UAE
Most of the time employment visa is for 2 years, and is renewed every 2 years. Having said that, it’s linked to the duration of the employment contract, and can be in the range of 1-3 years. In case of temporary or short-term workers (e.g. the ones covering maternity leave), it could go as low as 6 months.
Such employee’s family can also be linked to the same visa, which means spouse and kids. The salary threshold to sponsor spouse is different for men and women. The category covered is only a legal spouse, in a traditional partnership, supported by a marriage certificate. Parents are a different category and require a more complex type of documentation. The spouse can choose to be on another visa like their own employment visa if they are working, or any of the other types of visas mentioned above. However, considering the difficult thresholds or investment required in the other types of visas, dependent or employment visa are still the most common.
The in-principle visa approval can be applied even when the person is outside the country, based on the offer letter and the candidate’s documents, and then once the person enters the country, there is a timeline of 60 days to complete the associated requirements like medical test, Emirates ID application, etc., based on which the visa is granted for the duration of 2 years or as relevant.
The costs have to be paid by the employer, and passing them on to employees is illegal, though unfortunately some employers still try to do it.
Designation on employment visa in the UAE
It is unfortunately the norm to get designations on visas which are not aligned with the line of work, e.g. an engineer getting a customer service executive visa. This is not appropriate. Employers do it either for employees who don’t have the attestation on the degree done yet, or to manage their visa quotas. Employees should ask about the designation being mentioned on the visa prior to making the decision to accept the offer, and if it’s a mistake, to get it corrected as soon as possible. It can impact many aspects like travel, future jobs, and application of golden visa. Candidates should also keep their attested degree ready in advance, and now with the new requirement the same may apply to equivalency certificate too.
If you liked this post or think this can help someone, please do share the link forward.