If you are planning to work in the United Arab Emirates, it is important to ensure that you have all your papers and documents in place to be legally employed in the country. In this context, let us assume if your employer fails to apply for your employment visa or work permit, leaving you with no sponsored work visa? What would you do?
In such a case, your employer might say they have some sort of an ‘exception letter’, indicating that they have started the visa application process if you confront your employer. But it has to be remembered that there is nothing called an ‘exception letter’, which would allow someone to work legally in the UAE, confirmed the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE).
Read More: Visa Guide: What is Germany’s Job Seeker Visa And How To Apply For It?
To avoid being a victim of such fraudulent activity, it is essential for you to check with your employer beforehand and acquire a labour contract or at least a working visa to legally work in the UAE.
If an employer in the UAE fails to provide a work permit visa to his/her foreign employees and make him work for his/her organisation, s/he is likely to pay a fine. And the employee, on the other hand, will face legal consequences and deportation.
Before you sign up for such a job, you must keep a few things in mind. First of all, you cannot work on a visit or tourist visa. Secondly, you need to have legitimate work or residency visas and permits to live and work legally in the UAE. Lastly, the employer needs to issue work and residency permits. Working without first obtaining the proper visa status is illegal and may lead to serious legal consequences.
If you are found violating visa requirements, you will be penalised under Article 34 of the Immigration Law of the UAE. The same law will also impose a penalty of Dh50,000 on the employer for making a foreigner work sans his/her sponsorship and flouting the terms and conditions prescribed for the transfer of sponsorship or without acquiring the necessary permit.
