United Arab Emirates: Immigration and Work Compliance Checks – What Has Changed?

Until recently, the United Arab Emirates’ immigration landscape was centered around the concept of sponsorship, with foreign nationals being unable to work unless holding a visa and a work authorization issued with the help of a local guarantor. In most cases, both the individual’s immigration permit (a visa allowing them to enter and stay in the UAE) and work authorization (a work permit enabling them to work in the country) had to be obtained through a UAE employer.

Green Visa and Golden Visa – New Self-Sponsored Immigration Categories

Substantial changes have been made to UAE immigration regulations in recent years, especially due to the introduction of new self-sponsored visa categories, including a 10-year Golden Visa and a five-year Green Visa. These new immigration schemes are addressed to investors, entrepreneurs and highly skilled individuals (among others), and have grown in popularity thanks to governmental campaigns focused on attracting new talent and retaining experienced foreign experts. While the Golden Visa has been in place since 2019, the Green Visa scheme is the latest addition to the UAE’s visa portfolio, requiring the applicants to meet lower financial thresholds when compared with its older counterpart.

Alternative Employment Arrangements

Considering that many UAE residents have had an opportunity to convert their standard residence permit into a self-sponsored visa, their dependence on the sponsor (typically an employer) has reduced significantly to only cover the issuance of appropriate work authorization. To align with the new visa system, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization had introduced alternative working models in the new labour law, and facilitated the issuance of corresponding work authorizations, including a work permit for individuals with a self-sponsored visa.

Validation of the Immigration Status

While this diversity of options significantly enhances the competitiveness of the UAE labour market, it also increases the risk of businesses being noncompliant. It is therefore critical that employers understand the current immigration and right to work statuses of individuals they are seeking to employ, which stems not only from the standard due diligence but is also mandated by certain provisions in the UAE regulations (for example, specific obligations for potential reimbursement of recruitment costs where workers are seeking to change employers during and after the probationary period). Appropriate actions must be taken by employers to understand the impact of these regulations on foreign nationals’ immigration status and right to work in the UAE. It is recommended that employers validate the individual’s immigration status to ensure it is in order prior to:

• recruiting the person from within the UAE;
• renewing the worker’s employment contract; and
• engaging the person as an independent contractor.

Sanctions for Noncompliance

The repercussions of noncompliance are severe, with a wide spectrum of sanctions provided in the UAE immigration law. These sanctions can be applied in addition to penalties resulting from violating other laws in the UAE (for example, labour law), and include a fine of AED 50,000 for employment of a foreign national who is in violation of the immigration law. In the case of recidivism, the law provides for imprisonment and deportation.

Need to know more?

Considering all the changes in the immigration and employment landscapes of the UAE, and although not mandated by specific regulations, it is now more important than ever that employers incorporate appropriate procedures for verifying the individual’s compliance for immigration and right to work status into their recruitment and employment strategies.

If you wish to learn more about compliance checks and services offered by Fragomen, please contact Senior Manager Marcin Kubarek at [email protected]. This blog was published on 13 October 2022, and due to the circumstances, there are frequent changes. To keep up to date with all the latest updates on global immigration, please visit our dedicated COVID-19 site, subscribe to our alerts and follow us on LinkedIn, twitter, Facebook and Instagram.