Questions & Answers
How to retrieve your passport from the employer after stamping visa
I got a job in Dubai and my employer asked me to submit the passport for visa stamping.
After stamping the visa on my passport, I asked my employer to give me the passport back but he refused. Kindly guide me, what can I do?
One more thing. They have written in the offer letter that if I resign from the job, I will have to pay all the visa cost. Kindly guide me also regarding this, as I have already signed that offer letter.
Please be informed that it is illegal for the employer to keep the passport of the employee against his will.
You may request back your passport from the employer. In case they refrain from giving it back you may submit a complaint to Dubai Police or the Labour Department about the incident.
In regards to the visa costs term in the offer letter, it is illegal to force the employee to bear the costs of his employment. However, many companies use this term to make the employees afraid to resign, but they do not apply it in reality.
In general, you should have inquired about such subjects before signing such offer letter. I understand that maybe finding a job is more important for you at the moment.
However, going around and resigning right after employment is a huge loss for the employer in terms of money and time because of the high visa cost and the time needed to wait to hire another employee.
For me, it sounds unfair from your side accepting terms that you know they are not legal, signing the offer letter to get the job, then start complaining about the wrongful terms that you've accepted before.
I think you should consider your employer's interests as well as yours before resigning right after getting the visa stamped on your passport.
