Questions & Answers
Obligation to pay the visa costs in case of early resignation
Hello Sir,
I have received an offer letter from a non-profit organisation in Abu Dhabi, UAE working with the UAE government for environment conservation.
They are offering a 12 months limited contract and I will need to reimburse them for visa, medical and medical insurance costs if I resign before the contract expiry, even if I serve a one-month notice.
My questions are:
1. Being a government entity, are they legally permitted to demand/deduct visa, medical and insurance costs from an employee? I know the labour law prohibits it.
2. I am expecting another job offer in 2-3 days time but this organisation wants me to respond to the offer ASAP.
If I accept this offer now (dont submit any ID/ passport documents), can I inform them afterwards that I am not going forward with this offer? Are there any legal implications?
Dear Sir/ Madam,
Thank you for reaching out to me on this.
I understand your situation and you are right that the UAE Labour Law prohibits recovering such costs from the employee and such clause in the offer letter is unlawful.
Your labour contract will never have such a clause mentioned on it.
Yes, you can revoke your acceptance as you have not submitted any documentation and your work permit is not issued. There won't be any legal implications for you.
I trust you will find the above explanation helpful.
Regards,
Hari Wadhwana
