Questions & Answers
The consequences of joining a company under an unskilled visa while being skilled
I am a skilled person having an engineering degree and I had signed an unlimited contract with a Dubai-based company. However, my company doesn't have a skilled visa so they applied for my visa under unskilled.
So my questions are below:
1) Is it legal?
2) Is it possible to change it from unskilled to skilled?
3) Can the employer impose a travel/labor ban (in case the employer does not agree to terminate the agreement ) if I switch to another company after completion of the probation period?
4) Will I face any issue in getting my family over there?
Please assist me!
It will be really helpful for me.
Thank you!
Dear questioner,
Thank you for contacting me!
Regarding your first 2 questions, it is not uncommon to have a profession assigned that does not match the actual job you do or the qualification you have.
The employer can choose from the list provided by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation or use one that has been prearranged as part of their quota for certain positions.
However, having a visa profession that does not match your qualification is not going to have any effect on your career. But you may face problems in traveling to a different country that considers your visa status for issuing their visa.
Regarding question no.3, employment depends upon the nature of the employment contract as well, however, you may lift any such ban after submitting your qualification and job offer [if the new offer is more than 12000AED].
Regarding question no.4, the type of profession is no longer a condition for an expatriate worker to be able to sponsor his family visas since March 2019.
Now, a foreign worker can bring over his family members to the UAE and sponsor their residence visas regardless of his profession as long as he maintains the "income criteria" i. e. the minimum wage requirement, which is a minimum salary of AED 4,000 or AED 3,000 plus accommodation.
Regards,
Rajasree Ravivarma
