Q: Hello I am currently working for a company registered in DMCC free zone. I have resigned and currently serving my notice period of 30 days, I still have 10 days left to serve. It seems the employer is delaying the process because he is not taking time to discuss the exit process nor the EOS. 1) If the employer delays or refuses to cancel/transfer the visa, what can I do? I need to cancel/transfer because of a new job waiting for me. 2) Is it legal for the employer to delay or stop the cancellation/transfer? 3) What legal measures can the employee take? Can the employee later file a complaint about the delay and claim damages related to a late start of work, which includes missed salary and work opportunity? 4) In case of disagreement on the EOS, can we still do the cancellation/transfer first, and later settle EOS separately (in order not to delay my new job starting date)? 5) The employer said that the EOS was paid as part of last year bonus? is it legal? Thank you in advance.

Q: My office is in Abu Dhabi but the company gives me a Sharjah visa because my position is required in one of our projects in Sharjah. Now, I resigned and asked for cancellation but it is almost 1 month and my visa is not cancelled yet. My new company is asking for the cancellation, what should I do to make my old company give me my cancelled visa?

Q: My husband filed a labor complaint in court and the demand was 200,000 AED including the delayed salary (6months)+gratuity+reimbursement claim for medical insurance under company + immigration fine due to the failure of renewing his visa. The court judgment is only 46,000 and his salary as per contract is 9,000 while the current salary where most of the delays were made is 12,000 AED. What is the basis of judgement in your opinion? Did they base it on BASIC SALARY for the delayed + gratuity? Do we need to appeal against the court decision, because we are afraid that we might lose even this money as we cannot afford to hire a lawyer? Moreover, we paid the immigration fine of 10,000 AED from our pocket as they said it has nothing to do with the case. Can you please enlighten because of what his company did to us lead us to lending money and we are expecting at least to get the 6 months full salary + gratuity and the fines that we pay for overstay due to this company.

Q: Is there a time limit on when a work permit visa has to be cancelled by the employer when an employee resigns if the resigning employee hasn't started a new job yet?

Q: I have resigned from a company with a limited period contract and have been waiting for settlement of dues and cancellation of visa as I have a job offer. The HOD is not completing my internal clearance on account of invoices which have been already submitted and wants a proof that it has been submitted. The client is based in Amsterdam and would take time to reply and I am not sure if they are putting any effort in this direction.

Q: Madam How can I cancel the visa and join another company? My company is not allowing to go. I have an offer letter with me. My salary is four months delayed [last Feb received]. Can you give me advice?

Q: Hello, I got terminated from my company under 6 months probation, My PRO said he got the approval for visa and immigration cancellation. Then the company said they needed to confirm it and it would take 2 days, the 2 days are over. If both, visa and immigration cancellation received approval and papers were already signed, why is my visa status on the channel of the MOI website is still not showing my visa is expired or cancelled? It still says "converted to a resident" help me please, I gotta leave the country soon.

Q: My contract was terminated during the probation period. When I started, my employer gave me an advance payment of 1 year worth of house allowance, which they are now claiming back. The amount is big and I am unable to pay at the moment, but they are refusing to cancel my visa and let me work for someone else. My question is: Is it legal for an employer to refuse to cancel my visa if I don't pay the full amount of what I owe them? Thanks in advance for your help

Q: Hi Hayyan, Good Evening. Hope you are doing good and staying safe. I am G. S., an ex-employee of [------] LLC, an affiliate of [-----] LLC. I have been associated with the company for the past 4 years, and finally resigned as the company was not paying me since March 2020. I have finally got my visa cancelled as I had got a new job offer from another company. The reason which the company gave me is that I was working for one of the group companies, which was mapped as my cost centre by the company. My Offer Letter, Clearance Letter is from the mother company- as they were the one who issued me an offer 4 years back and gave me the visa of the affiliate. I have my pending dues/EOSB with the company and have to start the legal process, as they have not paid me. So, I need to put a legal case of mental/moral harassment which my family has gone through because of all this and get my money back from the company.

Q: Hi Sir, Due to salary delays with my old employer, I canceled my employment visa with my old employer & I joined a new company. The visa process also completed now, but I still didn't receive my pending salaries & final settlement with my old employer. How to proceed legally with this matter now? Kindly advise

The UAE has adopted a major reform in its legislative system that brought about 40 new laws and amendments to the company law, criminal law, personal status, among others. The amendments aim to develop the legislative structure in various sectors, the labor law being one of these, was the most recent. We try in this article to shed light on the changes introduced with the new labor law and their significance on both, the employer and employee.

The UAE government introduced the new Unemployment Insurance Law under the Federal Decree-Law No. 13 of 2022 Concerning the Unemployment Insurance Scheme for Unemployed People. The law aims at providing a sort of financial support in case of unemployment for a brief period, probably to help employees who got terminated find another job and avoid failing in other financial obligations.

The provisions of this Law, known as "UAE Labour Law", govern the relationship between employers and employees and other labour matters in the United Arab Emirates. There are special labour related regulations applicable in some of the free zones in the UAE.

According to this Decree, tentative approval to admit a foreign worker for the purpose of employment in the UAE cannot be granted until an Employment Offer that conforms with the Standard Employment Contract is duly signed by the employee and presented to the Ministry of Labour.

This Decree sets the rules and conditions for the termination of fixed-term (limited) or unlimited (not term-bound) employment contract between employer and worker in the United Arab Emirates.

By this Decree Ministry of Labour of the UAE has removed the six-month labour ban for those who changed the job before completing two years of service. Labour ban will be still applicable for workers that qualify for skill level 4 and 5 under various circumstances.

The provisions of this law On Evidence in Civil and Commercial Transactions (Law of Evidence) govern evidence in civil and commercial disputes in the UAE.

The provisions of this Decree-Law, known as "New UAE Labor Law", govern labour relations in the private sector of the United Arab Emirates. The New Labor Law repeals the previous UAE Labor Law (Federal Law No. (8) of 1980).