Update on UAE labour law: Avoid looking for a job on a visitor visa

Keep yourself protected by avoiding improper recruitment practices

Both employers and employees in the UAE recently received some major updates to their employment laws.

It is important that companies do not hire workers who are on a visit visa in the UAE.

Even if your employer promises you a future residency permit, you shouldn't work when you're visiting and offered a job. A proper procedure should be followed from the beginning by the employer.

According to the UAE government's website, working on a visit or tourist visa is illegal. It is only after an official offer letter has been issued by Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) that expats are permitted to begin working in the UAE.

Any employer who employs workers without a valid permit will be fined between Dhs100,000 and Dhs1 million under the decree.

The update includes hiring workers without providing them with a job, misusing work permits, and closing a business without settling workers' rights.

Any of these actions will violate the decree and its executive regulations. A guardian who employs or allows a minor to work in violation of the law faces the same penalties.

To ensure employees (and potential employees) are protected by law, all of this has been put in place.