In a significant development for thousands of Indians working in the United Arab Emirates, the emirate has allowed expatriate workers to change jobs if they have completed three years with their current employers.
Earlier, barring a few professions, expatriate workers could not change jobs and were barred from entering the UAE for six months to a year before they could change jobs.
The decision follows the UAE cabinet's approval of a proposal by the ministry of labour and social affairs to open the sponsorship transfer facility to all expatriate workers, the Khaleej Times said.
Once exclusive to 13 categories of qualified people only, including doctors, teachers, nurses, laboratory technicians, engineers and others, the sponsorship transfer rules have now been relaxed to include all categories of expat workers, even labourers, said the paper.
The conditions for qualifying for a sponsorship transfer and the required fee will differ according to the professions and qualifications of the workers.
However, in all cases, the approval of both sponsors -- the former and the new -- remains the main prerequisite for the visa transfer, the paper said.
