The UAE has said expatriate workers who have completed their contracts with their current employers need not furnish no-objection certificates for taking a new sponsorship.

Obaid Rashid al-Zahmi, assistant under-secretary of the ministry of labour, said that a worker who had signed a limited contract (of three years for example), and completed the same, can get the sponsorship transferred without needing to furnish an NoC from the current employer.

Al-Zahmi said many workers, including professionals, had complained that their sponsors were not ready to give them NoCs despite having completed their contracts, Khaleej Times reported.

"The employer has no right to complain and should not look to get a six-month or one-year ban imposed on the workers if they want to work for a different sponsor in the country after having completed their present contracts," he said.

As per the labour law, workers have to provide NoCs of their current sponsors if they want to change sponsorship before completing their limited contracts.

Meanwhile, an official said the draft of the new law on housemaids and domestic servants will include articles limiting the number of servants for each family.

Yousef Jaffar, labour counsellor of the MoL and member of the team drafting the new law, said: "We discussed the provision of limiting the number of domestic servants depending on the number of members in the family and the average per capita income."

He said the new law would be implemented under the supervision of interior ministry.