A reader from Dubai asks: I have worked for my company for three years and three months. I have an unlimited contract and my visa is expiring. I would like to be on my husband's visa to change my job. Should I wait or should I go ahead and change. What is the procedure, requirements and benefits?
I confirm that in order for the questioner to cancel her visa with her existing sponsor and transfer her visa to work for a new company, the questioner needs to get a no-objection certificate (NOC) from her existing sponsor. So, transferring the questioner's visa to her husband's visa does not mean she can join another company without a NOC from her existing sponsor.
Consequently, if the questioner desires to leave her job and cannot get an NOC from her sponsor to transfer to another company, then the Ministry of Labour will apply a six-month ban against her where the questioner, in such a case, would be able to stay on her husband's visa as a housekeeper only based on an application submitted with the Naturalisation and Residency Administration.
In such a case also, the questioner does not need to exit the country as such a ban is only a labour one. After the lapse of the term of such a ban, the questioner will be able to work for another company on her husband's visa without the need to transfer her visa to the new company.
- Answers by Advocate Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaiba of Al Bahr Advocates and Legal Consultants.
