A reader from Dubai asks: I am an architect from India. I got an appointment letter on November 19, 2007, from my company when I was on a visit visa. It was agreed upon that I would get accommodation in addition to the monthly salary.
But when I came back on February 4 on employment visa, I found that the employer did not provide accommodation and that the projects that I was promised during the interview did not exist with the company. The projects were the employer's partners'. I saw a gloomy career ahead with this company, decided to leave the company on February 6 and gave them the resignation letter.
The contract is not yet signed and the visa is not yet stamped on my passport. My employer is not ready to cancel my employment visa application as he is scared of the labour department query as to why the person left so early. Kindly let me know: (1) How to avoid the ban, if there is any, (2) How to go back to my home country? Will I be asked for the visa cancellation at the airport? (3) Can I work in free zone while I am still on an employment visa? (4) Can I cancel the visa myself?
I want to point out to the reader that as long as he has entered the UAE on an employment visa, the questioner is currently involved in a work relationship with the present sponsor even if the sponsor did not proceed with the residency procedures or the certification of the employment contract.
The questioner has to cancel the visa officially through the Ministry of Labour and the Naturalisation and Residency Department. Therefore, we advise the questioner to settle the case with the sponsor amicably, and to try to get a no objection certificate (NOC), especially when the sponsor himself has violated the Labour Law and did not give the reader his rights according to the employment letter, which the employer should adhere as per the Labour Law.
In case of failure to reach an amicable solution, we advise the questioner to file a complaint with the Ministry of Labour, especially since the labour court considers that forcing the employee to resign as he is not being allowed labour rights by the sponsor, is tantamount to arbitrary dismissal. Finally, I would like to tell the reader that if it has been proved that he has violated the law, then a ban will be imposed on him. But he may leave the country and return again to work in the UAE after the expiration of the ban period, or to work with a private company in the free zone although there is a ban stamp because the work ban does not apply to companies subjected to the free zone regulations.
Questions answered by Advocate Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaiba of Al Bahar Advocates and Legal Consultants.