System to verify certificates goes online

Dubai: The Labour Ministry has linked its degree verification system with its online labour permit application meant to streamline the system.

Ahmad Kajour, undersecretary for planning, said people without a verified degree who needed a labour permit had to apply online for both.

The streamlined system, however, entails certain procedural steps, he said. Once the online form is filled in expatriates or the Public Relations Officer (PRO) from the company the expatriate wants to work in, have to pay the transaction fee for the labour permit and the verification fee of Dh490 to a typing office, where labour transactions are initially processed.

Once the fee is paid, expatriates have to submit a photocopy of the degree to Emirates Post, show the labour permit application form, and pay Dh10 for the envelope.

Then at the Labour Ministry, the labour permit forms must be presented, alongside a photocopy of the degree and the Emirates Post receipt.

Kajour said people who had already begun the verification process the old way by paying the full fee at Emirates Post, had to wait until their certificates are verified, "when they receive what's called a green certificate" before applying for a visa.

He did not say what would happen to those expatriates who were in the process of obtaining labour permits, and had already submitted their Emirates Post receipt and photocopied degree with their application.

Kajour said people who had already been through the degree verification process at Emirates Post did not have to repeat the transaction when applying for a new visa.

"They just have to fill in the green certificate number on the labour application permit."

Expatriates who have changed their names after marriage, for instance, must inform Emirates Post, he said.

"Once the certificate number is typed in, all your personal information is pulled from that data, so Empost must be informed of any name changes specifically."

Labour officials have previously said more than 25,000 degrees have been verified through Emirates Post.

Expatriates caught with forged degrees are deported.

PROs tasked with undertaking government transactions for companies have complained that labour officials have given contradictory information about the degree verification system.

The Labour Ministry has never issued a document clarifying how to use the system.

Many PROs still attest degrees the old way, through the expatriate's home country and then here in the UAE, before they verify the degree through Empost.

Teachers have also complained about the new system, because they still must attest their degrees the old way, an education ministry requirement.