UAE: Work permits now being issued - 20 per cent diversity quota not being applied

Dubai: Some work permits that were not being issued recently by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) are now being issued, as reported by public relations officers (PROs) who apply for the work permits in the UAE.

While some PROs said that they were still waiting for some of the work permits that had been held previously to be issued, others said that they were able to apply for new work permits without any restriction.

“Since yesterday morning (January 24), it is possible to prepare the offer letter without any alert popping up, asking to apply with a different nationality. The process is being completed without any delay for all nationalities for skilled professionals, whether it is an ‘inside country job offer letter’ or ‘inside transfer application’. Both these process can be done at the moment,” Sirajudeen Ummer, public relations manager at Galaxy Digital Business Services Dubai, told Gulf News.

The ‘inside country job offer letter’ is applied for by PROs and company representatives for candidates who are currently in the UAE, as opposed to those being recruited from outside the country. The ‘inside transfer application’ is specifically for people who are in the UAE and currently working with another establishment in the country.

“An employment visa can be obtained by canceling the existing labour card in the UAE and applying for a work permit in another mainland company during the grace period without leaving the UAE or switching to another visit visa,” he said.

According to Ummer, in both these cases, the candidates’ work permits were being issued.

Shafiq Muhammad, Chief Supervisor at Horizon Gate Government Transactions Centre, also confirmed that while earlier, they were not able to apply for work permits in some cases, with a note advising them to apply with a candidate of a different nationality, the process was being completed smoothly now.

“We have been able to apply for those work permits since yesterday (January 24), which were not being accepted earlier because of diversity quota. Since yesterday, the process seems to have returned to the way it was before,” he said.