Abu Dhabi: A resident manager for more than 30 years was denied a work permit and ordered to be deported in a week after his PhD degree turned out to be fake, a senior official said.
Obaid Rashid Al Zahmi, assistant undersecretary of the ministry, said a major private company applied for a work permit for an American of Arab origin to take the job of a general manager.
"The work permit was issued, but on having the man's degree verified by IntegraScreen, the company responsible for verification, it was found to be issued by an unaccredited university in the United States." Al Zahmi added that the man was called to the ministry for further verification, but he failed to prove the authenticity of his PhD degree in business administration, with more doubts being cast over his masters and bachelor's degrees as well.
Subsequently, he said, the ministry cancelled his work permit and the man, identified as F.A., will be deported within a week and will never be able to work in the country again.
The degree verification programme was launched last year by the Labour Ministry and Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, Minister of Labour had said even if the person holding the forged certificate applies for a job requiring lesser qualifications, he will not be given a work permit.
The ministry is planning to make degree verification mandatory next year when renewing visas, an official at the ministry said.
The construction and engineering sector in the UAE have registered the largest number of fake certificate holders applying for labour cards, according to statistics released by IntegraScreen.
Other sectors that are a target for people with fake degrees are the service sector with 17 per cent, followed by the banking and financial sector with 9 per cent and trading with 8 per cent.
