Abu Dhabi: A UAE-India integrated system for recruitment of Indian workers will be operational very soon, a senior UAE official told Gulf News on Wednesday.
“Once the system is functional, all employers and recruitment agents can do recruitment [of certain category of workers] only through this system. They cannot do independent recruitment from India without registering on the system,” said Dr Omar Al Nuaimi, assistant undersecretary for Communication and International Relations at the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE)
Information technology professionals of both countries are giving final touches to the integrated system, said Al Nuaimi who led a UAE delegation to India recently to discuss the matters under a memorandum of understanding [MoU] signed between the two countries during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE in February.
He said both parties discussed possible cooperation between Tadbeer, a new network of recruitment centres that will be launched soon in the UAE and India government-designated agencies for the recruitment of domestic workers. “This may reduce the costs of recruitment of domestic workers,” he said.
This was discussed under a protocol on domestic workers, which was also signed between both nations as an annexure to the MoU in February.
He said the Indian government in the past had expressed its concerns about contract substitution as unscrupulous agents in India give workers contracts with exaggerated salary and perks, but when they reach the UAE, a substituted contract takes the place of the earlier contract.
“The new integrated system will leave no room for such practices as officials of both governments can access and review the uniform contracts of all workers,” he said.
Al Nuaimi said an employer or agent has to upload all details of employment such as salary, leaves, medical and other insurance protection, fees to be paid by the workers etc on the system to get approval.
“Both employers and workers will find the system beneficial as it will make the recruitment process simple and transparent,” the official said.
Navdeep Singh Suri, Indian Ambassador to the UAE, told Gulf News on Wednesday: “We had very good discussions on those matters during the visit of Al Nuaimi to Delhi and we are making excellent progress to establish an integrated online system that would provide a much better level of protection to Indian workers in the UAE. I would like to express my appreciation for the positive spirit, in which MoHRE is supporting this initiative,” he said.
How does it work?
This exclusive online portal for recruitment of Indian workers will be integrated with India’s similar online system, eMigrate (an online system controlling emigration of blue-collar workers, qualified nurses and sailors).
In 2015, India introduced eMigrate, an electronic system that controls emigration of ECR (Emigration Clearance Required) category passport holders. India issues ECR category passports to those who have not passed Grade 10 and hence they need emigration clearance before going to work in 18 ECR countries that include the Gulf nations.
Apart from those who have not passed Grade 10, India brought the recruitment of sailors, qualified nurses and all female workers, including domestic workers, under the eMigrate for better protection of their rights.
