DUBAI: Unless you already have an offer letter and your employer has started processing your employment visa, you can not start working for a company while on visit visa.
This was reiterated following recent incidents of visit visa holders taking up various part-time jobs to make a living while looking for a real job.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) cited existing laws that could and you into trouble with the law if found engaged in employment with no valid contract, and thus an Emirates national identification card.
Note that Article 11 of the Federal Law No. 6 for 1973 concerning immigration and residence clearly states that “the alien who obtains a visit visa may not work anywhere in the country with or without pay or for his own.”
Moreover, by virtue of Federal Decree-Law No 7 for 2007, “a fine of Dh50,000 per worker has been prescribed, in the event the MoHRE finds any employer employing an individual on a visit visa.” If the offence is repeated, the fine amount is doubled.
Expatriate employers violating the law will be deported and banned for life from entering the UAE.
And for UAE nationals, a six-month prison term will be handed down.
UAE allows persons on visit visa to look for jobs which is why all it takes is a scroll online to see numerous job listings that specifically put a call-out for applicants on visit visas.
