Transferring Sponsorship in the UAE – Increased Flexibility for 2011?

Introduction

Like many of the countries in the Arabian Peninsula, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) attracts a high percentage of foreign workers.  Individuals from across the world have long been drawn to the Gulf, and the UAE in particular, by rapid economic growth and the potential for lucrative employment opportunities that comes with it.

Perhaps keen to stabilise an often transient workforce, the UAE Ministry of Labour previously enforced a rigid sponsorship transfer regime which curbed the ability of expatriate employees to change their jobs too frequently.

Following the global economic downturn, more flexible rules have been enacted by the Ministry of Labour to regulate the transfer of non national workers in the UAE.  The start of 2011, in particular, has seen the introduction of a number of new Cabinet and Ministerial Resolutions which affect the ability of workers in the UAE to change jobs more easily and with greater frequency.  This article discusses