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
