Labor fees restructured for private companies

As part of restructuring the Labor Laws in UAE, the Ministry of Labor has announced a set of parameters classifying private companies into categories besides setting up a fee structure for processing labor permits and related services.

According to the news report, Minister of Labor Saqr Ghobash has classified the companies on the basis of:

– rates of Emiratization they have achieved
– how multi-cultural they are, and
– what housing facilities they provide to workers

All new companies will have to pay Dh2,000 for registering with the Ministry of Labor, while another Dh250 need to paid for securing a digital signature to be used while processing all labor-related papers.

Private companies that employ non-Emirati representatives (PRO) will be charged Dh2,000 for every two years while Dh200 will be charged for re-issuing a lost or damaged PRO card.

The two-year labor cards of expatriate workers under sponsorship of any family member will cost Dh200.

In the fee schedule for the second category of the workers as listed in the revised list, the fees has been fixed at Dh600 (A), Dh1,500 (B), and Dh2,000 (C) while the fee will be Dh5,000 for the third category meant for expatriate workers over the age of 65.

The ministry has imposed a fee of Dh100 for temporary work permits to allow minors to be employed at any facility. The fee will be Dh500 for one year’s work permit.

The ministry has also set a fee of Dh300 for each case of transfer that includes a new work permit from one company to another.

To avail of the facility to import labor, a company should have paid fee of Dh10,000 with an annual renewal fee of Dh5,000.

Companies that do not get labor card for its foreign workers even after the 60 days from their date of entry into the country, will attract fines of Dh1,000 for every month or part thereof.

The article 2 of the ministerial decree No 26 of 2010 says companies will be exempted from paying such fees for the Emiratis they hire.

These updates, including the recent work permit rules, may going to put large dents in private companies purses. Business, in UAE, will never be the same.

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