The ignorance of the law on the part of some workers occasionally results in the situations that do not comply with the applicable laws.

As per the laws of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), costs of the visa always shall always be borne by the employer, but in certain instances, there have been cases where employers with an objective of taking advantage of the ignorance or lack of knowledge of the onboarding employees, have deducted the costs of the visa from the salary of the employee. Any such act by the employer has been stated absolutely illegal by the new labour law (Federal Decree by Law No. (33), of 2021), which was implemented on February 2, 2022, with the intention of regulating labour relations in the country.

Clause 4 of Article 6 of the new Federal law clearly states that any deductible expense of hiring an employee will be borne by the contracting party. This law establishes essential regulations to guarantee the protection of both the employee and the contracting party. Such protection is offered by implementing prohibitions for charging or burdening an employee with any type of cost resulting from his hiring. Even if the employer intends and subsequently includes some kind of clause in the employment contract forcing the employee to pay the costs, it would be considered illegal and invalid.

It is further provided through article 9 of the aforementioned law that where an employee is in a trial period and wants to change companies, he or she must notify the existing employer in writing at least one month in advance. In addition to this, the new employer will have to cover the costs incurred by the existing employer for hiring the employee in the first place.

On the other hand, if the worker has to change his place of residence to carry out a type of work other than the one initially agreed upon, article 12 of the new labour law states that the employer must bear all expenses resulting from any such migration including relocation and residence costs.

Therefore, we can conclude that in no case will the employer be able to charge or deduct from our salary any amount that is the result of the hiring process. A similar rule applies to situations where the employee intends to change jobs, if such a situation occurs, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization must be notified. accompanying it with a complaint to the employer.

For more clarity on the topic, it is advised to contact a law firm in Dubai.