Abu Dhabi Work Permit/Visa

[oilydan]

Are the PRO guys being lazy, or have things changed?

I recall being able to employ someone if they were in-country on a visit visa before, now they tell me I cannot be in the country at all while all of this is in process?

[Rich_AR]

Did you come in on tourist visa or work permit entry visa?

18 months ago i came into Dubai on a work permit visa (piece of paper you collect at the airport before immigration), but was told I could not work or even be in the office until my work visa was completed.

Edited by Rich_AR on Wednesday 1st February 12:35

[oilydan]

I want to go in on a tourist visa, while they apply for work permit and residence.

[Rich_AR]

oilydan said:

I want to go in on a tourist visa, while they apply for work permit and residence.

Are you working for the same company in the UK?

[shirt]

Rich_AR said:

Did you come in on tourist visa or work permit entry visa?

18 months ago i came into Dubai on a work permit visa (piece of paper you collect at the airport before immigration), but was told I could not work or even be in the office until my work visa was completed.

Edited by Rich_AR on Wednesday 1st February 12:35

I did the same 6yrs ago but was in the office from day 1. Took less than a week to get the full visa mind and maybe different In a free zone / non local company (I.e fk the rules)

[e21jason]

Yes rule change

we employed a gut from another company before Christmas, had to leave the UAE stay at home until his new visa was done then come to work.

[Rich_AR]

shirt said:

I did the same 6yrs ago but was in the office from day 1. Took less than a week to get the full visa mind and maybe different In a free zone / non local company (I.e fk the rules)

Possible its changed. We had just opened a new office in Internet City (freezone) but did not want to take any risks. Fine with me at the time, but without the visa I couldn't do anything anyway (bank, rent, or even drive! etc)

[oilydan]

Rich_AR said:

oilydan said:

I want to go in on a tourist visa, while they apply for work permit and residence.

Are you working for the same company in the UK?

Working for the same company but different legal entity in KSA for the past 3 years.

Quite keen to go get drunk get to work back in the UAE

[shirt]

e21jason said:

Yes rule change

we employed a gut from another company before Christmas, had to leave the UAE stay at home until his new visa was done then come to work.

So if you change jobs you have to leave the country? Sounds a touch extreme.

[dxbtiger]

shirt said:

e21jason said:

Yes rule change

we employed a gut from another company before Christmas, had to leave the UAE stay at home until his new visa was done then come to work.

So if you change jobs you have to leave the country? Sounds a touch extreme.

Eh?

Where was he from? Doesn't sound right to me and I work in staffing.

Dan, i'll ask out Immigration Lead tomorrow, I've got a meeting with him at 9.30 anyway l.

[oilydan]

I understand that transferring visa is fine, but for a new employee they cannot come in until the visa is ready.

Its a PITA as I have already booked my flight home to the UK from AUH at the beginning of March. It looks like my visa will not be ready by then so will either have to cancel at great expense, or find a connecting flight that allows me to pass through without clearing immigration.

[shirt]

Can you change the ticket to open and then use it at a later date?

[oilydan]

I bought a cheap ticket. So changing the flight is going to cost 400 chips.

[dxbtiger]

As inferred above, my colleague says it sounds like he has applied for work permit with your status out of country so you'll have to jump through those hoops unfortunately.

You can' convert visit visa to residence visa if the application is set up that way

[e21jason]

In our case the guy was from India and the visa had to be issued in india, not sure why might of been issues with his previous employer

[CRB14]

I believe they've clamped down massively on those entering on visit visa for work purposes and so now you must have a work permit pre-authorised and enter in on that. It's what I had to do. The permit then has to be transferred to full residency and the MOL contract in place within a certain timeframe (I was told 30 days but I've read elsewhere up to 3 months).