Job Discussion Forums

[helenl]

The sad fact is that the UAE government probably does want to retain good teachers, it's the individual employers behaving spitefully in hopes of scaring the rest into staying on at jobs they're not happy in.

[carlen]

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[Zoot]

carlen, I think the eye scan is now the form of identification and that you had it done with your old passport really doesn't matter. What matters now is that you're being identified by your eye scan not your passport.

helen l, maybe you're right about the provider companies such as cfbt and projects like MAG, but if that's the case, then the UAE government needs to implement rules that protect the employees, and from what I've seen that isn't yet happening.

carlen said coming to the UAE to work isn't all bad, but when peoople uproot their families and move them halfway across the world to situations that are fearfully insecure, it's not the wisest thing to do given that the education opportunites are not the best either. Perhaps if you're single or a married couple, then the consequences aren't so bad and risks can be taken.

educators need far more protection than they're presently being offered in the UAE, that's a certainty.

[carlen]

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[Zoot]

carlen, I mean you're now being identified by your eye scan. The passport and either its recency or old age is irrelevant. I don't know this for certain of course, but I'm guessing based on the postings. What link could there be in your new passport to the old one?

[carlen]

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[tefllifer]

Hi

Going back up the thread, I spotted that a letter of no objection is needed if you want to transfer to a new sponsor.

The fact is (as I see it) you DON'T. For a start, transferring sponsorship you would effectively become a local hire and could lose air tickets, baggage allowances etc. Just wait until you have the cancelled visa from your current employer and then begin processing for the new job - if that's possible. That way you shouldn't need the Letter of No Objection.

[Zoot]

tefllifer, the letter of no objection is needed whether you transfer between one employer and another or not - it's needed in the UAE. what happened in the past though meant the need for the letter left employees open to abuse by their employers as you can see from other threads on these forums. a visa cancellation is only part of the process of leaving one employer and moving on to another, there used to be a 6-month ban in place as well and that has been removed as a result of the need for more teachers in the UAE. i think the UAE is going to have to update its labour laws if it wants quality educators in the country. right now, there's too much emphasis on personality issues and not on actual education issues where management is incompetent.

[helenl]

And even if you do follow the correct procedures for resigning, and leaving the country - your employer can still put a ban on you (you may not even be aware of it) in which case the new employer will find out when they try to process your new visa.

Some schools just automatically put in for the ban in order to discourage employees from "jumping ship". Is it ethical? No. Does it happen. Yes.

[Sunburnt Individual]

Let's be clear here - an employer does not put a ban on you.

The ban is stamped in automatically by the government, UNLESS your employer steps in and states otherwise.

[Zoot]

The bans no longer exist - they were disposed of last year when it was realized there were a lot of teachers in the country who were unhappy in their current jobs and didn't want to leave the ME for 6 months before returning. Most wouldn't bother to return if they had to leave for 6 months in the first place.

[helenl]

Well there was an article in the Gulf News a few weeks ago about the ban that stated

" The Ministry of Labour is reviewing the six-month work ban, enforced when a person cancels work permit, to facilitate labour movements within the country, an official said.

Jasem Al Banna, head of the legal affairs department at the ministry, said during the seminar that people had the right to progress in their career and they should not be prevented from doing so.

Currently, the ministry enforces a six-month ban on working in the country if the worker who cancels his permit does not have a no-objection certificate from his employer.

The ban does not apply if the person has been working in the company for more than three years. The seminar outlined the six major violations committed by companies hit by the global economic downturn."
http://www.gulfnews.com/articles/09/03/01/10290535.html here's the link for the full text.

So it appears that if you have completed your 3 year contract you won't be banned automatically nor will you require an NOC but anything less you will. I notice this article does not mention the exceptions (teachers at the tertiary level) that were in place previously, and I think still are.

Goodness knows what the rules will be tomorrow

[Afra]

I have been hired both abroad and in the UAE and I have transferred sponsorship. At no time have I been what is described on this board as a 'local hire'; the benefits have always been fully paid and I know many people in the same position. The teachers who seem to fall into the local hire category are adjuncts with hourly or semester contracts.

[Zoot]

helenl, last year the 6 month ban on teachers was lifted. Much of this article appears to relate to other employee types. Though CfBT falls into the category of not paying people their full salaries it has nothing to do with the economic downturn and has been happening to people employed by them for a long time from the information available on these forums.

Does anyone know what Sabis is like when it comes to paying people out? It's one of the inefficient and ineffective PPP providers like MAG, but I don't see any posts here where either are guilty of CfBT's pay shortfalls or in carlen's circumstance of withholding personal belongings.

[tefllifer]

And the rejoinder is - I speak from personal experience.
The cancelled visa is the important step to getting a new contract.
If you have finished your contract elsewhere and have a cancelled visa with no ban, then you should (note 'should') be able to proceed to a new employer.
There are always incidents and counter incidents, but I know people who were almost 'tricked' into transferring sponsorship between higher ed institutions and who would have thereby lost tickets, other benefits, etc.
There are different rules for private and government organisations. The ban can be requested by an employer.