Mission visa holders must leave and return on work visa

Workers who enter the country on temporary work permit (mission visa) must leave the country and re-enter if their sponsors seek employment visas, according to a senior official of the Ministry of Labour (MoL).

This was stated yesterday by the Acting-General Manager in the MoL, Humaid bin Deemas, during the 'Open Day' in the ministry's office that was attended by nearly 100 people who sought to find solutions to their problems.       

Bin Deemas rejected an application from a contracting company in the capital to apply for a permanent work permit to complete the formalities for issuance of employment residence visa to an engineer who had entered the country on mission visa.

"The engineer must leave the country because the mission visa was issued for three months and extended for three months. Hence, the worker must depart from the country and the company can then apply for an employment visa to bring him back and complete the formalities of either residence or employment visa," Bin Deemas clarified.

He added that the ministry allowed the companies to bring workers on mission visas for a period of three to six months.

The mission visa costs Dh600 (including Dh100 application fee) in addition to Dh3,000 refundable bank guarantee. This three-month mission visa is extendable at a cost of Dh600.

"The worker must leave the country and the company must produce a statement from the Naturalisation and Residency Department (NRD) confirming that the person had left the country," added Bin Deemas.

According to the Naturalisation and Residency Department instructions, there is no limit on the period that the worker should stay out of the country in case he had departed after the expiry of the mission visa until the issuance of fresh employment visa.

The ministry' strongly stressed that the companies shouldn't apply to bring in labourers who were banned from work in the country as these applications would be rejected and the firms would lose the Dh100 application fees.    

There is no need to attest the academic certifications of the worker to get a mission permit issued, the ministry said.