# Residency Permit through Abu Dhabi but living in Dubai



## sburt (Aug 19, 2015)

Hi all, I just received notification from my employer (publicly traded American company) that they are going to switch what emirate my residency permit is through. They said it made no difference except I get 2 extra days off and it is either for them to process. Does this sound right? I was just looking for a little more color from an experienced group.


----------



## LesFroggitts (Dec 30, 2013)

Mine's from Abu Dhabi, live in Dubai driving a Dubai plated vehicle - no problems.

?? What's the extra 2 days holidays ??


----------



## Racing_Goats (Sep 5, 2015)

Agree no issue, I've had both dubai and abu dhabi visas (and now Dubai again) whilst working for the same company and living in AD the whole time.

Abu Dhabi has better legal rights for families/dependents and medical insurance requirements (all women have mandatory maternity cover, company must provide health insurance for all employees and dependents, stuff like that) but I doubt those would affect you given the kind of company you work for.

For some things you might need a letter from your employer stating you are required to live in another Emirate (than where your visa is issued) to carry out your job - tenancy contract, visa renewal (tenancy contract/Tawtheeq is required), buying a car, etc.

Last year there was a govt directive in Abu Dhabi requiring employees of government and semi govt entities to live inside AD to qualify to receive housing allowances, again this shouldn't affect you but it pissed a LOT of Dubai commuters off at the time  I was never sure if it as fully enforced


----------



## A.Abbass (Jun 28, 2014)

There shouldn't be any problems inside the country. However Abu Dhabi visas take longer time and are usually harder to obtain. It's not hard, just harder than Dubai.


----------



## tcs (Sep 10, 2015)

Racing_Goats said:


> Abu Dhabi has better legal rights for families/dependents and medical insurance requirements (all women have mandatory maternity cover, company must provide health insurance for all employees and dependents, stuff like that) but I doubt those would affect you given the kind of company you work for.


I thought that (company must provide health insurance for all employees and dependents) was mandatory?


----------



## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

A.Abbass said:


> There shouldn't be any problems inside the country. However Abu Dhabi visas take longer time and are usually harder to obtain. It's not hard, just harder than Dubai.


Because probably everyone is "busier" taking coffee breaks 

OP,
While there are no issues in switching the visa, just confirm that the end of service benefits will still be computed from the first day of employment. (Get an email from the company).
Switching the visa most likely will be under a new company, and the length of employment with the company has implications on how the EOSB calculation is done.


----------



## Racing_Goats (Sep 5, 2015)

tcs said:


> I thought that (company must provide health insurance for all employees and dependents) was mandatory?


Not in Dubai yet


----------



## Jubmasterflex (Apr 2, 2013)

Racing_Goats said:


> Not in Dubai yet


Depends on the size of company, but based on this article, essentially any company with 100+ employees must now provide it...

Dubai's mandatory health insurance law comes into force | The National


----------



## Racing_Goats (Sep 5, 2015)

Yes but only for employees at this stage, not dependents


----------



## Jubmasterflex (Apr 2, 2013)

Racing_Goats said:


> Yes but only for employees at this stage, not dependents


Correct 

To the OP, when I first came out here a couple of years ago I was under the same visa scheme (office was in Dubai, but they ran out of space and had to get my Visa out of Abu Dhabi). No real issues, except I believe it may only be an issue if whatever local authority decides to have a random inspection and notices the discrepancy, but even then I can't imagine it would be an issue...


----------

