# A little confused about Spouse's residence



## qwert97 (Jun 2, 2008)

I want to clarify some issues regarding Spouse's residence visa. I will be coming to Dubai at the end of Aug/ early sept on employment visa along with my spouse and kids. Since we are coming from Canada my family will be entitled to visa on arrival. My wife is a Computer Engineer but does not want to work immediately i.e wants to get kids settled in school, find a decent place to live etc.

Based on my readings I understand that even though she will be on my residence she is entitled to work - provided she has the labor card (not sure about this). Is the process of securing any different or in other words do I have to apply some sort of labor card before stamping her residence?


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## katiepotato (Apr 29, 2008)

If your company are sponsoring you, you should get a residence permit stamped in your passport and a labour card entitling you to work at the same time. You can't sponsor your wife until you have your residence permit, and you can only sponsor her residency - she is not entitled to work when sponsored by you alone. 

If she decides to work she needs to advise the company she takes a job with that she is on her husband's visa (this might even make her more attractive to prospective employers as it is much cheaper just to provide a work permit for someone). The process from there varies slightly by visa entity, but you will need to write a letter stating that you have no objection to her working for that company (an NOC - no objection certificate) and provide a copy of your passport and visa page to the company. She will also need to provide passport copies and passport photos. The company PRO or HR will then submit an application for her work permit and get her labour card, and HEY PRESTO she will be able to work. 

Hope this is clear! Good luck, if you need more info let me know


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## qwert97 (Jun 2, 2008)

katiepotato said:


> If your company are sponsoring you, you should get a residence permit stamped in your passport and a labour card entitling you to work at the same time. You can't sponsor your wife until you have your residence permit, and you can only sponsor her residency - she is not entitled to work when sponsored by you alone.
> 
> If she decides to work she needs to advise the company she takes a job with that she is on her husband's visa (this might even make her more attractive to prospective employers as it is much cheaper just to provide a work permit for someone). The process from there varies slightly by visa entity, but you will need to write a letter stating that you have no objection to her working for that company (an NOC - no objection certificate) and provide a copy of your passport and visa page to the company. She will also need to provide passport copies and passport photos. The company PRO or HR will then submit an application for her work permit and get her labour card, and HEY PRESTO she will be able to work.
> 
> Hope this is clear! Good luck, if you need more info let me know


Right now she works for a US corporation who has only a satellite office in Dubai. She will continue her employment with the same Company but will be transferred under a different region (EMEA). It is expected that she will be working from home most of the time. Does she still need to get a labor card?

Will the situation be any different if she continues to be a US employee and gets paid in US$ instead of AED?


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## katiepotato (Apr 29, 2008)

Her residence visa under your sponsorship will have 'housewife - not entitled to work' stamped on it so yes, she needs a labour card via her company if she is going to be working. If they already have a Dubai office they should be familiar with this process. 

I don't think your payroll source makes much difference - we have a number of employees who have transferred to Dubai on expat deals but are paid via the UK / US, and they all still have to have the proper work permits in place. She will be conducting her work in Dubai, and needs to be legally entitled to do so.


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## qwert97 (Jun 2, 2008)

katiepotato said:


> Her residence visa under your sponsorship will have 'housewife - not entitled to work' stamped on it so yes, she needs a labour card via her company if she is going to be working. If they already have a Dubai office they should be familiar with this process.
> 
> I don't think your payroll source makes much difference - we have a number of employees who have transferred to Dubai on expat deals but are paid via the UK / US, and they all still have to have the proper work permits in place. She will be conducting her work in Dubai, and needs to be legally entitled to do so.


Thanks Katie

I am hoping that there is no need to leave the country when the Company applies for labour card, correct? Also, if e.g the company did not have an office in Dubai, then she can't work since she will be considered illegal, right?

Another related question- I have heard that from August 1, DNRD are only giving visas on arrival for 30 days (previously they gave for 60 days). Do you think I will be able to get everything done- viz my medical, my residence, spouse's medical and my family residence during that time? If not, do they have to do some sort of visa run?


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

qwert97 said:


> Thanks Katie
> 
> I am hoping that there is no need to leave the country when the Company applies for labour card, correct? Also, if e.g the company did not have an office in Dubai, then she can't work since she will be considered illegal, right?
> 
> Another related question- I have heard that from August 1, DNRD are only giving visas on arrival for 30 days (previously they gave for 60 days). Do you think I will be able to get everything done- viz my medical, my residence, spouse's medical and my family residence during that time? If not, do they have to do some sort of visa run?


Changing from a visit to employment visa is almost impossible since the rule change. If your wife is thinking about continuing her employment with her present employer, I would advise that she gets this sorted out before moving to Dubai. It will be simpler and cheaper as they will get her the correct visa at their cost. In regards to working on a visit visa, if caught she will be fined 50,000 AED and immediately deported. I personally would not advise it!!!

You can no longer do visa runs! Please see post entitled visa run. The time when people could just nip across the border and get a new visit visa are long gone! However, it appears that your family can extend their visit visa for another 30 days for a fee. I would advise that you speak to your company's PRO re your wife swapping her visit visa for a residency visa if she intends to stay in Dubai on the basis of being your spouse as the rules in the UAE are all over the place.

One month will be enough for you to get everything sorted but it all depends on how efficient your company is and whether you have all the required documents with you! You will only be able to start the residency visa process for your family when you have your own residency visa stamped in your passport. I would advise that you have all your documents such as degree certificates, marriage certificate and birth certificates for you kids notarised & legalised before you get to Dubai as this would make things a lot easier and save time. A lot of delays are caused because new employees do not have the correct paperwork and time is wasted whilst they wait for it to come through from back home.

Will the company be paying for your family's visa or will this be your responsibility? If this is your resonsibility, then start your research early. There was a post a couple of days ago that had actual costs and to say the least, it costs an arm and a leg by my standard!

Best of luck with your move. I'm sure things will go smoothly!


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## qwert97 (Jun 2, 2008)

Thanks Maz. We will stick with our initial plan i.e. she gets residency under my sponsorship and if the things do work out, the company can get her labor card and she can start working again. Just to be safe, I have got our educational degrees and marriage certificates attested by the UAE embassy in Canada. The date of birth attestation for my kids is at the final stage and I expect to receive them by the end of this week from the embassy.

Are you still shooting for the end of August? I might be delayed by a week since the employment visa is not ready yet. They applied for it last week and expect it to be ready by next week (the HR Manager told me "inshallah")


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

qwert97 said:


> Thanks Maz. We will stick with our initial plan i.e. she gets residency under my sponsorship and if the things do work out, the company can get her labor card and she can start working again. Just to be safe, I have got our educational degrees and marriage certificates attested by the UAE embassy in Canada. The date of birth attestation for my kids is at the final stage and I expect to receive them by the end of this week from the embassy.
> 
> Are you still shooting for the end of August? I might be delayed by a week since the employment visa is not ready yet. They applied for it last week and expect it to be ready by next week (the HR Manager told me "inshallah")


I'm supposed to leave on 29th August. My soon-to-be new employer applied for my visa last week as well and hopefully, I will have it in good time. They said that it takes 10 -12 days! Next week's my birthday (aah, getting older!!!) so my visa would be a nice present!!!


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## sgilli3 (Mar 23, 2008)

Maz25 said:


> I'm supposed to leave on 29th August. My soon-to-be new employer applied for my visa last week as well and hopefully, I will have it in good time. They said that it takes 10 -12 days! Next week's my birthday (aah, getting older!!!) so my visa would be a nice present!!!



Happy Birthday for next week !!!


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

sgilli3 said:


> Happy Birthday for next week !!!


Thanks! Pity I will be at work! Considering that I am leaving, my soon-to-be ex-employer will probably give me a poisoned birthday cake!!!!


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## qwert97 (Jun 2, 2008)

Maz25 said:


> I'm supposed to leave on 29th August. My soon-to-be new employer applied for my visa last week as well and hopefully, I will have it in good time. They said that it takes 10 -12 days! Next week's my birthday (aah, getting older!!!) so my visa would be a nice present!!!


I should be there around the same time, plus or minus a week. I will have to immediately get school uniforms etc so will be busy for a week but after that we will connect.

Good luck with your move!


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## mallen79 (Jul 29, 2008)

katiepotato said:


> If your company are sponsoring you, you should get a residence permit stamped in your passport and a labour card entitling you to work at the same time. You can't sponsor your wife until you have your residence permit, and you can only sponsor her residency - she is not entitled to work when sponsored by you alone.
> 
> If she decides to work she needs to advise the company she takes a job with that she is on her husband's visa (this might even make her more attractive to prospective employers as it is much cheaper just to provide a work permit for someone). The process from there varies slightly by visa entity, but you will need to write a letter stating that you have no objection to her working for that company (an NOC - no objection certificate) and provide a copy of your passport and visa page to the company. She will also need to provide passport copies and passport photos. The company PRO or HR will then submit an application for her work permit and get her labour card, and HEY PRESTO she will be able to work.
> 
> Hope this is clear! Good luck, if you need more info let me know


Katiepotato,

My wife and I are moving over in two weeks from Scotland. i will be working straight away and my wife will be sponsored by my myself however she will not be going straight into work as she is still seeking employment. Is this correct in respect of her being sponsored on my visa and will she be able to get work ok when out over in Dubai? she works in banking?


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

qwert97 said:


> I should be there around the same time, plus or minus a week. I will have to immediately get school uniforms etc so will be busy for a week but after that we will connect.
> 
> Good luck with your move!


Sounds good! Hope the move goes alright for you as well!


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## katiepotato (Apr 29, 2008)

mallen79 said:


> Katiepotato,
> 
> My wife and I are moving over in two weeks from Scotland. i will be working straight away and my wife will be sponsored by my myself however she will not be going straight into work as she is still seeking employment. Is this correct in respect of her being sponsored on my visa and will she be able to get work ok when out over in Dubai? she works in banking?


Once you have your residence visa you can sponsor your wife's residence, but you cannot provide a work permit for her. This would need to be done by her company when she finds work (as for Qwert97's wife). Search the other threads for guidance on how to arrange sponsorship for your wife, or speak to your new company's PRO - they should be able to help you with this. 

My company's free zone visa entity will allow us to transfer people from a visit visa to an employment visa without leaving the country for an extra charge of AED1460 for local transfer and in-country amendment (they just can't start work until this comes through). However as before the exact process does vary depending where and how her company obtains their employment visas so make sure she works through the details with any potential employer as I'm sure she doesn't want to be landed with a hefty fine - or get deported!

Finance is a big growth area here so there are plenty of jobs available, but it really depends what your wife wants to do and what her background is - banking covers a lot of different things! Has she tried searching the online jobs boards or registered with any agencies in advance of your arrival? The main job boards (bayt, monstergulf, gulftalent etc) have already been mentioned several times on the forum; some agencies she might want to try are IQ Selection, Hays, Clarendon Parker and Kershaw Leonard.


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## qwert97 (Jun 2, 2008)

katiepotato said:


> Finance is a big growth area here so there are plenty of jobs available, but it really depends what your wife wants to do and what her background is - banking covers a lot of different things! Has she tried searching the online jobs boards or registered with any agencies in advance of your arrival? The main job boards (bayt, monstergulf, gulftalent etc) have already been mentioned several times on the forum; some agencies she might want to try are IQ Selection, Hays, Clarendon Parker and Kershaw Leonard.



Would you recommend any agencies that deal with jobs relating to Network security, Network architecture, Peering etc (for my spouse), internet backbones etc ?


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## katiepotato (Apr 29, 2008)

qwert97 said:


> Would you recommend any agencies that deal with jobs relating to Network security, Network architecture, Peering etc (for my spouse), internet backbones etc ?


I only know the finance contacts as I've recruited for some Accounts roles in my company lately; I can't recommend any specific contacts for Network jobs but would recommend trying the IT desks of the big, global companies first (Hays, BBT etc) as they tend to be a little more professional than some of the local agencies. Try searching for some other posts about IT recruitment and see what you find from there too. 

Good luck!


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