UAE Ministry of Labour sets to replace labour card with e-permit next year

Abu Dhabi: The Ministry of Labour on Monday announced that a new two-year e-permit will replace the current labour card under the smart government initiative. Humaid bin Demas Al Suwaidi, MoL's Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs, told the media yesterday that the project for re-engineering the processes of issuance of the labour card and contract will take effect in the first quarter of 2014. The latest initiative, he said, was in implementation of Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's smart government initiative and was in line with the MoL's strategy to meet customer expectations on provision of world-class services under the Emirates Programme for Excellent Government Services. Al Suwaidi disclosed that the Minister of Labour, Saqr Ghobash, who approved the project, had instructed streamlining of procedures and coordination with other government and non-government stakeholders to deliver an integrated project that will save time and effort of clients. The MoL is issuing and renewing around four million labour cards and contracts a year. ''The preliminary concept calls for replacing the labour card with an e-permit,'' he explained, adding that when a firm submits the labour contract within 60 days from the date of the worker's entry into the country, the ministry will issue the e-permit within 48 hours and then send his data to the Department of Residency and Foreigner Affairs to issue the residency. He noted that the new process will save the time and energy of the employer, noting that process takes 15 days under the present operating systems. He said that the employer has many options to receive the e-permit either by smart phone applications, ministry website or visiting customer service centres. He clarified that the worker can use the ID card as an official document, if any government entity requires so. He affirmed that e-link between the ministries of interior and labour and Emirates Identity Authority will definitely facilitate success of the project. – Emirates New Agency, WAM