UAE to Create Online Portal for Recruiting Indian Workers

The United Arab Emirates is coming up an online portal to hire Indian workers, in accordance to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between India and UAE during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit on Feb.11. The UAE’s system will be linked with eMigrate, which is India’s online system that addresses the issues faced by Indian workers related to the employment abroad, recruiting agents, employers and illegal agents, the Gulf News reported, citing a senior official.

Job aspirants from India will now not only be able to submit their applications, but also be able to assess the terms and conditions of the contract of the job from India through this portal, Dr. Omar Al Nuaimi, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization, said, according to the report.

“The MoU with India has ushered in a new chapter of cooperation. This will ensure a balanced and effective management of the (workers’) contractual work cycle in accordance with the laws and regulations, which are enforced in both countries, serving the common interest,” Al Nuaimi said, adding that a joint committee will be set up to make sure that the MoU is being implemented properly.

All the particulars of the available jobs in the UAE and their contractual terms and conditions will be furnished by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization to the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Integration is expected to be over in a few months.

After the joint technical committee has worked out the required steps to link both systems, a specific process will be created. The workers can then take a look at a model job offer and contract that will help them assess the situation.

“The MoU provides a much better framework for ensuring that Indian workers are recruited in accordance with principles of transparency, ethics and fairness. It endeavors to standardize contracts in a format that is in consonance with UAE laws so that workers can get due protection in the event of a dispute,” said Navdeep Singh Suri, the Indian Ambassador to the UAE, the report added.

A protocol on domestic workers was also signed between India and UAE as an annexure to the MoU. This is an important step as rules and regulations for domestic workers are a little different from the other workers and are much-needed, the publication cited an embassy official as saying.

He added that the MoU is an important step in abolishing contract substitution, which is a major issue faced by Indian workers. Many illegitimate Indian agents give Indian workers contracts with overstated salary and perks. However, when these workers arrive in the UAE, a substituted contract takes the place of the previous contract.

Since the substituted contract is a lawful one, workers are unable to raise their grievances. When the integration process of the systems of both the countries is over, workers will be given a uniform job contract.

The UAE also launched a smartphone application on Jan.23, with the aim of helping Indian citizens who want to apply for a work visa to the country. The app is available on both platforms — Android and iOS. It will help people get a hassle-free work visa to the UAE, and also complete a large portion of the procedures in India guaranteeing a work visa.

The workforce in UAE consists of a large number of Indian immigrants. A total of 74,778 Indians were cleared for emigration to the UAE during the first six months of the calendar year of 2017, making 40.6 per cent of the total emigration clearance figures of about 1.84 lakh.