21 December 2023
Impact High
UAE | Suspension of intra freezone and inter freezone employment residence permit transfers
Summary
The Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) has announced that visa/residence permit transfer services within UAE freezones have been suspended.
The Detail
In the light of this development, any employee currently working in a freezone jurisdiction who secures new employment with another entity based in the same freezone or another freezone jurisdiction in Dubai is required to cancel their existing residence permit sponsored by their current employer first and only then apply for a new one under the new employer. This is due to a recent update from ICP who confirmed that the option of sponsorship transfer from a previous to new employer (named Release sign-out and Release sign-in option in some jurisdictions) within the same freezone or other freezone jurisdictions is no longer available. At this stage, it is our understanding that the above applies to multiple freezones in the UAE, however, we will continue to monitor this update to see if any further developments are announced by the authorities.
What this means
The new process requires additional steps (cancellation and then re-application) for an employee to legally change employers, this will most likely result in additional processing times and therefore could impact future employee’s start dates.
Furthermore, as a result of the new measures, dependent visas of employees who are impacted will also need to be cancelled and reapplied or put on hold/freeze to facilitate the cancellation of the existing residence permit and application of new permits by the new employer.
How we can help
We will continue to closely monitor and provide timely guidance on any new updates by the UAE Immigration authorities, and highlight the impact of any changes to your expatriate workforce. Please reach out to us for an in-depth review of any current or near future transfers and we are happy to further assess the impact on your company.
Contact us
For a deeper discussion on the above, please reach out to your Vialto Partners point of contact, or alternatively:
Anir Chatterji
EMEA Immigration Partner
anir.chatterji@vialto.com
Rekha Simpson
Director, Middle East Immigration
rekha.simpson@vialto.com
Rens Jongerius
Manager, Middle East Immigration
rens.jongerius@vialto.com
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