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Hi,

I just accepted an offer from a retail group as a marketing executive and they have given me 2 options:

1. Be placed as an office clerk for an entire year. The salary, benefits, and everything else will be the same. Only difference is that it will state this designation on my visa

2. Wait until my degree is attested which should take a couple of weeks. The entire waiting period until visa is issued is 2 months

Should I go with option 1 seeing that I do not want to wait long. Is this option legal? I've read somewhere that I should request that my designation be changed back to marketing executive after 6 months as that's what is permitted.

Please clarify on this issue as I have to inform them ASAP.

Thanks a million,

Hi there,
This is a bit of a puzzle. Theoretically it should not take so long for you to get the attestations and visa. Attestation if you are using a facilitating company and are prepared to pay for courier and a “fast attestation” process should take about 10 – 14 days from the time the certificate leaves you till the time you have it back in your hands. The company can apply for labour approval on your behalf in the interim; this means that once your certificate has returned the labour and residency processes can be wound up within 5 – 7 days (the medical results normally hold the processes up a bit).

I assume the PRO of the company has his act together else this can delay the process slightly.

I would question them on the issue that they are offering you a “clerical” position based on the fact that you do not have an attested degree, when the criteria for employment is based on whether you have attested paperwork or not; what I mean is that how can they offer you a “lesser” position if you have no attested paperwork – even a lesser clerical position requires an attested certificate?

If you were employed in a lesser category the employer could put through a labour category amendment at a later stage, this will cost them some money and has to be registered with the department of labour, a new amended labour card has to be issued as well.

The choice may also have some bearing on whether and how you may be able to transfer from this employer at a later stage, if you decided you would like to move to a new employer.

Could you clarify: Is this a large or small company? Do they have many or few employees?

Hi Dxbsoul,

Thanks for your quick answer. To answer your question the company employs over 4500 employees. I have already spoken to them and agreed to proceed with this action as I was informed from a friend that he will be willing to help me switch it to the right designation after I receive my attested degree as my company is not willing to do so only after 1 year. After doing some research and asking a few people I discovered that this is standard procedure as many people are having trouble attesting their degrees here or have degrees not recognized in the uae.

Thanks again,

I would get the degree attested and the proper job title. It makes a difference if/when you change jobs.

Hi there, glad to see things seem to be working out.

To clarify one point though, your labour designation can only be changed for you by the company and has to be authorised by the owner of the company - it cannot simply be changed by yourself or your friend.

Personally I can't understand why the employer wants to wait a year to change the designation; the directive at the Labour Department on changing professions stipulates it can be changed (only after) 6 months after date of original issue. I would try and pressure them on this issue. I have also checked the charges – at last review they were 200 AED. I can only assume that they want you to successfully work out your probation period before spending any money on you.

Just ensure that when your position is amended that you get a copy of the amendment and that the amendment is registered at the department of labour. Also ensure that they don’t try to make you work a second probation period (as this is illegal).


This portion of your post made me smile though ... “as many people are having trouble attesting their degrees here or have degrees not recognized in the uae.”

In general it’s not a matter of the UAE not accepting the degrees, in some cases I’ve seen they seem to be very accommodating with regards to the definition of degree or even acceptable qualification.