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Hello everyone,
I believe your forum is very helpful.
I just had an interview in Dubai and I think I will be offered the job. The problem is I heard I cannot sponsor my husband for residence as only men can sponsor their wives but not the other way around.
His work is mainly on-line so he was not thinking about changing jobs when we move to Dubai. But now this residence issue came up, we are totally confused. Is there any other for him to get a residence in Dubai?

Your suggestions are very welcome.
Thanks,

Raniao

I believe that only women in certain professions can sponsor their husbands, like being a doctor.

To move with you, your husband will need a residence visa, so whether he can go for a job here in which case he can sponsor you as well, you'll have to lokk into.

Choc is quite correct, there are a few professions that are exempt.

Thank you all for your replies. But do you think there are other alternatives? What about registering a business in his name? Would this qualify him for residence? Any idea about cost?

To register a business here under your name you will also need to have a local partner that owns 51% of the business on paper.

What I mean by on paper is that you put up 100% of the money but he owns 51% of your business. You may also have to pay him a salary even though he does abosolutly nothing all day...

Welcome to the UAE!!!

Unfortunately Liban is absolutely spot on, in his explanation of setting up a business in Dubai.

I know it sounds crap, but thats the way it is.

However, i believe these rules are not enforced if the "business" is set up in a "free zone". I am sure someone here can give you advise on this as i dont profess to be an expert in this field, so please dont quote me.

Hope this helps.

Also it is worth just trying to sponsor your family. I know 2 women who’ve done it, One who was an IT colleague of mine, sponsored her family for the 4.5 years that they were in Dubai (She was the only bread winner during this period). The other works at an Embassy but Embassy’s have their own rules so I just wasted a sentence telling you that.

Plus why does he need residency? What passport does he have? Many passports only require a AED 500 round trip flight and 2 hours of your time to renew your passport ever 60 days, this may be the easiest most cost efficient way to go.

Thanks all again.
People tell me that I can try to sponsor him but I do not know how. I am working in media, so I am not definitely a teacher or a doctor. Would anyone here tell me how? Humantrian grounds or something like that?
He has a US passport so the visit visa is a good option but would he be able to drive on an international driving license? Another point will be his medical insurance status.

I really prefer for stability to get him on residency. I do appreciate all your comments.
Thanks a lot.

Fayz, The problem with the visit visa thing, is you have to do this every 60 days and would effectively be working illegally, they'll pick it up eventually. Better to get a residency.

If you're working in media, try doing something through the media city free zone. I believe you can just pay for a visa through that.

I looked at the option of buying a visa when i first moved here, it works out to about AED 20k (at least 20 months ago it did), plus you may need to rent a desk space if you go through a free zone.

Stability and having a place of belonging are great reasons for residency but since it sounds like he is working for a non-UAE company online, he can get get a temporary (valid 6 months and renewable) UAE driver's license and depending on your insurance provider (mine doesn't care) you really don't need residency. At least the visit visa is a good back up in case things don't work out.

Choco -- you bring up one thing that maybe you can help me out with, do you need a labour card to actually work? I've heard from a few people that you do. I don't have a labour card, just residency. To be honest I'm not really sure what a labour card is.

I don't have a labour card either! I just have a company ID card and that's all I was ever given.

You're supposed to have a labour card, but very few people I know actually have them.

AFAIK you need to have a labour card if your employer keeps a hold of your passport. Your residency stamp entitles you to work here so labour card is nul and void.

thanks XR for the clarification

Isn't it illegal for an employer to keep your passport?

kanelli wrote:Isn't it illegal for an employer to keep your passport?

One would think so, but I haven't seen anything that says otherwise.

Okay, found it. http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/03 ... 01922.html

Yah, I've read that before. I think I haven't been too clear and we've crossed wires here, I'm saying I've never seen anything to say its legal for passports to be retained.

Sorry

Thank you everyone. I will be waiting to see the company offer, which they say will be sent soon, but so far "soon" in Dubai seems to be taking longer than other places. Then if everything is good, I think we will go with the visit visa option for my husband and see how the job market treats us there.
Once again, thanks for your input. I have read a lot on your different forums and I think it is a great unique resource for new comers.

It is absolutely illegal for an employer to hold onto your passport, but many do it anyway and trying to get it back causes all sorts of problems.

You should never, ever let anyone retain your passport, other than for an immigration purpose.

Explian that your passport is the property of your government (it is) and that your employer should contact your Embassy to get permission for you to hand over government property. They of course will not do this and you get to keep your passport.

You can sponsor your husband if you earn over a certain amount of money....my friend did it....I think the set limit is 7000 dhs or 9000 dhs per month and then you can do it....try checking with your embassy...at least you know it is do-able! Good Luck!

Thanks a lot for your posts. I really hope that it works for me to sponsor my husband.

But I just have a different question for you. I have been back from Dubai for nine days now - or one full working week. When I was there for interviews, they said they were going to send me an offer "soon".

I am just wondering how I should think of this delay. I was expecting them to negotiate an offer with me while I was there. Now, I really wonder if this will be their way of doing everything in the future, especially I had a similar delay with the travel arrangements for interviews.

What do you think? What was your experiences with your companies?