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Stern action if sponsor holds passport: MoL

DUBAI — Any company, which holds back passports of its workers during the amnesty period will be facing stern action, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Labour.

Humeid bin Demas, Assistant Undersecretary in MoL, warned that a company which refused to hand over passports to its illegal workers who wish to leave the UAE, will be subject to heavy fines and sanctions.

“We have got complaints against companies that are refusing to release illegal workers’ passports. What we do in this case is call the sponsor and try to persuade him to give the labourer’s passport so that the latter could regularise his status or leave the country. If the sponsor does not return the passport to its holder, we fine him Dh10,000 and order his company shut for six months.”

The official’s warning came during a meeting yesterday with officials and representatives of many typing offices of Dubai at Ramada Hotel. “We held the meeting in an effort to tell representatives of typing offices about the procedures undertaken by MoL for amnesty and to explain to them the role they are supposed to play. We listened to their enquiries and urged them to encourage labourers and their sponsors to benefit from the amnesty period.”

Bin Demas also urged ‘asbconding’ labourers to apply at any of the 5,000-odd typing offices which are e-linked with the MoL across UAE. To seek quashing of the absconding report, the labourer has to fill a smart form at any of the typing office dealing with MoL. The form should include all the particulars of the labourer in addition to his signature. For the application to be valid, it should also carry the sponsor’s signature.

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