UAE court can grant temporary work permit for new job

Dubai - You may request the court for a letter for cancellation of the existing work permit and residence visa. Based on this, a new work permit may be given.

I filed a case against my employer in August 2017 claiming outstanding salary for over five months. The case is still pending before the court in the UAE. I have found a new employment. I reside in an accommodation provided to me by the employer for which the lease expired on September 2017. The lease mentions the employer as the tenant and I as the beneficiary and my employer has requested the rental company to extend the lease for six months. However, the rent is not paid till date after the lease expiry period.

If I ask the employer to cancel my visa, they will want me to sign the clause that I have received all my payments. If I sign that clause, will I lose all my claims and outstanding compensation from the employer? Is there any other process through which I can have my visa issued by the new employer? What happens to the rental lease? Can I continue staying in the apartment or should I vacate the apartment?

Pursuant to your queries, without signing the visa cancellation documents, you may request the court to issue you a letter for cancellation of existing work permit and residence visa. Based on the letter issued by the court, you may approach Ministry of Human Resources and Emirtisation and cancel the work permit and later approach the office of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs for cancellation of residence visa based on cancellation of work permit. Alternatively, without cancellation of work permit and residency visa, you may apply to the court for grant of temporary work permit. The court may accept your request if you submit to it the new employment offer letter to substantiate your request. The aforementioned are supported by Article 9, Article 10, Article 11 and Article 12 of the Ministerial Resolutions No. 707 for 2006 Regarding the Rules and Procedures of Conducting Business in the State for Non-Citizens. It states:

Article 9 - "If the employee requested cancellation of the work permit and leaving the state, the appropriate authority shall summon the sponsoring employer to respond on the application in a period does not exceed seven days from the application."

Article 10 - "If the sponsor did not come within seven days of the notice or came without providing a reasonable cause to object the cancellation of application, the appropriate authority shall annul the permit and the sponsorship without considering his absence or refusal according to the applicable rules and regulations."

Article 11 - "The employee shall not be charged with any fees or fines for the cancellation of the sponsorship, work permit or other fines or fees, if he desires to leave the country and initiated a communication without the Ministry for the same during the required timelines as per the provisions of this resolution."

Article 12 -  "The Ministry may, in cases that are not included in the twelfth and thirteenth articles, and instead of cancelling the work permit and deporting the employee to his home country, may allow the employee based on his approval and the request of a new employer to obtain a new internal or external work permit according to the rules and regulations, provided that the employee has notified the Ministry with the incident of ending his employment, within a period that does not exceed three months from the realisation of the notification cause."

Further, if your employment contract mentions that the employer will provide you accommodation then it is his responsibility to do so till you are on company's residence visa. You may continue to stay on the rented premises until you are notified to vacate it pursuant to a court order.

Know the law

If an employee approaches the court for cancellation of work permit, the sponsoring employer has to respond on the application within seven days. If the sponsor doesn't come within this period or doesn't provide reasonable cause to object the cancellation of application, the appropriate authority shall cancel the permit and the sponsorship without considering his absence or refusal according to the applicable rules and regulations.

Landlord can evict tenant after serving one-year notice

We recently moved from Sharjah to Dubai to a five-bed room villa on rent commencing from January 5, 2018. Within 10 days of moving into the new rented premises in Dubai, I received a notice from my landlord to vacate the rented house upon completion of lease term stating that they are not willing to renew the contract further. The landlord had verbally promised to rent the villa to us for a minimum of 3-5 years. This was not mentioned in the tenancy contract as the landlord stated that each year there shall be administration charges and therefore the tenancy contract will be renewed on yearly basis.

Upon receipt of the notice to vacate after completion of the one-year rental period, I approached the lease manager who informed us that they have received a special approval to convert the property to commercial and therefore, the villa in question shall be demolished. Based on this, I informed the lease manager that it is not morally correct as it is not easy to unpack and shift to a villa with 14 members in a house and repack after a year. We have since been informed to quit the premises immediately if we do not wish to continue to stay in the rented premises by paying 30 per cent of annual rent as cancellation fees. We have already paid 5 per cent of the rent as commission charge and rent for three months and ordered furniture amounting up to Dh50,000 and spend approximately up to Dh20,000 as moving costs.

How will the rental dispute committee be able to help us on this and what legal options are available?

The landlord has the discretion of evicting a tenant by serving him notice of one year through notary public. This is in accordance with Article 25 (2)(a) of Law No. 33 of 2008 Amending Law No. 26 of 2007 Regulating the Relationship between Landlords and Tenants in the Emirate of Dubai, which states, "Upon expiry of the tenancy contract, the landlord may request eviction of the tenant from the real property where the owner wishes to demolish or reconstruct it, or to add any new constructions that will prevent the tenant from using the real property, provided that the required permits are obtained from the competent entities. For the purpose of this Article, the landlord must notify the tenant of the eviction reasons 12 months prior to the date set for eviction, provided that this notice is given through a notary public or registered post."

Further, you may only approach the Rental Dispute Center in Dubai and make an application for an amicable settlement between you and the landlord.

Know the law

When the tenancy contract expires, the landlord may request eviction of the tenant from the real property where the owner wishes to demolish or reconstruct it, or to add any new constructions. He has to serve eviction notice to the tenant 12 months in advance.
Ashish Mehta is the founder and Managing Partner of Ashish Mehta & Associates. He is qualified to practise law in Dubai, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and India. Full details of his firm on: www.amalawyers.com. Readers may e-mail their questions to: news@khaleejtimes.com or send them to Legal View, Khaleej Times, PO Box 11243, Dubai.