Changing job in UAE? No need to cancel family visa

Expatriates changing their jobs in United Arab Emirates will no longer be required to cancel visas of the family members under their sponsorship.

However, they have to deposit a bank guarantee of 5,000 dirhams ($136) for each family member with the Department of Naturalisation and Residency, a Khaleej Times report said quoting official sources.

The applicant can get the bank guarantee refunded once he obtains the new residency permit and the residence visas of his family members and sponsored ones will be automatically transferred to him without paying any new fees.

"The employee or resident must apply to the NRD (before the cancellation procedure) for not cancelling the visas of members of his family or those under his sponsorship.

He should attach the 5,000 dirhams bank guarantee, the new employment permit issued by the ministry of labour to the new sponsor, and the job offer letter from the new employer," major-general Nasser Al Menhali, acting interior ministry undersecretary for naturalisation, residency and exit affairs, told the newspaper.

He said the latest arrangement is being made with a view to streamlining procedures for expatriate residents without adding to their financial burdens.

According to the report, the ministry found that many residents cancelled residence visas of their families and sent them home when they cancelled their own visas even though they have applied for new job visas.