Dubai, December 10 2011: A hefty fine of Dh50,000 will be slapped on residents who hire illegal domestic helpers and workers, who are not on their sponsorship, warned a top
official.
Ali Humaid bin Khatem, Head of the Naturalisation and Residency Prosecution, hoped that this huge fine would be a deterrent for the public to refrain from violating the laws.
Stressing the multiple consequences of such illegal hiring, Ali Humaid revealed that as many as 2,382 cases of illegal hiring were heard by the court until the end of October this year while 4,225 similar cases were heard last year. He pointed out that there is an increase as 900 such cases were investigated in September and October this year. “If we compare the same period with that of last year, we see a difference. In September last year, 314 defendants were referred to the court while 379 accused were referred in the same month this year. It was an increase of 20 per cent”.
An increase of 50 per cent was registered in October this year when 487 accused were brought to court while 308 defendants faced trial for hiring illegals in the same month last year.
With the rise in cases, the Follow-Up and Investigation Section at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs has stepped up its efforts to catch violators, who abscond from their sponsors.
“Ninety five per cent of those who hire illegals are expatriates while the remaining five per cent are locals. There is this misconception that hiring domestic workers by the hour or partly is legal and they often do it to save money and recruitment costs and avoid the routine procedures of legalising the status of those workers. However, that misconception has cost them far more financially and morally with penalties including hefty fines or jail for the employers and jail and deportation for the workers.”
Maysara Paying Scheme
Individuals, who hire illegals and do not have enough money to pay the fines, will face a jail term of up to six months. But with Maysara payment scheme they can settle the fines through monthly instalments over a period that could stretch up to one or two years.
For defendants who are short of cash, every Dh100 would cost them one day in jail. In one case, a violator owed Dh5 million in fines which equalled about 17 months in jail. However, the law says that the maximum jail term for settling a fine would be six months. In many cases and depending on the nature of the violations, the fine would not be cancelled even if a jail term is served.
Inspections and awareness
There are constant inspection campaigns being held by the Inspection Department of the Ministry of Labour (MoL) in coordination with the Follow-Up and Investigation Section at the residency department. Violators of the Foreigner Entry and Residency Law in are being referred to the Public Prosecution.
There has to be awareness among the employers and the workers on the necessity to abide by the Residency Law and Labour Law to know their rights and obligations. Such awareness would spare both parties committing violations.
Hiring of illegals would make an encouraging environment for them to abscond from their sponsors, which is against the law. But at the same time, some families who hired absconders got robbed and could not report it to the police fearing facing legal charges. Such hiring would also make it harder on the police to track down the illegals as their employers may not hold any documents or identity cards of them.
He warned that the legal accountability would not be limited to the last household or employer who hired the illegal. “In many cases, when we catch an illegal we come to know that he was hired by more than one family. What we do is to take the contact details of those families from the illegal and track them down.” Very often, the illegal would turn himself in wanting to be deported and return home.
He also cautioned against calling the numbers shown on slips that are left in some shops advertising about availability of maids working per hour. Most of those maids are illegals.
In one case, an expatriate called a number he got from a shop and was made to believe that he could hire maids part time legally.He was provided with a maid without verifying her legal status. He hired her for a certain period, during which she made away with his money. When he reported her to the police, he came to know that she had absconded from her sponsor. He called the number that was posted on the placard and it turned out that it was out of service. He was charged with hiring an illegal.Other cases investigated by the residency prosecution include forgery of passports and residency visas, working on visit visas and overstaying in the country with expired visas.
Ali Humaid bin Khatem, Head of the Naturalisation and Residency Prosecution, hoped that this huge fine would be a deterrent for the public to refrain from violating the laws.
Stressing the multiple consequences of such illegal hiring, Ali Humaid revealed that as many as 2,382 cases of illegal hiring were heard by the court until the end of October this year while 4,225 similar cases were heard last year. He pointed out that there is an increase as 900 such cases were investigated in September and October this year. “If we compare the same period with that of last year, we see a difference. In September last year, 314 defendants were referred to the court while 379 accused were referred in the same month this year. It was an increase of 20 per cent”.
An increase of 50 per cent was registered in October this year when 487 accused were brought to court while 308 defendants faced trial for hiring illegals in the same month last year.
With the rise in cases, the Follow-Up and Investigation Section at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs has stepped up its efforts to catch violators, who abscond from their sponsors.
“Ninety five per cent of those who hire illegals are expatriates while the remaining five per cent are locals. There is this misconception that hiring domestic workers by the hour or partly is legal and they often do it to save money and recruitment costs and avoid the routine procedures of legalising the status of those workers. However, that misconception has cost them far more financially and morally with penalties including hefty fines or jail for the employers and jail and deportation for the workers.”
Maysara Paying Scheme
Individuals, who hire illegals and do not have enough money to pay the fines, will face a jail term of up to six months. But with Maysara payment scheme they can settle the fines through monthly instalments over a period that could stretch up to one or two years.
For defendants who are short of cash, every Dh100 would cost them one day in jail. In one case, a violator owed Dh5 million in fines which equalled about 17 months in jail. However, the law says that the maximum jail term for settling a fine would be six months. In many cases and depending on the nature of the violations, the fine would not be cancelled even if a jail term is served.
Inspections and awareness
There are constant inspection campaigns being held by the Inspection Department of the Ministry of Labour (MoL) in coordination with the Follow-Up and Investigation Section at the residency department. Violators of the Foreigner Entry and Residency Law in are being referred to the Public Prosecution.
There has to be awareness among the employers and the workers on the necessity to abide by the Residency Law and Labour Law to know their rights and obligations. Such awareness would spare both parties committing violations.
Hiring of illegals would make an encouraging environment for them to abscond from their sponsors, which is against the law. But at the same time, some families who hired absconders got robbed and could not report it to the police fearing facing legal charges. Such hiring would also make it harder on the police to track down the illegals as their employers may not hold any documents or identity cards of them.
He warned that the legal accountability would not be limited to the last household or employer who hired the illegal. “In many cases, when we catch an illegal we come to know that he was hired by more than one family. What we do is to take the contact details of those families from the illegal and track them down.” Very often, the illegal would turn himself in wanting to be deported and return home.
He also cautioned against calling the numbers shown on slips that are left in some shops advertising about availability of maids working per hour. Most of those maids are illegals.
In one case, an expatriate called a number he got from a shop and was made to believe that he could hire maids part time legally.He was provided with a maid without verifying her legal status. He hired her for a certain period, during which she made away with his money. When he reported her to the police, he came to know that she had absconded from her sponsor. He called the number that was posted on the placard and it turned out that it was out of service. He was charged with hiring an illegal.Other cases investigated by the residency prosecution include forgery of passports and residency visas, working on visit visas and overstaying in the country with expired visas.