UAE work visa: Some companies advised to prioritize diversity in nationalities

In the UAE, businesses dominated by a particular nationality among their workforce are being encouraged to enhance demographic diversity when applying for new visas. The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) conveys this message to companies where a significant number of employees of a specific nationality are seeking new work visa.

An executive from another business center emphasized the UAE’s commitment to fostering diversity in workplaces. He further noted that companies with a significant number of employees from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh face restrictions on applying for new visas for individuals from these countries.

A business service center in Dubai, inquiring with the MoHRE, discovered that establishments are required to diversify nationalities during their hiring processes. The directive suggests allocating the ‘first 20 per cent of available quotas’ to individuals of different nationalities, emphasizing that this policy aims at achieving overall demographic diversity rather than favoring a particular nationality.

When a company receives guidance to achieve diversity, the recommendation is to consider hiring an employee from a different nationality. The MoHRE’s call center has confirmed that the initial 20 per cent of a company’s workforce must exhibit diversity. In cases where a visa application is declined based on the diversity criterion, the company is urged to recruit an individual of a different nationality for the same position to meet diversity requirements. This policy is uniformly applicable across all nationalities.

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In 2022, the MoHRE introduced a three-tier classification system in the UAE. Achieving diversity in hiring is one of the criteria for obtaining a higher classification, which comes with benefits such as discounts on work permits and transfer fees.

An employee shared an instance where obtaining a visa for an Indian applicant was successful at a company with a diverse workforce. However, a similar attempt at an establishment predominantly staffed by Indians resulted in receiving the ‘achieve diversity’ message.

Contrary to claims on social media, experts and agents dealing with visas emphatically deny allegations that the UAE has stopped issuing visas to individuals from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

-Agencies

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