For many, changing jobs in the Middle East can prove too time consuming and difficult to even contemplate. The nature of gaining employment in Middle Eastern nations through sponsorship and a work contract means that obligations to a hiring company are great and due to the attractive income and indemnity options provided to expatriates, job transfer is not often an option that workers want to consider.
Traditionally foreign workers were provided with short term contracts, often around two years, which could be extended by the mutual consent of both employee and employer. However changes in recent times, largely to protect employers from losing their workforce to competitors, have meant that open-ended contracts are often issued. Usually including clauses such as an employer’s right to wait a six month period before renewing an employee’s visa, it has made it increasingly difficult for some to change jobs, with this clause in particular resulting in individuals having to effectively leave the nation for half a year before they can apply for a new work visa.
There are ways of changing jobs; particularly if both parties give mutual consent and an employee or sponsor provides a no objection certificate (NOC). However, employers are often reluctant to issue these as a large investment, including relocation and training costs, has been made in a worker – costs which a competitor would not have to incur. Meanwhile even those who leave the country for six months before reapplying for a visa may find it difficult to find an appropriate position in the niche they were previously working in due to companies’ reluctance to fall out with one another, especially over workforce considerations.
With such difficulties in changing jobs in the UAE and Saudi Arabia it is vital for workers to fully investigate and research a position before they take it as, in the Middle East, there is no quick fix for an unhappy work placement.
