UAE’s Ministry of Labour announced that, next year, labour cards will be replaced by Emirates IDs.
Also known as work permits, labour cards are issued to foreign workers in the United Arab Emirates. They will soon be entirely replaced by Emirates identification cards. That is reported to happen as early as the first quarter of 2014. The Ministry of Labour was able to make this prognosis after the ID registration of all workers in the country was finalized.
The purpose of the Emirates IDs will be to speed up various transactions which amount to a total of about 4 million. They include things like applications for job permits and job contracts, as well as the renewals of these permits and contracts.
Once the new system is launched, transactions of this type will be completed in 48 hours at the most. In comparison, currently this takes around 15 days. However, the UAE will not charge any extra fees for the new identification cards or the transactions made through them.
The new ID system will make the lives of more than 250,000 workers, as well as employers in the country much easier. That is mainly because they will have the opportunity to get work contracts and permits online.
The Emirates IDs are also said to one day take the place of all identification cards which are used by residents. Those are, for example, all health insurance cards and driving licenses.
Without a doubt, this is a big step forward for the United Arab Emirates. It is part of the country’s plan to find a place in the top 5 governments in the world. The UAE aims to enter the ranking in the next 5-6 years. For that purpose, the country is also currently doing its best to create departments which focus more on customers and offer the best services possible.
