Khaleej Times
DUBAI, July 19: The Ministry of Labour will no more issue employment permits for expatriate male/female secretaries in any private sector firm recruiting 50 employees and above.
Nonetheless, expatriates can still hold on to their jobs as secretaries in establishments of a special nature, and on other exceptional grounds, such as the firm being located in a remote area, a specialised work environment, etc. A joint resolution issued by the Ministry of Labour and the National Employment and Human Resources Development Authority (Tanmia) has been issued in this regard. But the exceptions are to be approved by the MoL Undersecretary, newspaper Khaleej Times has learnt.
The MoL is interested in emiratising all secretariaal jobs, yet it has paid attention to the special nature of jobs in some firms, said Dr Khaled Al Khazraji, MoL Undersecretary, and Head of Tanmia. The MoL is to collaborate with the Tanmia in launching inspection campaigns, Khazraji added. A total of 9,000 secretaries, including 5,000 in Dubai alone, are working in firms sponsoring more than 50 employees, according to MoL statistics disclosed recently.
All secretarial jobs will be reclassified in two main categories: ‘Secretary’ and ‘Executive Secretary’, as per a circular to be distributed, Khazraji maintained. All the applications submitted to the ministry are to be keyed in the electronic database of Tanmia. Applicant firms are to check with Tanmia within a maximum period of 60 days starting from the date notification, Khazraji observed.
It is necessary for the applications of expatriate secretaries submitted for renewal of labour cards to be approved by Tanmia. But this approval will not be issued unless the applicant firm gives a commitment to recruit and train UAE nationals in all secretarial positions within a maximum period of 12 months. Tanmia will also collaborate with the training bodies to carry out all training programmes required for emiratisation of secretarial jobs, according to the training schemes adopted by Tanmia.