The Global Phoenix - Issue 3 August 2017 | Page 36

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
If Saudi Arabia is the traditional leader of the region, the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) could be characterized as
the young, fast-growing upstart of the region, and the
emerging economic leader. While still heavily dependent
on oil production like its neighbours, the UAE embraced
openness, globalisation and economic diversification
perhaps earliest and most successfully. The UAE plotted
a deliberate strategy of attracting foreign investment
through free-trade zones which offer businesses 100%
foreign ownership with zero local taxes. The resulting
explosion in development and companies locating to
Dubai is now the stuff of legend, with a major, modern,
international city rising from the desert seemingly
overnight. While growth has slowed somewhat, the
long-term trend for the UAE is still overwhelmingly
positive, and its economic policy continues to pursue
further diversification. The World Economic Forum’s
Global Competitiveness Index ranks the UAE 16th most
attractive for business.
Immigration policy in the UAE is largely open for compa-
nies employing foreign nationals, with over 90% of the
private sector jobs held by foreign workers. It generally
takes only 4 to 8 weeks to have a foreign worker author-
ised and on-site in the Emirates. However, there has been
a recent trend toward increasing employment of local citi-
zens. Recent developments in corporate mobility include:
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Minor refinements in the rules for the transfer of unused
work permits to new employees and employees switching
employment between companies in the free zones;
Various and ongoing significant modernisation of the
processes related to work, residence and family visas, with
new online processes;
Changes in the UAE’s extensive visa-on-arrival system.
Effective from last September, additional 30-day visas-
on-arrival are now no longer available until the full length
of the initial visa-on-arrival has run its course. The past
practice of exiting and reentering to receive a successive
30-day stay is no longer the norm. Also, Russia and China
were recently added to the list of nations whose citizens
are eligible for visas-on-arrival, and Indian citizens with US
visas or Green Cards are now eligible;
Implementation of a new Tawteen Program providing
benefits to companies that increase recruitment and hiring
efforts for local workers, and new rules requiring large
companies to hire additional local citizens as health and
safety officers and data entry professionals;
In February, the federal cabinet announced an ambitious
new program to attract exceptional foreign talent to the
emirates. While still in the planning stage and thin on
details, the program appears to be targeted at attracting
highly-skilled and entrepreneurial foreign nationals in the
medical, scientific, research, IT and other intellectual fields.