By IANS
Dubai : United Arab Emirates (UAE) companies that employ foreign workers have been told to register and update their records with the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) by the end of the year.
The Data Cleansing Project, which was launched by LMRA chief executive Ali Radhi Monday, is to ensure the authority holds the correct data for the expatriate workers.
Once registered, companies will be able to go to logon to the LMRA’s website and access their employees’ details using the user number and password that has been issued to them by the authority.
“If we have the right information, we can serve the sector much better,” said Radhi.
There are around 1.4 million expatriate Indians in the UAE.
From January, the LMRA instead of UAE’s Labour Ministry will be responsible for issuing work visas to expat workers, Gulf Daily News reported.
To start with, LMRA will first target hotels and companies employing more than 100 foreign workers, then financial and insurance sectors and all companies employing more than 50 foreign workers, followed by the retail sector and companies employing more than 20 foreign workers.
Next in line will be the construction sector and companies employing more than 10 expatriate workers and lastly, all companies that employ foreign workers will be obliged to register and cleanse their employees’ data, the paper said.
“By the end of the year all companies that employ expatriates must be registered and data cleansed with the LMRA, otherwise they will not be issued with work visas, said Radhi.
In June, the UAE government launched a three-month amnesty scheme to allow foreign nationals present illegally in the country to get legal permits or leave the country without penalty. 28,000 Indian workers have already returned to India under the scheme.