UAE visa insurance scheme

Updated 11th December 2018 (Originally published 16th October 2018)

Effective 15th October 2018, the UAE's new visa insurance scheme was launched. Will it be better for you business' cash flow? How can you reclaim existing bank guarantees already deposited? This article aims to answer the questions about the UAE's new visa insurance scheme. We recently published an article giving an overview of the UAE's new insurance scheme.

UAE visa insurance or visa bank guarantee?

Now, when a company is processing a new employee's visa, once the work permit has been approved and paid for they will have to option of either depositing a visa guarantee of AED3,000 (old requirement) or they can opt for the new visa insurance scheme which is AED150 and will be valid for two years.

The AED3,000 visa bank guarantee is refundable at the time of the visa cancellation. The new visa insurance scheme costs AED60 per year, but it is purchased for the longevity of the visa (2 years). There are also processing fees of AED15 for the Ministry of Human Resources & Emiratisation (MOHRE) and AED15 for the Ministry of Finance (MoF). This is not refundable.

How will UAE visa bank guarantees be refunded?

As companies come to renew existing employee visas they will have to switch to the new insurance scheme, providing they haven't had a block in the previous six months. The company can choose to claim for the AED3,000 visa bank guarantee to be refunded or they can leave it deposited. Company's can't do a bulk switch from the old system to the new scheme. It will be a gradual change as visas require renewal. Furthermore, as mentioned in our previous article, companies will not be able to apply for their visa bank guarantees to be refunded if they have had a block in MOHRE during the previous six months. Blocks are caused by such things as company's delaying the renewal of labour cards or having irregularities related to their Wage Protection System (WPS) monthly payroll payments.