29 January 2006

Dubai: While there may be some advantages to the new labour ministry mandated document verification, expatriates complain that they are all being penalised for the faults of a few.

Some workers are paying hundreds of dirhams in charges to verify their educational certificates, after the labour ministry changed the process last year and pushed up the transaction cost. And, this is after paying for the attestation of certificates.

Last year, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs changed the way it accepted attested university degrees, needed for some professions before expatriates can obtain a labour permit.

Expatriates must now send their attested degree certificate to a document verification company via Emirates Post, and pay Dh510 for the privilege. Previously, attestation took place in an expatriate's home country and in the UAE, and cost about Dh100.

Post offices across the UAE have started accepting certificates under the Degree Verification Programme, which is being carried out in partnership with IntegraScreen, a company that provides immigration screening and document verification services.

Emirates Post has been appointed as IntegraScreen's exclusive partner in the UAE Degree Verification Programme.

It was launched on September 4 last year but was made mandatory two weeks back by the labour ministry. Applicants have to pay a fee of Dh510 per certificate, inclusive of the Dh10 cost of each envelope. The project is being carried out by IntegraScreen on behalf of the ministry.

The programme conducts verification on the educational background for all individuals who are required to produce educational certificates prior to obtaining their UAE residence visa.

Many expatriates said they are told to pay the charge, even when they are expecting salaries of only Dh2,000 or Dh3,000 a month.

The new fees have impacted particularly hard on teachers, who traditionally have extremely low salaries, but must have higher education degrees to teach.

But there is little clarity surrounding who is meant to bear the brunt of the costs.

While many companies demand that expatriates must pay their own visa charges and tickets, labour officials have said this is not legal.

Expatriates labelled the charge "exorbitant".

"I am a post graduate degree holder in Economics from Mumbai University [India]. When I learnt the genuineness of my educational certificates need to be proved, the first question that came to my mind was: Why? Does it mean that Mumbai University issues fake certificates? I was confused. It did not make any sense to me whatsoever that I am to spend Dh500 to verify the originality of an original document," said Pradeep Shivkumar Dixit.

"I understand that the ministry is trying to be vigilant in dealing with fake certificates. But my question is why generalise the problem. If the company that has hired me has some doubts over the credibility of my educational certificates, let them spent the money and get it verified," said Jayant Mahat, a computer engineer.

"Look at the distribution of the money that is taking place. The Emirates Post takes Dh10 from each applicant.

"IntegraScreen, the document Verification Company, takes Dh500. All are making profit," said Umang S, a Dubai-based floor manager.

New permit seekers must attest documents again
Humaid Bin Deemas, assistant labour undersecretary at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, said workers renewing their labour permit with the same company did not have to attest their educational degrees again, even if they had done it prior to the new system.

However, expatriates applying for a new labour permit have to attest their educational degrees using the new system, but only once.

"If an employee has attested his degree once using the new system, he should then keep the receipt. The receipt will show his degree has already been attested, and he won't have to do it again."

By Sunita Menon and Diaa Hadid

Gulf News 2006. All rights reserved.