Your job can either make or break your life here in Abu Dhabi or UAE in general. Back home, losing your job means no more monthly salary and medical insurance, right? But here, the impact is more than.
On several occasions in my line of work, I happened to know in advance the plans to end, for various reasons, the employment of my few selected colleagues. And having this prior knowledge of what will happen to them in the next few days is always a burden of guilt for me.
I can’t look at them in their eyes. I wish I can tell them without risking my job. It always breaks my heart because I know that as expats, our job here in UAE is our lifeblood.
The first issue is the visa. The legality of your existence here in UAE is literally dependent to your company. To be blunt, it is at the mercy of your employer. The company or employer provides an employment visa to us, expat employees. If for whatever reasons, your employment is terminated, then the company will cancel your visa.
Once the visa is cancelled, you have one month to stay legally in the country. Again, this situation will depend on your employer.
I have a friend who was retrenched from her job because of the recession. Luckily, she had a compassionate employer who allowed her to stay under their sponsorship until she found a job. However, on some occasions, employers will not allow such arrangement. They will cancel your employment visa and escort you the airport on your departure.
The reason behind this is to ensure that expats with cancelled visas will really board the plane and depart the country. Otherwise, it is will be a problem for the company and yours as well.
Here are few tips in coping up with job terminations in Abu Dhabi.
Visa. Always ask your employer if they can allow you to stay in their sponsorship for few weeks until you find a job or more time before they will cancel your visa. Make sure you have clear information on this. The least thing you want to happen is to know that you are running out of time because they cancelled already your visa without your knowledge.
And remember, after your visa is cancelled, you have 30 days to stay legally in the country.
No Object Certificate (NOC). Companies which are government or semi-government do not require any NOC to process your employment visa. However, for medium size employers, they oftentimes require NOC. Hence, before you leave the HR office, ask if they can provide you with NOC should you land a job soon with non-government owned companies.
Friends’ Generosity. This is the toughest part unless you save enough. My friend, who was asked to leave because of recession, stayed with her friend’s house or accommodation to save money. You will not know how long it takes you to get a job, so save every penny.
Use your Network. Though I am not so fond of networking, it does help you in times like this. Job market nowadays here in Abu Dhabi is really tough. I remembered years back, the moment you started sending your CVs out, you would be bombarded with phone calls for interview.
You would definitely get a job sooner than you expect.
But these days, it is different. It takes time to wait for response from your applications. Maybe because they are also swarmed with applicants who are sometimes more qualified than you and are willing to accept modest or even lower employment package.
So to get ahead of this throng of applicants, use your network to push your CV up.
Well, these are few heads up I can share in case you are coping with the plight of losing your job. If you have more tips, please feel free to share.
