The UAE Labour Minister, Ali bin Abdullah Al Kaabi revealed that the emirates will support the proposal which plans to expel millions of unskilled workers out of the Gulf through the six-year residency cap.
The residency cap of three years, which is renewable for another three years, will be applicable to unskilled labourers working in GCC countries, and will help tackle the demographic imbalance in the region,- said Al Kaabi.
The proposed residency cap was first announced by Majeed Al-Alawi and will be discussed during the upcoming GCC Summit in Doha at the end of the year. Although the initial comments by Al-Alawi suggested that the proposals will cover all expatriates working in Gulf, the minister later clarified his stance that the cap will be applicable only to semi-skilled and non-professional labourers. However, it is yet to be clarified as to who would be included under these categories.
The remark by the minister has now sparked a firestorm from expatriates across the Gulf, accusing that the minister's shortsighted claim could have a serious impact on the economy of the region. Although there has been a move to limit the cap only to non-professionals, it will still pose a threat to thirteen million odd expatriates in GCC.
The GCC countries such as Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and UAE are largely dependant on expatriate workers to drive their booming economies, a vast majority of whom are unskilled workers. According to Al Kaabi the six-year cap will be applicable to each Gulf State individually, which means that workers could continue working in GCC even after six years, but not in the same country.
Al Kaabi emphasized the need to enrich national dialogue about the labour issue by fixing the demographic imbalance by reconsidering executive, regulatory and legislative frameworks of the UAE labour markets.
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