Hold up. Can someone explain something to me?

[alli]

So me and my man are a stone's throw away from moving to Dubai.

I've been searching the net for DAYS, and i'm getting conflicting reports.

The facts are,
I'll be married
My husband will be sponsored by his company.

What I am coming across is that if women are sponsored by their husband they are not allowed to work. The husband is sponsoring the wife to live, not to work.

Can someone please tell me that I'll be able to work if I go over there, having been sponsored by my husband?

Because if I can't work, we won't go. It's not financially viable.

thanks, alli!

[alli]

Hello again, don't worry, I answered my own question (it may be useful to others so I will post what I discovered)

I rang the UAE Embassy (in Australia) but I am sure it's similar for most expats.

I told them that I am a wife who's husband has a job in Dubai and has been sponsored by his company.

She said that yes, I can work, but there is alot to do.

1. Our Marriage Certificate needs to be legalised. What that means is that we need to take our marriage certificate to the Department of Foreign Affairs for authentication. They will do that for approx $30.

2. The authenticated marriage certificate then needs to be taken / mailed to the UAE Embassy in your respective country to formalise it. This costs $60 .

3. When hubby goes to Dubai he needs to take with him a copy of my passport, and our UAE endorsed marriage certificate.

I will then be issued with a residency visa.

Under this visa, I can search for work, but cannot work.

Once I get a job, that company will issue me with my own work visa, which will mirror the details on his. The man's will be the main visa and mine will be kind of secondary. ie he's in charge (he loves that!)

So basically, I have to find a job over there, and whoever employs me will update my visa status from resident to work.

Hope this is helpful to other working ladies!

As a side note, the woman on the phone was very quick to point out that it is illegal for men and women to live together if they are not married and that we will have to prove our marriage on arrival. I know most of you know that anyway but yeah, just relaying info.

Cheers

[cairogal]

Of course, many women are hired on their spouse's sponsorship w/o doing all that. Technically, your new employer should pay for a labour card, but part of the appeal of hiring spouses is to save money. I'm not suggesting this, but don't be surprised if an employer indicates that they would like to do this. The downside? SHould things go sour and you need to file a complaint, you'll be on the wrong side of the law.

[Geordie Armani]

rubbish, completely legal to work on your husbands visa, some companies prefer to employ people on their husbands visas as it keeps the costs down for them. Teachers - the majority of them are on their husbands visas as they are more often than not trailing spouses. All you do is get a no objection letter from your husband, giving you permission to work. Your employer will then get you a labour card. I wouldn't advise anyone to come off their husbands visa for any reason, NEVER.