Expatriate Workers in the UAE: Advantages vs. Disadvantages

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Table of Contents

Conclusion
Bibliography
Footnotes

Over the past few decades, a steep rise in the number of expatriates from a variety of countries to the UAE has been noticed. The immigration rates are beyond impressive, as the 2014 statistics shows. Moreover, people flee to the UAE from a great number of countries.

At present, the citizens of more than eighty states inhabit UAE. For the most part, these immigrants have moved to the Emirates in search for a job with a salary that can cover the expenses for their basic life necessities, as well as for better educational opportunities.

However, the rapid increase in the amount of people immigrating to the UAE on a regular basis causes the Emirati government major concern regarding the unemployment rates among the citizens of the state. In order to reduce the latter and introduce the concept of sustainability into the management of the UAE entrepreneurships and institutions, the government authorities need to put stricter limits on the state regulations concerning the admissible percentage of immigrants.¹

The key methods for conducting the qualitative research in question concern primarily the use of a basic, or pragmatic, research, i.e., the overview of the exiting records, statistical data and literature on the topic.

The methods chosen for carrying out the study in question are justified by the fact that the study must embrace the entire population of the UAE immigrants, as well as the native residents of the state, with a close analysis of their culture, the effects that immigrants have on the unemployment rates, the factors that contribute to increase of immigration rates, etc.

Seeing that the acquisition of the requested information presupposes the analysis of the UAE citizens’ records in general, it is reasonable to suggest that surveys will provide only superfluous information, whereas official statistics will shed more light on the phenomenon of immigration.

The analysis of the existing data has shown that people come to UAE from thef following countries: India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.² In addition, the 2014 statistics shows that immigrants make % of the population in the UAE, which is % higher than the previous year. As far as the reasons for immigration are concerned, one must admit that the factors, which made people change their location from their native land to the Emirates mostly concern the specifics of the political issues in the former.

In addition, a number of the UAE immigrants have moved due to the poor economic factors for running a business or poor chances for finding a job in their states. Finally, a range of people confessed that the UAE provide much better educational options and, therefore, deserves to be considered an option for immigration.

Apart to the threats to the population of the UAE, the increased rates of immigration into the state trigger a range of problems for migrants as well. To be more specific, the UAE immigrants often have to face the violation of their civil rights, mistreatment from their employees and the UAE authorities, etc. As a result, immigrants suffer, facing life-threatening issues and forced to work in the conditions that lead to serious health concerns.

Despite the fact that the increased migration rates are obviously a reason for concern, one must bear in mind the fact that a range of the UAE companies thrive on immigrant labor. Because of the necessity to compete with the local residents, who often have a number of advantages in terms of their qualification, immigrants resort to applying for the jobs that the local residents are unwilling to take.

In addition, hiring immigrant workers often happens to be considerably cheaper than paying the UAE citizens for the same amount of work done. As a result, migrant labor contributes to the promotion of the UAE SMEs and larger entrepreneurships.

Hence, with the introduction of the principles of sustainability into the UAE economy in general and the system of organization management in particular, one will be able to use the increasing immigration rates for the benefit of the state economy. In other words, by using migrant labor in the areas, where hiring the local residents seems problematic various reasons (e.g., low wages, tough working conditions, etc.), the UAE companies will benefit greatly, doubling their revenues and, thus, improving the state economy.

There is no need to stress the fact that the current immigration rates in the UAE pose a consistent threat to the wellbeing of both the Emirati residents and the immigrants, including the migrant workforce. While the opportunities, which the current mild regulations concerning immigration have to offer, are rather alluring, the costs, which immigrants and the UAE population have to pay, are more than discouraging. It is obvious that the Emirati government will have to impose a set of stricter regulations on the current system.

One must also bear in mind that the lenience of the current migration laws adopted in the Emirates is not the only factor that contributes to the increase in the annual number of immigrants in the state. Apart from the specified detail, the fact that the UAE, along with several other African states, provides the most favorable working and living conditions in Africa.

For the residents of the African regions, which can be described as economically underachieving and poverty stricken, the specified factors are enough for deciding to immigrate into the United Arab Emirates. Hence, the problem also needs to be approached on a global level, with the introduction of the programs, which would allow less economically advanced states to improve their performance and provide their residents with the education and financial stability that they need.

The fact that the immigrant workers’ qualifications are often quite high and, therefore, these workers may pose a challenge for the local candidates, thus, creating additional competition, deserves to be mentioned. Indeed, quite unexpectedly, immigrants show a rather decent level of professional competency, jeopardizing the employment rates among the UAE population.

In the light of the fact that the UAE staff often disregards options for improving their skills and knowledge, the influx of immigrants cannot but cause major concern: “government supported programmes for higher nationalisation of workforce in GCC countries have not delivered desired results in the private sector. Private sector organisations continue to depend on expatriate workforce for pure business reasons and will continue to do so in near future as well.”³

Addressing the situation, therefore, is quite complicated at present. As it has been stressed above, the phenomenon of the UAE immigration has both positive and negative effects on nearly every single domain of the state’s functioning, including its economic, financial, social and even cultural aspects. It should be born in mind, though, that enhancing the immigration legislation does not seem to be a way out.

According to the records of the states that have already tried the specified approach, the number of legal immigrants plummeted after the adoption of the corresponding legislation, yet the rates of illegal immigration have rocketed with the adoption of the specified laws. Since illegal immigrants do not pay taxes, rent and the related costs for their living, the states restricting immigration laws suffer great financial losses, the recent statistical data shows.

The fact that immigrants influence the state economy in a positive way by providing cheaper and comparatively efficient labor force for SMEs allows for suggesting that the no-restriction policy should be adopted in addressing the issue. However, the negative effects of immigration, including the economic and the financial ones, prove that more drastic measures should be used; particularly, the requirements for the people moving to the Emirates to meet should be upgraded a few notches.

In order to locate the compromise between the two solutions, one must suggest that the concept of sustainability should be used for solving the problem. To be more specific, it will be required to improve the existing visa system; as a result, satisfying every stakeholder involved will become possible.

It should be noted that a giant step towards major improvement in the UAE immigration issues has been made with the introduction of a multiple-entry visa into the state system of migration control. An introduction of a more complex system of checking whether the person visiting the Emirates for employment purposes, in its turn, may possibly become an illegal immigrant can be considered a major foot forward in addressing the immigration problem.⁴

However, further adjustments to the existing measures for addressing the issue must be made. First and most obvious, it will be required that the person immigrating to the UAE should prove that they will have somewhere to live after moving to the Emirates. In addition to the changes in the current immigration policies, state regulations must also address the hiring policies of the local SMEs.

To be more specific, it will be required that the information concerning the salaries paid to the migrant workers should be filed on a regular basis; finally, the tax credit should be cut so that the employees immigrating to the UAE should not have motivation for immigration for economic purposes.

Conclusion

There is no need to stress that the sharp increase in immigration rates has become quite a problem for the UAE. Affecting the state economy considerably, the influx of immigrants, both legal and illegal, shapes the current business landscape, ousting the UAE specialists from the labor market and reducing the quality of the services provided by the UAE companies.

On the other hand, though, immigration does allow for boosting the financial performance of local organizations, as migrant labor force demands a comparatively humbler financial reward for their efforts.

A sustainable control of the immigration process, therefore, can be considered a reasonable approach to adopt when addressing the issue. The specified strategy provides an opportunity to make the best of the situation that the state is currently in, at the same time reducing the amount of immigrants. It should be noted, though, that the specified approach will require cooperation between the UAE government and the state’s largest entrepreneurships.

Bibliography

CIA, ‘The World Factbook,’ CIA Library, 2014.
Cooper, N., ‘City of Gold, City of Slaves: Slavery and Indentured Servitude in Dubai,’ Journal of Strategic Security, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 65–71.
‘Employment Issues in the United Arab Emirates,’ Dubai International Finance Center, Latham and Watkins, Dubai, 2013.
Naithani, P., ‘Challenges Faced by Expatriate Workers in Gulf Cooperation Council Countries,’ International Journal for Business and Management, vol. 5, no. 1, 2010, p. 98.–103.

Footnotes

‘Employment Issues in the United Arab Emirates,’ Dubai International Finance Center, Latham and Watkins, Dubai, 2013.
CIA, ‘The World Factbook,’ CIA Library, 2014.
P. Naithani, ‘Challenges Faced by Expatriate Workers in Gulf Cooperation Council Countries,’ International Journal for Business and Management, vol. 5, no. 1, 2010, p. 99.
N. Cooper, ‘City of Gold, City of Slaves: Slavery and Indentured Servitude in Dubai,’ Journal of Strategic Security, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 65–71.

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Expatriate Workers in the UAE: Advantages vs. Disadvantages

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