Fines of $1m issued for hiring illegal workers in Dubai

Dubai authorities issued fines of just over $1 million to 58 sponsors and people who employed people illegally last year, according to a senior official.

Emirates 24/7 reports that the fines were issued to those who flouted the residency laws by hiring workers illegally, which resulted in a $13,600 (AED50,000) fine for each case.

“The prosecution has issued AED4,086,900 in fines to 58 sponsors and people who hired violators of residency laws in Dubai last year,” Advocate-General Ali Humaid Khatem, head of Naturalisation and Residency Prosecution in Dubai, was quoted as saying.

He said the Naturalisation and Residency Prosecution in Dubai set up an initiative called ‘Maysara’ in 2010 which allows the sponsor an opportunity to pay the fine in instalments, rather than go to jail.

“If violators fail to pay fines, then they will be sentenced to go to jail, and in this case, their families will lose the person who supports them and this will lead to other problems. This is not what we want, and that is why we came up with this initiative,” Khatem said.

The payments can be spread over a maximum of two years and must be financially unable to pay the fine in order to avail of the initiative. He said that 33 people of the 58 have availed of the system.