Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, Saqr Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, said that the principle of background security checks on expats by the Cabinet in October last year.
With the emergence of a Jordanian man who was found guilty of kidnapping, raping and murdering an eight-year-old boy last year, the call to stricter security check on foreign workers grew louder.
With more than 4.5 million expats working and living in their country, Emiratis want to make sure every worker is free of any criminal records, regardless of their country of origin or nationality.
Hamad Al Rahoumi, a member of the UAE Federal National Council (FNC) said that he did not feel safe without knowing the expat workers' background. He wanted to make sure every chauffeur that drives his family’s car is free of a criminal record. “It comes down to authorities conducting security checks before issuing work permits,” he said.
He also wonder why security clearance certificates are required from Emiratis but not from expatriates.
The OFWs, on the other hand,cannot be allowed by the government to work outside the country without a clearance issued by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) duly authenticated by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Any criminal records are being checked during the process ensuring that the worker applying to work overseas has no existing derogatory criminal records.