I’m a Filipina who married a Pakistani in December 2012 under Sharia in Abu Dhabi. I’m on my husband’s visa but I’ve been estranged from him for a few months because I can’t cope since he brought his family from Pakistan to live with us. My husband would not listen to my concerns, so I moved out and rented elsewhere. Now, he says, he is engaged to a Pakistani woman that his mother found for him and they are to marry soon. He’s now putting me under pressure to find a job with a visa, saying he will cancel my visa soon. There has been no divorce paper, as yet. I want to know if he can legally cancel my visa without a divorce paper from court. Also, can I put a travel ban on him? I ask because he aims to travel in February to get married. Can I still ask for financial support from him?
Your husband cannot cancel your residency visa since you are still his wife, in accordance with the Personal Status Law No 28 for year 2005 and its amendments. He is obliged by law to provide you with a suitable house and pay for your living costs. You can file a legal case against him seeking a house and monthly alimony from him. If you have children together, then he is obliged by law to pay for their costs as well. If not, he will pay just for you, and you can demand that he pays you your dowry, which is a condition stated in writing in your marriage contract. If he divorces you, you can, by law, demand that he pays you your dowry if he did not pay it before, and also demand he pays the compensation given to a divorced woman during her waiting period after divorce – a period prescribed by Islamic law during which she may not remarry.
I have a query about the new labour law. As I understand it, C4 visa holders can switch jobs after completing six months of service, giving one month’s notice to their employer. Is this correct? Also, has there been any official notification that this law has been implemented yet?
The law has been approved and is being implemented. The law states that two parties can break the contract between them as long as there is mutual agreement. If there is agreement, this would allow an employee to change jobs without any implications but if the employer does not agree on a mutual termination of contract then the employee will have the right to submit a complaint with the Ministry of Labour office in their emirate of residence. The labour office will either grant the employee the right to move to another job or instruct them to file a case against the employer with the labour court.
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