Job seekers upset as UAE mandates police clearance

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The UAE government's decision to make police clearance certificate (PCC) mandatory for expatriates to get employment visa is likely to cause further hardships to job seekers from the state. The new regulations will come into force on February 4 and those facing criminal cases would not be issued employment visa after that.  However, the new norm would not apply to other types of visas including tourists'. Sources said many involved in criminal cases after obtaining passports were able to get employment visas in the UAE so far and fugitives were widely misusing the loophole. 

The new norms would plug the loophole to a certain extent. So far, PCC was mandatory for jobs only in some countries like Kuwait, USA, UK, Canada and Australia. A major chunk of the expatriate workers in UAE is from Kerala. The PCC, also known as the certificate of good conduct, is issued by the Regional Passport Offices. The application for PCC needs to be submitted at the Passport Seva Kendras. 

In case the applicant was holding a fresh passport, the PCC would be issued without much delay. However, if they had a renewed one, the clearance certificate would be issued only after getting a police verification report. Though district police chiefs also used to issue PCC, a senior IPS officer clarified that PCCs for overseas jobs are issued by Regional Passport Office. Petty cases like drunken driving that could be compounded would not be a bar for issuing police verification report, said the  officer.