The UAE's Ministry of Labour is planning to permit workers, whose contracts have ended, to take up new jobs if the market really needs them. This will help address some negative impacts of the sponsorship system for foreign workers, Saqr Gobash Saeed Gobash, Minister of Labour, has said .

Gobash said: "The Ministry of Labour will not intervene between workers and employers during the period of these contracts, unless a party failed to abide by its obligations. After the job contract ends, each party will be free to determine the new relationship they wish to enter either with the same party or a third party. There will be no restrictions as long as no violation of the law is made."

The minister defended the sponsorship system in the UAE and said measures will be adopted to prevent the abuse of the system. In a statement to the Federal National Council, the minister said the sponsorship system was legal and common in many countries, but under different names.

In response to a query by Yousuf Obaid Ali Al Nuaimi, a representative from Ras Al Khaimah, who called for free labour movement and cancellation of the costly sponsorship system, the minister said, there are illegal practices and actions will be taken to stop these abuses.

Gobash said that the current labour sponsorship system, according to a study, costs the country about Dh50 billion a year to host more than four million foreign workers. The representative suggested that before abolishing the costly system, rules must be enforced to protect rights of workers and employers.

"All foreign workers must be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labour and they must be allowed to change jobs without hassles once a contract ends. Also employer should not be allowed to withhold workers' passports," Al Nuaimi said.

He added employers' rights must also be guaranteed, citing the right of every business to protect information it regarded as commercially sensitive.

The cost of a skilled worker is Dh144,000 and the cost of an unskilled worker is Dh33,000, according to Dr Mouawiya Al Awad, Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research at Zayed University.