All foreign workers, including Nepalis, aspiring to work in the United Arab of Emirates (UAE) will have to furnish a ‘Good Conduct and Behaviour Certificate’ to obtain a work visa in the Gulf nation.

Making an amendment to its labour policy, the UAE government on Saturday came up with this requirement for foreign workers to receive a work visa.

“Beginning February 4, all foreigners coming to the UAE for the purpose of work will require the ‘Good Conduct and Behaviour Certificate’ as a main condition to receive a work visa,” Khaleej Times, a local English daily, reported quoting government officials. 

The aspirant workers will have to obtain such certificate from the authorities concerned, mainly the security agencies, in their country of origin or a country of their residency where they have spent the last five years. The document needs to be certified by the UAE missions abroad or through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Following the latest decision by the Emirati government, the Nepali Embassy in the UAE has issued a statement urging Nepali citizens who are already in the country and those willing to enter the country on foreign employment to obtain such document. The UAE hosts more than 100,000 Nepali migrant workers.

The embassy has advised those Nepalis, who have not gone any foreign country in the last five years, to apply for the document at the Nepal Police Headquarters in Naxal, Kathmandu. The certificate should be submitted to the Department of Consular Services at Tripureshwor and the UAE Embassy in Kathmandu for attestation.

Those who are already in the UAE can apply for the character certificate through their family members in Nepal, according to the embassy. The clearance report on worker’s conduct is issued by the Character Verification Unit of Crime Investigation Department of Nepal Police.

The UAE government has said that the decision was part of its efforts to make the country safer. The country has an estimated 4.5 million foreign labour forces.

The document, however, will not be necessary for students, tourists and the dependent family members of the workers.