UAE's Federal National Council (FNC) has urged the government to introduce a six-year residency limit on all expatriate workers in the country.

The FNC's Internal Affairs and Defence Committee said in a report, which was brought before the FNC, that foreign workers should leave the UAE after six years and only come back after obtaining a new residency visa, the Gulf News report said.

Lawmakers argued that, by applying this rule, the government would be free of any obligations which might be imposed by international conventions regarding its foreign manpower, the report said.

These proposals require the approval of the Cabinet and signature of President Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan before they are made law.

Official statistics put the number of foreign workers at 3.113 million in 260,000 companies accounting for 90 per cent of the workforce in the private sector.

It is estimated the number of Emiratis will be less than eight per cent of the workforce in 2009 and the proportion will drop to four per cent by 2020, the report added.