1. Introduction
Gulf Vetwork FZC (“we,” “us,” “our”) operates UAE-Vetwork (the “Service”), a platform designed to connect veterans and emergency services professionals (“Users,” “you”) with potential employers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the broader Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use and share it, how long we keep it, your rights regarding your data, and how to contact us.
We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data transparently and securely.
2. Data Controller & Contact Information
- Legal Entity: Gulf Vetwork FZC
- Registered Address: Business Centre, Sharjah Publishing City Free Zone, Sharjah, UAE
- Privacy Inquiries & Data Subject Requests: contactus@uae-vetwork.com
For inquiries or requests related to your personal data, please contact us at the email above. We aim to respond within 30 days.
3. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
This Privacy Policy and our data processing activities are primarily governed by the laws of the United Arab Emirates. Any disputes arising out of or in connection with this Policy will first be attempted to be resolved through good faith negotiation. If unresolved after 30 days, the dispute shall be referred to and finally resolved by binding arbitration under the rules of the Sharjah International Commercial Arbitration Centre (Tahkeem) in Sharjah, UAE.
4. Rights for Users in the UK and European Economic Area (EEA)
Notwithstanding the governing law clause above, if you are located in the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, you have specific rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) respectively. These rights may include:
- Right of Access: To request copies of your personal data.
- Right to Rectification: To request correction of inaccurate data or completion of incomplete data.
- Right to Erasure (‘Right to be Forgotten’): To request deletion of your personal data under certain conditions.
- Right to Restrict Processing: To request the limitation of how we use your data under certain conditions.
- Right to Data Portability: To request transfer of your data to another organisation, or to you, under certain conditions.
- Right to Object: To object to our processing of your data under certain conditions (e.g., for direct marketing).
- Right to Withdraw Consent: Where processing is based on consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at contactus@uae-vetwork.com. We will handle your request in accordance with applicable data protection laws. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority.
5. Information We Collect
We collect the following categories of personal data:
5.1. Account & Identity Data: Provided during registration and profile setup, including first name, last name, primary email address, contact email address, contact mobile number, country of residence, Clerk User ID, and the timestamp of your acceptance of our policies (policy_accepted_at).
5.2. Professional & Profile Data: Information you provide about your background and preferences, including:
- Service Background: Branch of service, years of service, key appointments, deployments, discharge date/status, whether still serving. We collect details like key appointments and deployments as this information is considered essential by our recruitment team to effectively assess suitability for specialized roles, particularly within the security sector.
- Career Preferences: Desired job types, preferred employment type (full-time, contract, etc.), salary expectations, location preferences.
- Visa Status: Current UAE visa type (if any), estimated time needed to relocate (if applicable).
- Uploaded Documents: Curriculum Vitae (CV), cover letters, certificates, or other professional documents you choose to upload.
- Referral Information: If you were referred via an external referrer code, we store that code and may link it to the referrer ID.
5.3. Marketing Preferences: Your choice regarding receiving marketing communications (marketing_opt_in status) and associated consent/withdrawal timestamps.
5.4. Technical Data: We use necessary session cookies via our authentication provider (Clerk) to keep you logged in securely. We do not currently use analytics or advertising cookies. We may collect standard technical information logged by our servers, such as IP address, browser type, and access times for security and troubleshooting purposes.
6. How We Use Your Data
We use your personal data for the following purposes:
- To Provide the Service: To create and manage your account, allow you to build your profile, upload documents, and use the platform's features.
- To Facilitate Recruitment Matching: Our internal recruitment team reviews your profile data and documents to identify potential matches with job opportunities from employers seeking candidates.
- To Communicate with You: To send essential service-related messages (e.g., account verification, security notices), respond to your support requests or inquiries.
- To Share Your Profile with Potential Employers (With Your Consent): If our recruitment team identifies a potential job match for you with a specific employer, we will contact you to describe the opportunity. We will only share your profile data and associated documents with that specific employer after receiving your explicit consent for that specific instance.
- To Improve the Service: To troubleshoot issues, analyze usage patterns (typically using aggregated or anonymized data), and develop new features.
- To Ensure Security: To protect against fraud, abuse, and security incidents.
- To Comply with Legal Obligations: To meet legal and regulatory requirements.
- For Marketing (With Your Consent): If you explicitly opt-in, to send you newsletters, industry news, job alerts, event invitations, or other promotional communications.
7. Legal Bases for Processing (GDPR/UK GDPR Context)
We rely on the following legal bases to process your personal data:
- Performance of Contract: Processing necessary to provide the Service you requested (creating your profile, allowing review by our team as a pre-contractual step towards potential employment).
- Consent: For sending optional marketing communications, and crucially, for sharing your profile with specific potential employers. You can withdraw consent at any time.
- Legitimate Interests: For purposes like securing the platform, preventing fraud, improving the service through internal analysis, and operating our business, provided these interests are not overridden by your fundamental rights and freedoms.
- Legal Obligation: Processing necessary to comply with applicable laws.
8. Marketing Communications
We will only send you marketing communications (newsletters, job alerts, event updates, etc.) if you have explicitly consented to receive them. You provide this consent by actively enabling the option in the “User Preferences” section of your user dashboard. You can withdraw your consent at any time by disabling the option in your dashboard or by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in any marketing email we send.
9. Data Sharing and Third Parties
We do not sell your personal data. We share your data only in the following circumstances:
- With Potential Employers (With Your Explicit Consent): As described in Section 6, we will share your profile and documents with a specific employer only after obtaining your explicit consent for that specific share.
- With Service Providers (Data Processors): We use third-party companies to perform essential functions, such as:
- Clerk: User authentication and account management.
- UploadThing: Secure storage for your uploaded files (CVs, documents).
- Supabase: Hosting our PostgreSQL database infrastructure.
- Netlify: Hosting our website frontend and potentially backend functions.
- Svix: Webhook delivery for system integrations.
- Arcjet: Security platform services (e.g., rate limiting, bot protection).
- For Legal Reasons: If required by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Gulf Vetwork FZC, our users, or the public.
- In Case of Business Transfer: If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, your data may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to confidentiality agreements.
10. International Data Transfers
Your personal data may be processed in countries outside of your country of residence, including the UAE and locations where our service providers operate (e.g., USA for Clerk/UploadThing, various locations for Supabase/Netlify/Arcjet). When we transfer data subject to GDPR/UK GDPR outside the UK/EEA, we rely on appropriate safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by relevant authorities, adequacy decisions, or other valid transfer mechanisms, to ensure your data receives adequate protection. You should review the privacy policies of our processors for details on their data locations and transfer mechanisms.
11. Data Security
We implement technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, or alteration. These include:
- Using TLS/HTTPS encryption for data transmission.
- Relying on our service providers for encryption of data at rest.
- Implementing role-based access controls within our team.
- Regularly reviewing our security practices.
However, no system is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
12. Data Retention
We retain your personal data, including your profile information and uploaded documents, for as long as you maintain an active account with us and wish to be considered for potential roles.
You can delete your account at any time through your user profile interface (managed via Clerk), which will trigger the deletion of your associated data in our database, subject to system propagation times. You can also request deletion by contacting us at contactus@uae-vetwork.com.
Upon receiving a valid deletion request or detecting account deletion via Clerk, we will delete or irreversibly anonymize your personal data from our active systems within 30 days, unless retention is required for legal or regulatory reasons. Data may persist in secure backup archives for a limited period (typically up to 90 days) for disaster recovery purposes before being overwritten.
13. Your Rights and Choices
You have rights regarding your personal data (as detailed in Section 4 for UK/EEA users, and potentially under other applicable laws). To exercise any rights (access, correction, deletion, etc.), please email contactus@uae-vetwork.com.
- Identity Verification: We will verify your identity before processing your request, typically by requiring the request to originate from the email address associated with your account. We reserve the right to request additional information if necessary to confirm your identity.
- Marketing Opt-Out: You can opt-out of marketing emails at any time via your dashboard or the unsubscribe link.
- Account Deletion: You can delete your account via the Clerk interface within your profile settings.
14. Children’s Privacy
The Service is intended for individuals aged 18 years or older. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 18. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected such data, we will take steps to delete it.
15. Sensitive Personal Data
We request that you do not submit sensitive personal data (also known as "special categories of personal data" under GDPR, e.g., information about health, race, ethnicity, political opinions, religion, trade union membership, genetics, biometrics) through your profile or uploaded documents, unless it is strictly necessary and directly relevant for the types of roles you are seeking via our Service. You are responsible for the data you choose to provide.
16. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the revised version here with a new “Last updated” date. For material changes that significantly affect your rights or how we handle your data, we will provide more prominent notice, such as via email or an in-app notification, at least 30 days before the changes take effect. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of the revised Policy constitutes your acceptance of the changes.
17. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at: contactus@uae-vetwork.com.