Travellers now required Approval for personal use medicines in UAE

All tourists and residents of UAE will now be required to fill in an electronic form to get approval to carry any kind of medication for personal use, said a top Ministry of Health and Prevention, official. The Import of Personal Medication service was launched at Gitex 2018.

The service, which is a part of the ministry’s strategy to enhance community health, provides more supervision in the approval of medicines being brought in by passengers through direct and indirect means.

The service is activated via the creation of a profile on the ministry’s website, followed by the uploading of the required documents, which will be reviewed and approved within one working day by the ministry. The medicines will be checked at the country’s entry ports by a ministry inspector with the cooperation of customs.

The form

The form can be downloaded free of charge from the ministry’s website www.mohap.gov.ae.

Approvals for the medication are provided after submitting documents such as doctor’s prescription, confirmation of a passenger’s duration of stay and passport details among other documents.

Dr Ameen Hussain Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary for Licencing and Public Health Policy at the ministry told Gulf News: “In order to carry personal medication, both control and regular medication, it is now mandatory for all passengers entering UAE to get this prior approval from the ministry to carry their prescription-based medication. We are doing this to control drug threats that hinder the economy and public health.”

Dr Al Amiri said that the ministry has created a special law for importing medicines by passengers entering the country. The supervised medicines with a prescription are allowed for one-month entry. Other medicines with a prescription are allowed for three-months entry. Any medicine that does not meet these requirements will be seized at the airport.

Different embassies have been notified about the new UAE health policies, urging them to inform passengers to avoid any suspicious situations at the airport. The passenger should know the law even if the medicine is legal in their country of origin, thereby there will be no excuse for importing medicines without a prescription or categorised as drugs.

Attestation needed

Dr Al Amiri advised passengers to check with their country’s health authorities if the medicines have any narcotic or psychotropic substances. The prescription should be attested by the official authorities according to the accredited assets to avoid any sanction.

Allaying fears of punitive action, Dr Al Amiri said that if any passenger failed to get this prior approval the custom would seize the medication.” There is no punitive action. If it is a small quantity of non-narcotic medication, the authorities will decide if they want to allow. In case of other kinds of control medication, it will be seized at the port of entry without prior approval.”

This move is part of the federal health ministry’s strategy to provide innovative, comprehensive and fair health practices comparable to international medical standards added Dr Al Amiri.

New UAE visa system from October 21

The sweeping reforms to the UAE visa system announced earlier this year will be implemented on October 21, the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship announced on Wednesday.

The following Cabinet decisions will be implemented:

1. Extending the residency visa of the widow or divorcee women and their children for one year. "The decision grants widows and divorced women and their children a one-year residence without the need for a sponsor. It aims to give women the opportunity to adjust their social and economic status,"

2. Extending residency period for students sponsored by their parents beyond university years or secondary school. Male students in the UAE that are under their parent's visa and pass the age of 18 will be eligible for a visa extension under the new residency scheme

3. Granting visitors a new visit visa after the expiry date of their entry permit for visit or tourism without having to leave UAE.Previously, people on visit or tourist visas, especially job-seekers, had to leave the UAE after the expiration of their three-month visit visa or one-month tourist visa and then applied for new visas so as to return to the UAE.

"The new system now allows people on visit or tourist visas to extend their stay in the UAE for 30 days, for two times, after expiration of the entry permits," said Brigadier Saeed Rakan Al Rashidi, acting director-general of Foreigners Affairs and Ports at the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship.

New employee insurance system to start on October 15 in UAE

The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) has said that the issuance of employee insurance will begin on October 15.This comes as per the UAE Cabinet’s decision to scrap the compulsory bank guarantee and replace it with a low-cost insurance system, according to the ministry.

Aisha Bel Harfia, Assistant Undersecretary for Domestic Worker Affairs, said the ministry has taken all necessary measures to begin issuing insurance documents and refunding bank guarantees to the employers, starting from the aforementioned deadline.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) has said that the issuance of employee insurance will begin on October 15.

This comes as per the UAE Cabinet’s decision to scrap the compulsory bank guarantee and replace it with a low-cost insurance system, according to the ministry.

Aisha Bel Harfia, Assistant Undersecretary for Domestic Worker Affairs, said the ministry has taken all necessary measures to begin issuing insurance documents and refunding bank guarantees to the employers, starting from the aforementioned deadline.

Bel Harfia clarified that the insurance document for domestic workers will be issued upon submitting applications through either Tasheel or Tadbeer service centres. Insurance documents for private sector employees and domestic workers registered with the ministry will be issued through an insurance conglomerate that includes national insurance companies operating in the UAE, which have been chosen according to specific criteria.

The bank guarantee is replaced by a new insurance policy that costs Dh60 annually per worker, providing a coverage of Dh20,000 per worker covering their end-of-service benefits, vacation allowance, overtime allowance, unpaid wages, worker’s return ticket and cases of the work injury.

The insurance policy of domestic workers also covers the cost of replacing the worker in cases of his/her interruption of work, health issues or the desire (of the domestic worker) to cancel the working relationship, in addition to unpaid wages and the worker’s financial benefits such as end-of-service and leave allowances and overtime allowance, in case they have been not be paid by the employer, as well as a return ticket.

Bel Harfia said that the ministry will start refunding bank guarantees to employers, totalling about Dh14 billion as of October 15.

Bel Harfia added that the bank guarantees will be refunded to establishments when cancelling work permits of workers covered by these guarantees, which will thereby end the working relationship between the two parties or when purchasing the insurance policy upon renewal of the employee’s work permit, on the condition that the establishment has not committed violations related to non-payment of salaries during the last six months before the renewal of the expired permit.