Tenancy contract must for sponsoring family in UAE

A top official at the Ministry of Interior has warned that no leniency will be given to those who don't produce a tenancy contract under their own name when seeking to sponsor family members on their own residency visas.

Major General Nasser Al Awadi Al Menhali, acting Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Naturalisation and Residency, told Gulf News yesterday expatriates need to have a proper accommodation with a valid tenancy contract under their own name to be able to sponsor their family members.

The clarification by Maj Gen Al Menhali comes after some expatriates said they were not aware of the rules.

One Dubai resident said he wanted to sponsor his family but that his application was rejected because he used to live in shared accommodation with his brother.

The Indian man said the residency department in Dubai had asked him to submit a tenancy contract under his own name and that he would not be able to sponsor his wife and children without one.

"This is not a new rule as it was implemented a few years ago, but people are still ignorant to such rules and are surprised when they are asked to submit tenancy contracts under their name to sponsor their families," said Maj Gen Al Menhali.

"Applicants across the country must produce a copy of their tenancy contract to prove their eligibility to sponsor a family so as to ensure they can actually afford to give their families a decent living space," he added.

‘Rejected'

Maj Gen Al Menhali said those who live in shared accommodation and have a tenancy contract which is not under their own name will not have applications to sponsor their families accepted.

"We have to ensure that whoever applies for a residence visa for his or her family must have suitable and proper accommodation available for them and their families," he said.

Maj Gen Al Menhali said it was not necessary for applicants seeking to sponsor families to produce tenancy contracts from the same emirate. The tenancy contract can be from any other emirate, but should be under the sponsor's name only.

He said in 2008 the Ministry of Interior announced the rule. It was introduced to ensure that applicants who wished to sponsor their families had proper accommodation and that the sponsor could really support his or her family. "The contract should either be in the name of the sponsor or in the name of the company where he or she works," he said.

"The application will be rejected if a big family lives in a studio apartment," he said.

He added that those who wanted to bring their families on a visit visa were not required to present a tenancy contract with the application.

Payday to come early -Salaries credited to employee accounts much quicker in Dubai

Salaries will be credited to employee accounts much quicker with the roll-out of the UAE Funds Transfer System (FTS) on April 14, replacing the slower Swift system, said a banking industry expert.

"FTS is a huge step forward with quicker salary transfer being a key benefit for individuals," said Rajesh Mohan, Head of Banking and Finance, Unity Infotech, a Dubai-based banking software developer.

FTS, mandated by UAE Central Bank, works as a real-time gross settlement system. It is dovetailed with the International Bank Account Number (IBAN) adopted by the UAE in November 2011.

Meanwhile, banks have started notifying customers to start using the 23-digit IBAN starting with "AE" in applying for any dirham-denominated funds transfer within the country.

"Customers will definitely benefit with speed, and lower standardised fees," Imam Elias, member of the FTS project team with Noor Islamic Bank, told XPRESS. "Earlier, banks used to charge between Dh100 and Dh225 from customers who transfer funds within the UAE. Now it's been standardised to Dh25 with FTS. Some banks used to charge customers for payment of employee salaries, now the salaries will also be transferred for free through FTS."

But there's a catch: If the IBAN does not match as per the beneficiary's bank records, the beneficiary name and other details will not be validated and the transfer will be stalled, according to an Emirates NBD notice sent to customers.Except for credit cards, all payments in dirhams within the UAE must use IBAN, the Central Bank said. And with exchange houses joining the FTS loop, customers will be able to move money within the UAE even beyond the banking hours, as long as they can find an open FTS-link exchange.

Unity's system is used by a dozen local banks and eight exchange houses. Mohan said over 20 money exchange houses are already part of FTS. "Any funds transfer transaction before 3pm will be processed the same day, but beyond that, it will be credited the next day."

With the much slower Swift system, it used to take two to three days for fund transfer transactions to be processed, as it was routed to servers outside the UAE.

"There are a lot of institutions, especially in the free zones, that are not on the Wages Protection System (WPS)," said Mohan. To avoid delays or rejection of fund transfers, bulk transactions must now use the IBAN prescribed by the FTS when the system kicks in from next week.

The Central Bank adopted IBAN in November 2011 to trace transactions using a 23-digit number system. It is used for remittances of salaries through UAE's WPS, which allowed the government to monitor private sector workers' wages since September 2009. Swift will be used for international fund transfers and non-dirham local transactions, the Central Bank said.

Magnitude 8.9 quake hits Indonesia, Tsunami warning issued

Massive earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale rocked Indonesia on Wednesday afternoon. Indonesia's geophysical agency issued tsunami warning following the quake whose epicentre was in Aceh. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued Indian Ocean-wide tsunami warning.

Tremors were also felt in Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Patna and several other cities on the eastern coast of India.

No family visa cancellation required for job change in UAE

Hi,am sponsored by my husband and we both have Dubai visa.I came here on 12th December 2011.But now my husband got a new job in Sharjah Airport free zone.so he need to change his visa.How can i hold my visa and do we need to submit 2 bedroom contract.I am looking forward for your detailed valuable advice regarding this as early as possible.
Thank You. 
Mehriya

Answer :

The general immigration practice in the United Arab Emirates requires expats switching employers not only to cancel their own residence visas but also the visas of everyone under their sponsorship, be it spouses, children or housemaids. It is only after cancellation is arranged that expat may apply for the visas sponsored by the new company. General directorate of residency and foreigners affairs (DNRD) residence visas of persons under sponsorship may stay in place and remain valid for the originally determined period of time, regardless of the sponsor’s visa change. The employee or resident must apply to the NRD (before the cancellation procedure) for not cancelling the visas of members of his family or those under his sponsorship. He should attach the 5,000 dirhams bank guarantee, the new employment permit issued by the Ministry of Labour to the new sponsor, and the job offer letter from the new employer. The original passports and deposit is kept by the DNRD until the new visa is issued. This sum can be refunded once the sponsor obtains the new residence permit. Residence permits of family members will be automatically transferred to the sponsor without the need to pay a fee.

Employment contracts of Indian workers to be attested online

Employment contracts of Indian workers will now be attested online, a move which will make the process transparent and safeguard workers' rights, Saqr Gobash Saeed Gobash, Minister of Labour, said yesterday.

Workers can review the terms of the contract and approve them before leaving India for the UAE.

Saqr Gobash and Vayalar Ravi look on as Maher O. Badh from the Ministry of Labour (left) and Atul K. Tiwari, joint secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, exchange documents signed between the UAE and India to activate an electronic contract in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

The online validation of the contract will be mandatory for any employer in the UAE, the minister said.

The system was launched yesterday in the presence of Vayalar Ravi, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs. It is expected to be fully operational in weeks.

At present, job contracts of Indian workers with an Emigration Clearance Required (ECR) stamp have to be attested by the Indian Protector of Emigrants and the Indian Embassy. The ECR stamp is required for those who have not completed their matriculation.

Agents took advantage of the old system to make separate, fake contracts. The new system is activated by an online application by a UAE employer and requires disclosure of the key terms of the offer.

The system follows an agreement signed by both countries last September.