Two-month amnesty to illegal residents in UAE

 Abu Dhabi: A two-month amnesty has been granted to illegal residents, allowing them to leave the country without penalty or regularise their visas, a senior official said on Tuesday.

 Major General Nasser Awadi Al Menhali, Assistant Undersecretary for Naturalisation, Residency and Ports Affairs, told a news conference: “Illegal residents who overstayed their visas can visit residency departments across the UAE to obtain outpasses and leave the country without penalties, or regularise their visas, after payment of fines between December 4 and February 3.”

Al Menhali stressed the amnesty, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in April, covers only those who overstayed their visit or resident visas, but not infiltrators, who he said will be treated like criminals.

He encouraged illegal residents to come forward and take advantage of the amnesty as soon as possible and not to wait for the deadline or miss it, “because there will be no extension or exception whatsoever of the amnesty scheme”.

Major General Al Menhali added a resident who overstayed his or her visa can come forward with their passports and air tickets to obtain an outpass, get their fines waived, and leave the country.

 Passports withheld by residency department in absconding cases, will be handed over to their holders, he said.

He said those who wish to regularise their visas have to pay all fines accumulated as a result of their overstay of their visas, warning illegal residents who fail to make use of this amnesty that from February 4 they will face the full force of the law.

 “This is the fourth amnesty scheme and we are hopeful, illegal residents who did not avail of the previous schemes will do so this time.”

 As many as 342,000 illegal immigrants took advantage of the last amnesty declared in 2007.

Official statistics showed that 341,958 illegal residents availed of the amnesty by either legalising their stay or by leaving the country.

While 95,000 illegal workers legalised their status, nearly 175,000 left the country.
Around 300,000 illegal immigrants left the country under the second amnesty which ran between January and April, 2002.

In 1996, about 200,000 illegal residents left the country under a six-month long amnesty.

The move to allow passage to illegal foreigners stuck in the UAE for violation of various immigration rules and regulations is meant to clear the country of thousands of them but Major General Al Menhali declined to say how many illegals were expected to make use of this amnesty or the statistics of those already arrested since the last amnesty.

Major General Al Menhali said that illegal foreigners arrested are also granted this amnesty and allowed to leave the country as long as they do not have any pending cases.

“Illegal foreigners will be issued outpasses after any pending cases or dues are settled,” Major General Al Menhali said.

Al Menhali said residency departments across the country will be organising several awareness campaigns and press briefings to educate the public about the amnesty and the need for illegal residents to take advantage of this gesture.

For any information about the amnesty, people can call toll free telephone number 8005111. It will be a 24/7 service in Arabic and Englis

UAE allows multiple entry visit visas to foreigners

In a move set to redraw and further strengthen the tourism and trade sector in the UAE, which is already doing very well, UAE has just announced and confirmed that Multiple Entry Visit Visas may be issued for three categories of visitors. This will give tremendous boost for the UAE economy especially in the tourism, airline, hotel and restaurant sectors aside from strengthening various trade related sectors.

Note: Visit visas only allow persons to visit and will not allow tourists to open bank accounts or buy a car or obtain a driving licence etc, for all of which, a UAE residence visa is mandatory. However, the owner of real estate in UAE with a value in excess of AED 1m / USD 273k becomes eligible to obtain a UAE residency visa and enjoy a tax free and crime free lifestyle and can thereafter open a bank account or buy a car etc.

The UAE has allowed multiple entry visas in keeping with the requirements of some foreigners who need to visit the country from time to time.

A ministerial decree No. 418 of 2012 allowing for multiple entry visas was issued by Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior. It amended some provisions of the law of entry and residence of foreigners, Al Bayan newspaper said.

Multiple entry visas can be issued by both the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs and UAE’s Consular offices abroad.

Those eligible for the multiple entry visas include businessmen, property investors and tourists.

Businessmen and professionals abroad who have dealing with a public or private institution or a company in the UAE, and who require frequent visits, are eligible for multiple entry.

Also, those foreigners who own property in the UAE – and their spouse and children - can avail that the multiple entry visa.

Tourists on board cruise ships will be eligible for multiple entry as their schedule includes entering the country more than once.

Conditions

• However, in order for the multiple entry visas to be granted, certain conditions have to be fulfilled.
• For the business visitor, the multiple entry visa allows him to enter the country several times during the six months from the date of issuance of the visa. The stay during each visit should not exceed 30 days.
• If the foreign visitor to UAE owns a property, the visa allows him to enter the country several times during the six months from the date of issuance of the visa and allow him to stay as long as the visa is valid.
• If the purpose for visiting the country is tourism and the visitor is coming on board one of the cruise ships, the permission allows him or her to enter the country several times during the three months from the date of issuance of the visa and stay a maximum of 14 days each time from date of entry.

UAE Missions Abroad

The UAE’s ambassadorial and consular mission abroad can issue a ‘courtesy visa’ to certain categories of visitors.

They have been allowed to issue visit visas exempt from the requirement of a sponsor.

Holders of diplomatic and United Nations passports can be given multiple entry visas for three months by UAE mission abroad.

These visas allow entry to the UAE for multiple times during three months from the date of the issuance. It also allows the holder to stay during each visit for nor more than 30 days from the date of entry as long as the visa is valid.

Affidavit must for residency or visit visa in Ajman

Expatriates intending to sponsor their parents for a visit or residency to Ajman, are being asked to offer a sworn affidavit from Ajman Court.

According to Ajman Naturalization and Residency Department, those intending to sponsor one or both of their parents must produce a letter from his or her consulate to the court.

The letter should be produced to the Ajman Naturalization and Residency Department, and then the sponsor will have to attest the letter from Ajman Court to obtain a sworn affidavit.

A typed form, costing Dh.350 is required for the purpose. Expatriates can show up at Ajman Court with two Muslim witnesses (this is a must, irrespective of the religion of the sponsor or sponsored) to prove that the sponsored is their mother or father.

Although, a letter from sponsor’s consulate proving the identity of sponsor’s father or mother is a must for the residency departments of all emirates, the attestation in the letter and obtaining a sworn affidavit is required only in Ajman.

As per the new visa rule introduced early this year, expats can sponsor only their blood relatives for visit visa, and not their friends.

Fee for Indian passport renewal in UAE increases to Dh285

Dubai: Indian missions in the UAE have increased the fee for renewal of passport with effect from October 1.

According to a statement from Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, Indian expatriates will have to pay Dh285 to renew their passport, an increase of Dh135. The earlier charge for renewal was Dh150.

The embassy said the Indian government has also increased the fee for Tatkal or urgent passport from Dh700 to Dh855.

Also, those applying for a 60-page Jumbo booklet will have to pay Dh95. The earlier fee for this category of passport was Dh40.

The fees for damaged or lost passport has been increased from Dh505 to Dh570.

The revised fee comes into effect from October 1.

Six month labour ban in UAE applies to working women sponsored by family members

Dubai: A six-month ban imposed by the Ministry of Labour on people who fail to complete the period of employment stipulated under labour rules also applies to working women sponsored by their family members. An official from the ministry said women seeking to change their jobs or leave work before completing the contractual obligation of two years with their employer would automatically attract the ban.

The official who did not wish to be named said the ban will take effect the moment a woman under the sponsorship of her husband or father cancels her labour card.

The official was commenting on the case of an Algerian woman identified as Hasnaa Talbi who was slapped with a six-month ban after resigning from work despite being on the sponsorship of her Tunisian husband Radawan.

Hasnaa, who worked for around two months at a jewellery store in Dubai, was shocked that she had been handed down a six-month labour ban by the ministry despite the fact that she had been working for just two months. “This ban is an issue for me because I was looking to move to a new employer. Most employers will not wait for six months while the ban period elapses,” she said.

The aggrieved woman said she had lodged a complaint at the Ministry of Labour but it took the ministry almost six months to respond forcing her to eventually drop the complaint.

Officials had previously stated that women who take up employment while remaining under the sponsorship of a male relative are not affected by a work ban. The ministry has now come round to the view that in cases where a wife or daughter decides to change jobs or to leave work without completing two years of employment, she will be automatically banned by the Ministry of Labour for six months.

“Bans are imposed on all expatriate employees working in private sector when they want to move from one employer to another if they left employer without having completed a minimum of two years’ service,” the official said.

He said the mandatory six-month labour ban applies to both men and women even if individuals are sponsored by family members and is calculated from the date an employee’s labour card is cancelled at the ministry of Labour. “This is an administrative ban, meaning that a block is inserted into the ministry’s computer system preventing an application for labour approval being processed against banned person’s name and passport number,” he said.

The ban cannot be lifted by paying a fine either. “The ban is mandatory under law, this means it is implemented automatically unless the Ministry of Labour is instructed otherwise,” the official said.