New Year's Day paid UAE holiday for pvt, govt sectors

Humaid Al Qatami, Minister of Education and Chairman of the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources today issued a circular stating that January 1, 2013 - New Year's Day -  will be a holiday in the UAE.

Saqr Ghobash, Minister of Labour, has also issued a decision that designates Tuesday, January 1 2013 as a paid holiday for the private sector in the UAE. Work will resume on Wednesday, January 2.

All ministries and departments of the Federal State government will remain closed on Tuesday, January 1, 2013 and resume work the next day, Wednesday, January 2, 2013.

On this occasion Al Qatami offered his deepest congratulations and blessings to His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and to their brethren, members of the Supreme Council of Rulers, asking God Almighty to grant them good health and wellness.

Al Qatami also congratulated citizens and residents of the United Arab Emirates on this happy occasion.

Schedule of fees payable applications for passport and travel documents of Indians

Sl. No.	Particulars of application	Scale of fees
		Normal Fee			Tatkaal fee (inclusive of normal fee)
				AED			AED
1	2			3			4
I.  PASSPORT--
1.	For issue of ordinary fresh passport or reissue of Passport  containing 36 pages having validity of ten years (also applicable to minors in the age group of fifteen to eighteen years)			285			855
2.	For issue of ordinary fresh passport or reissue of passport  containing 60 pages having validity of ten years (also applicable to minors in the age group of fifteen to eighteen years)			380			950
3.	For issue of ordinary fresh passport or reissue of passport of 36 pages for minors below eighteen years of age with validity of five years or till the minor attains the age of eighteen years, whichever is earlier			190			760
4.	For issue of fresh or reissue of India-Bangladesh Passport or Passport for any other named foreign country with a maximum validity of ten years			190			NA
5.	Replacement of passport of 36 pages having validity of ten years for changes in personal particulars			285			855
6.	Replacement of passport of 60 pages having validity of ten years for changes in personal particulars			380			950
7.	Replacement of passport of 36 pages for changes in personal particulars for minors below the age of eighteen years with validity of five years or till the minor attains the age of eighteen years, whichever is earlier			190			760
8.	Replacement of passport of 36 pages having validity of ten years for deletion of Emigration Check Required stamp			285			NA
9.	Replacement of passport of 60 pages having validity of ten years for deletion of Emigration Check Required stamp			380			NA
II.  SPECIAL TRAVEL DOCUMENT--
10.	Emergency Certificate			60			NA
11.	Certificate of Identity			190			NA
12.	Additional ordinary passport containing 36 pages for any country with initial validity up to one year			285			NA
III.  MISCELLANEOUS SERVICES--
13.	Issue of Police Clearance Certificate or Surrender Certificate or any other miscellaneous certificates based on the Passport			95			NA
IV.  PASSPORTS IN LIEU OF LOST, DAMAGED OR STOLEN--
14.	For replacement of ordinary passport of 36 pages in lieu of lost, damaged or stolen passport			570			1140
15.	For replacement of ordinary passport of 60 pages in lieu of lost, damaged or stolen passport			665			1235

How an individual can be deported while facing travel ban

Judge Ahmed Ibrahim Saif from Dubai Court

Judge Ahmed Ibrahim Saif said an individual is deported when the court issues an order of deportation against him and this rule becomes final and enforceable.

He added that if the accused has exhausted all appeals, as happens mostly in drug and sexual assault-related cases, it leads to deportation.

He pointed out that individuals are banned from travelling when any party fails to honour their commitment. For example, fails to pay debt to individual or bank.

In cases where the creditor opens a lawsuit against the debtor before the court, in such a case the creditor is entitled to request the judge to prevent the debtor from traveling.

He added that in case all the travel ban conditions were met (such as the fear of the debtor fleeing from the country), the judge may issue a ban to stop the debtor from traveling.

In such a scenario, the debtor’s passport is taken away and the name of the debtor is included on the travel ban list.

Special committee set up for such cases:

Judge Ahmed Ibrahim Saif disclosed that the Federal Committee and the local committee have faced such dilemma where the clauses of the Federal Procedures Act stressed on the establishment of a panel to adjudicate the problem.

Due to the presence of local courts in Dubai, in 2007 a new committee known as the Committee of Deportation and Travel Bans was established to deal with such cases.

He added that the committee consists of the chairman, two senior police officers and two judges.

He pointed out that the committee holds two monthly meetings and the second meeting is always set aside for decision-making.

The Committee intervenes when:

The committee intervenes after the person who has received both the orders completes his prison term and it is time for him/her to be deported.

In such a case, the sentenced person has to submit a petition to the prison administration and the matter is transferred to the committee for consideration.

The standards followed by the Committee:

There are legalities involved in the implementation of deportation if a creditor requests the imprisoned person to be banned from travelling.

The other conditions to be taken into account in such a situation is the value of the claimed amount and the extent of benefit to be accrued by allowing the person (debtor/accused) to stay on in the UAE.

Communication with the committee:

The prisoners communicate with the committee through the legal measures where they can submit a petition to the prison administration, then meet with members of the committee.

The meeting involves discussion on the possibility of making a settlement with the creditors to repay the debts, or through an agreement concluded between one of his siblings, and between the creditor.

Creditors not serious:
Judge Ahmed Ibrahim Saif disclosed, “Many of the creditors who opened files against the debtors to ban them from travelling are not serious in pursuing their claims.”

He added that while applying for travel bans, they submit documents which confirm their rights, but after receiving decision in their favor, they do not follow up on the necessary procedures.

He added these measures are there so that they can recover their money. In order to claim what is rightfully theirs, they need to open a file to recover their debt during a period of 8 days set by law, or open a file to implement the travel ban, within a period of 30 days specified by law from the date of issuance of the ban of travel.

He said that such negligence by the creditors compels the committee to support deportation of the accused.

Recommendations:

Judge appeals to Emiratis and residents to abide by the law and to communicate with the creditor, and attend the meetings of the civil cases filed against them, so as not to get tangled in a similar case

Indian convicts in UAE can serve their jail terms in Indian prisons

The UAE Cabinet has approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with India for extraditing Indian convicts so that they can serve their remaining jail terms in Indian prisons.

More than a thousand Indian prisoners are expected to benefit from the deal which was signed by the two countries in 2010.

However, the deal doesn’t include prisoners imprisoned for financial crimes. “If such offenders are transferred to India, who will ensure that the pending payments are cleared? It can create complications,” said K Kumar of Indian Community Welfare Committee (ICWC), a welfare body functioning under the auspices of the Indian Embassy in the UAE.

“There are about 500 plus Indian prisoners in Dubai alone. The number would exceed 1,000 if all the other emirates are taken into consideration,” added Kumar. ICWC frequently conducts prison visits across the country.

According to him, prisoners who are liable to pay Diya (blood money paid as compensation to accident victims) may not also be transferred to India.

Earlier, prisoners had expressed apprehension about moving to Indian prisons due to their substandard facilities.

“Most prisoners are of the opinion that jails in the UAE are far better than those in India. For many others, a transfer to Indian prisons would also mean exposing themselves to family and relatives back home. In many cases family members and relatives may not have been informed about their crime and prison sentence. A transfer to India would make them more vulnerable,” said Kumar.

“According to the MoU only those prisoners who are willing to be transferred to India would be sent back,” he added.

Philippines sets minimum salary for maids going to UAE

The Philippines has set tough terms for sending domestic workers to the UAE as is the case in Saudi Arabia, stipulating its maids must be paid not less than $400 a month and must have at least eight hours break every day.

The Philippine embassy in Abu Dhabi conveyed its government’s terms to private labour recruitment agents in the UAE during a recent meeting in the capital, warning that any agent violating those terms would be put on the blacklist.

Reacting to such a decision, UAE authorities said they would not accept such terms and stressed that domestic workers from any country must be recruited in accordance with the official work contract enforced by the UAE government.

Quoted participants in that meeting, the Arabic language daily Emirat Alyoum said the Philippine embassy told them they must abide by the new regulations or they would be boycotted and banned from handling domestic workers from the Philippines.

“The embassy set the minimum wage for a Philippine maid at $400 (Dh1,470) a month and told labour recruitment agents in the UAE that any office which does not comply with these rules would be completely boycotted,” the paper said.

It said the embassy asked those agents to notify it once a Philippine maid arrives in the UAE to take up a job so it will hand her the necessary documents.

“The embassy also stressed that employers must provide a separate room for the maid and that she must have a daily break of at least eight hours.

"It also stressed that the maid should not be assigned any work outside her employer’s residence which is listed in the job contract and that the employer must allow her to contact the embassy or her family at home at any time,” the paper said.

Other conditions include that employers are not allowed to renew the maid’s contract or transfer her sponsorship to any other employer without a prior consent by the embassy.

“Sponsors violating those terms will be subject to penalties defined in the laws governing the hiring of Philippine domestic workers,” it said. “In case they refuse to pay her the salary set in the new contract, the maid will be deported to her country.”

According to Emirat Alyoum, the maid must be aged between 18 and 23 years and any company violating that limit would be blacklisted.

“Any agreement signed by a foreign embassy in the UAE is not legal,” the paper said, quoting Major General Nassir al Minhali, UAE interior ministry assistant undersecretary for naturalization and residence affairs.

“The ministry of interior has a unified job contract for domestic workers coming to the UAE with well defined terms and duties. It guarantees the rights of the employers and the employees…we have not set any wage for domestic workers and any otherwise agreement will not be binding for any one.”

The Philippines, one of the largest domestic workers suppliers to the oil-rich Gulf, has been locked in negotiations with Saudi Arabia to enforce similar terms for its maids working in the Gulf Kingdom. The negotiations followed a decision by Manila to halt the travel of its domestic workers to Saudi Arabia two years ago.