How to verify Your UAE visa Validity

The UAE Government offers online and offline facilities to check your resident visa validity and track your visa application with very simple steps. Generally, the validity of visa is two years. Visa is renewed subject to conditions similar to those of fresh visas.

How to verify your resident visa validity online:

Just visit ICP Smart Services

Add your resident visa Unified number or passport number and click.

Then you will get your visa validity

Reclaim tax paid before VAT registration in UAE

Article 56 of the Decree Law allows the recovery of input tax paid on goods, services and imported goods prior to the date of VAT registration, “provided that these goods and services were used to make supplies that give the right to input tax recovery upon tax registration”.

Input VAT is the VAT charged by your suppliers on goods and services purchased. This means you can only recover VAT paid before registration if VAT charged on the same goods and services post registration would be recoverable. You should understand the exclusions to input tax recovery contained in the full decree law and executive regulations and apply the same rules that apply to input VAT recovery generally when determining how much pre-registration input VAT can be offset.

There are four exceptions to this rule listed in the decree law.

• The first is receipt of goods and services for purposes other than making taxable supplies.
• The second is for input tax related to capital assets that are already partially depreciated before the date of registration, for example, if you purchase a fixed asset with an expected life of five years and when you register for VAT the asset has only two years of use left, you can only reclaim two fifths of the VAT you originally paid.
•  The third exception is for services received more than five years prior to the date of registration.
• Cant reclaim input tax paid if you have moved goods to another implementing GCC state prior to the registration in that state. This is because if you supply goods to another GCC state then the recovery of input tax is permitted only in that other state. Therefore, to recover input VAT you need to be registered in that other GCC state.

Number plate upgrade mandatory in Dubai from July 2018

Following the introduction of a new number plate design last year, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has now kicked off a campaign urging all motorists to upgrade to the new plates, ahead of mandatory upgrades from July for select codes.

The upgrade is currently available for all types of distinguished and special number plates across all codes, and from May it will also be available optionally for unowned (allotted randomly through vehicle registration) plates.

According to RTA, over the next couple of years, all categories of vehicle number plates will have to be replaced. As the RTA presses ahead with its new plates regime, unowned car plates with codes A, B and C will be among the first to be up for mandatory replacement from July.

The new number plate design that includes either a black and white or colour Dubai logo, depending on the amount you pay, was launched last year after the introduction of double codes necessitated a redesign.

“The RTA has developed a new strategy for number plates resulting in a new generation of number plates with double codes. This has accordingly resulted in the whole design for the number plates to be changed to adopt the single and double codes with the same design language,” said Sultan Al Marzouqi, director of RTA’s Vehicle Licensing.

The double codes are being introduced as the RTA is running out of single codes, as the number of vehicles continues to rise at an alarming rate in Dubai.

Replacement in 2 years

According to RTA, over the next couple of years, all categories of vehicle number plates — whether purchased online, bought in an auction or allotted through the vehicle registration process — will have to be replaced in phases.

In the next phase, beginning January next year, plates with codes D, E, F, G, H and I will have to be replaced, while in January 2020 replacement for codes J, K, L, M, N and O will start and following that in January 2021, it will be the turn of all unowned plates with codes P to Z as well as other types of plates.

Depending on the size of the plates and colour of the logo, the prices of the plates vary.

A regular short number plate with a black and white logo will cost Dh35, while a long number plate in the same category will cost Dh50.

For those who already own number plates with the colour logo of Dubai, the replacement for the long and short plates will cost Dh35 and Dh50, respectively, while those who want to buy a new plate with coloured Dubai logo will have to pay Dh400 irrespective of the plate’s size.

As for the distinguished or special number plates, the replacement will cost Dh500, with the process to be completed mandatorily by the end of this year.

Al Marzouqi said motorists with owned number plates willing to get the plates replaced can either proceed immediately to any of the RTA-affiliated vehicle testing and registration centres or get it replaced at the time of their scheduled renewal, while those with unowned number plates can wait till May to do the same

The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department reduced Will Registration Charges for Non-Muslims

The ‘wills’ registration office in the capital where many non-Muslim residents register their wills, has reduced the registration charges from Dh5,500 to Dh950 from December.

Though the service charge was only Dh500 when the service started in August from November, the office revised the service fee and started charging Dh5,500 for a ‘will’ registration. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department [ADJD] reduced it to support the registry of wills.

In case of sudden death of the testator, the assets will be distributed by the court as per the will. The wills registration office for non-Muslims builds up the confidence among residents of legal protection of their assets in the UAE and it ensures them the liberty of selecting the appropriate method to write and register their will concerning the disposal of their estate after their death.

A spokesperson of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department said: “Now the service fee is only Dh950 for registering a will.”

The spokesperson said: “Any person can bequeath his/her estate to males and females equally and in case of his/her death, the assets will be distributed by the court as stated in the testator’s will.”

Whereas the changing or revoking of will is concerned, the testator can revoke the will at any time, or otherwise replace it by a new one, the spokesperson said.

The office helps to legalise a will of a non-Muslim for the disposition of a deceased’s estates, nominating a guardian for his/her minor children, he said. From August last year, a special “Non-Muslims Wills Office” started operations at the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department to register inheritance wills for non-Muslim expatriates in the capital.

As people from many nationalities live in the UAE, they can now legally register their will here. It guarantees that their families and children can legally claim the assets in the UAE in case of testator’s death.” As per the will, beneficiaries can claim assets of the testator anywhere in the UAE, whether they register in Abu Dhabi or Dubai. It will be valid for all the UAE.

“More than 50 of my clients have registered their wills at the Abu Dhabi office but I can say that approximately, so far, more than 100 expatriates would have registered their wills at the Non-Muslims Wills Office in Abu Dhabi,” he said.

About the different services fees, he said, the Dubai Courts charges Dh2,165 for registering a will and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts takes Dh10,000.”

The office in Abu Dhabi was established after a decision issued in May by Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, who is also the chairman of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, to create a registry of wills office and probate for non-Muslims.

The application is submitted online at [ADJD] website. The competent employee verifies if the application meets the requirements. A notification by SMS is sent to the applicant with the approval of the application or request for modification. The application fee is paid online through ADJD website.

The applicant can contact the Non-Muslim Wills Registration Office to schedule an appointment for the application processing. Then the applicant has to visit on the fixed date the Non-Muslim Wills Registration Office to submit the original documents. After completing these procedures, finally, the will is legalised and will be delivered by the Notary Public of the department.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

• Emirates ID.

• Passport (original and a copy).

• The document “Will” to be legalised, with a sufficient number of copies for all parties concerned and a copy of records.

• Documentation that provides clear proof of the bequeathed property ownership.

• An official translation attested by the Ministry of Justice is required where the document is drafted in a language other than the Arabic language.

• Venue: Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (Main Building)

• Timing: 8am to 2pm [Sunday to Thursday]

• Service Fee: Dh950

UAE and India sign agreement for direct trade in Dirham and Rupee

The UAE and India have reached a historic agreement which will enable businesses on both sides to bypass the US Dollar or any other foreign currency and trade directly in UAE Dirhams and the Indian Rupee.

The agreement will mean large savings for business communities on both sides as trade between the UAE and India soars to new highs.

India’s Ambassador to the UAE, Navdeep Suri, said that this is in addition to the agreements and memoranda of understanding which were signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s just-concluded two-day visit to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

"There were two other agreements that have been finalised. One is a currency swap agreement where India and UAE – it is an agreement between the two Central Banks – and the agreement has been completed and it is going to be exchanged through letters. Under this, businesses from the two sides will be able to trade directly in Rupees and in Dirhams and not have to go through US Dollars which means that there is a saving for the business community. It makes trade between the two countries more competitive," Suri said while reviewing Modi’s visits to the UAE, Jordan and Palestine along with India’s new Foreign Secretary, Vijay Gokhale, for Indian reporters.

Although the Dirham has a fixed peg to the US Dollar, the currency swap agreement between the UAE and India could favourably impact trade between the two countries as the Trump Administration in the US cements further an expansionary fiscal policy and the US Federal Reserve considers rate hikes.

The impact of US policies on the Indian Rupee would be greater and favourable to trade with the UAE since the Indian currency’s value is not pegged to the US Dollar but is determined by a basket of currencies.

The rationale for the currency swap agreement is evident from UAE-India trade figures. From a mere $182 million in 1982, the current level of bilateral trade amounted to about USD 53 billion, according to a joint statement released at the end Modi’s visit.

Another agreement which has been finalised and will be signed this week is "between the Financial Intelligence Units which commits both countries to work more closely together in money laundering, in preventing money laundering that takes place," Suri said.

About this agreement, the joint statement said: "the two sides welcomed the finalisation of an MOU on cooperation in the exchange of financial intelligence related to money laundering, associated predicate offences and terrorist financing."