Company Visit Visas to be Limited

Trading in visit visas has prompted the Ministry of Interior to consider not issuing them for small businesses and restricting the number for large companies in a bid to curb illegal workers.

“The departments of Naturalisation and Residency referred a number of these companies to the Public Prosecutor after they exploited the issuance visit visas through trading in them and profiting from them,” Brigadier Nasser Al Awadi Al Minhali, a senior official with the Ministry of Interior, said in a statement to Khaleej Times on Wednesday.

“Due to such reasons the Ministry of Interior is taking measures to limit the issuance of these visas and confine them for large companies and that will be according to strict procedures to curb their exploitation for illegal purposes,” said Brigadier Al Minhali, who is acting director-general of the Department of Naturalisation and Residency at the Ministry.

Meanwhile Retired General Ali Majid Al Matroushi, member of the Federal National Council, Chairman of the Internal Affairs and National Defence Committee of the FNC said, “The committee conducted a survey about the visit visas and discovered that a large proportion of the smaller shops have taken advantage from the issuance of visit visas facility for trading in them.”…SOURCE

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Ministry of Interior Considers Tougher Visa Rules Suggested By the FNC

Tourism doesn’t seem to be a priority any more.  What happened UAE?

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) is considering a Federal National Council (FNC) proposal that visitors to the UAE will have to furnish a clean police record and a bank statement from their country of origin, senior immigration officials told Khaleej Times on Monday.

Ministry figures show that 80 per cent of pickpockets and thieves, nabbed in recent crimes, entered the country on tourist and business visas.

Brigadier Nasser Al Awadhi Al Minhali, Acting Director General of Naturalisation and Residency Department at the ministry, said the restrictions under consideration would be applicable for visit, business and tourist visas.

“General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Interior, has issued these directives calling for studying the proposal of the FNC, and take action on it as soon as possible, if the new restrictions prove practical and realistic,” he said.

“The Naturalisation and Residency departments in the country have arrested many criminals, the majority of whom had entered the country on visit, tourist and business visas. This has prompted the department to chalk out new steps, including the ones proposed by the FNC,” the minister said.

Major General (retired) Ali Majid Al Matroushi, a member of the FNC and the Chairman of the Internal and Defence Affairs ad-hoc committee in the House, told Khaleej Times the high statistics had been taken seriously and prompted the recommendations…SOURCE

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Emiratis Receive Extension For National ID Card

ID card registration deadline extended

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/12/29/10270788.html

12/28/2008 11:32 PM | By Binsal Abdul Kader, Staff Reporter

Abu Dhabi: As many as 190,000 UAE citizens have been exempt from paying a fine of Dh1,000 for not registering for National ID card by the Wednesday deadline, thanks to a Cabinet decision on Sunday.

The December 31 deadline has been extended by three months and citizens have to pay no fine during the extended period, according to the decision taken by the Council of Ministers on the instructions of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Interior.

All those citizens who were unable to register “for identity card and population register will have sufficient time to register before fines can be imposed”, said the statement.

The Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA) is happy to receive the ‘timely cabinet decision’ as it will benefit about 190,000 citizens who may fail to register before December 31, a senior official told Gulf News on Sunday.

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Foreign Wives Must Wait 15 Years for UAE Nationality

Is that decision Shariah compliant?

Expatriate women who marry Emiratis will have to wait for 15 years in order to seek UAE citizenship, if a proposal being studied by the Ministry of Interior is implemented.

The Director of Legal Affairs Department in the Ministry of Interior, Lieutenant-Colonel Rashid Al Khedr, told KhaleejTimes the ministry is studying a proposal to increase the minimum years of marriage required for expatriate wives to become UAE citizens.

The proposal suggests increasing the existing three-year period of marriage to 15 years. “The ministry has revealed that some UAE nationals and foreign women were involved in bogus marriage cases to enable the women to obtain UAE citizenship,” Al Khedr pointed out.

The Federal National Council’s demand for imposition of stricter measures and conditions on the marriages of Emiratis with foreign women is highly appreciated by the Ministry of Interior, because amendments are required to prevent the negative trend…SOURCE

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Unified Freehold Law Being Considered by the FNC Will Kill Promised Visas

Seems like the death-knell for the property market in the UAE.  Freehold without a Visa is meaningless.  Given property law in the UAE, there basically are no property ownership rights for anyone purchasing in the UAE.

Draft legislation is under way that aims to protect the UAE by restricting expatriates from automatically acquiring residency visas through freehold property ownership, according to a Federal National Council (FNC) member.

The council will shortly submit a draft law on freehold property to the government which will unify the divergent laws relating to the sector in the seven emirates.

Dr Abdul Rahim Shaheen, council member, speaking to Khaleej Times, said the council was moving to enact the proposed legislation as soon as possible.

“The Council’s interim committee is studying the impacts of the Ministry of Labour’s decisions and rules on expatriate workforce in view that the seven emirates handle the freehold property under different rules, which led to chaos in the sector.”

“Therefore, it called for the government to issue a federal law unifying rules on dealing with foreigners regarding the freehold of properties, and pinpoints strict punishments against whoever exploits the ownership in jeopardising public interest,” he said.

He said the issue endangered national interest and the identity of the UAE as Emiratis were increasingly outnumbered by expatriates, and that some residents had begun demanding rights.

“The statute was badly needed and expeditiously, for some voices belonging to countries of expatriates living and working in the country had begun to talk of granting rights, which are not stipulated in the constitution.”

Expatriates are not entitled to a 25-year residency through property ownership, a senior official at the Ministry of Interior has clarified.

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UAE Visas Can Be Obtained From ANY Emirate: NRD Departments Now Linked By Computer

People will now be able to apply for new visas or renew them in any emirate irrespective of where they stay or work as the naturalisation and residency departments (NRDs) in the country have been electronically linked.

Brigadier Nasir Al Awadi Al Menhaly, Acting Director-General of the Naturalisation and Residency Department at the Ministry of Interior, told Khaleej Times on Sunday that all NRDs in the UAE are capable of issuing and renewing visas, regardless of the emirate where the existing residence visa was issued from.

The ministry has completed linking of all NRDs electronically to provide this new service.

“We are in one country, and there is an electronic link between all NRDs,” he said. Under the earlier system, for instance, a person working in Abu Dhabi but has a residence visa from Dubai or other emirates had to visit the NRD in that emirate to renew his/her visa.

This was a sheer waste of time and effort. “Consequently, Lieutenant-General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Interior, gave instructions to ease the hardship of expatriates by allowing them to get visas or renew visas from the NRD in any emirate regardless of the emirate where the residence visa was issued originally. This is what we are implementing right now.” Brigadier Al Menhaly clarified that many expatriates are not aware of this new service, and still take the trouble of travelling to other emirates to complete their visa-related procedures. “We now tell them to save the effort and submit your applications to any department in the country to be processed immediately,” he said.

Meanwhile, denizens of emirates have lauded the ministry’s step, calling it a real timesaver…SOURCE

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