18-month-old baby declared illegal

04/14/2009 02:15 PM | By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter

Sharjah: An 18-month-old baby has been declared an illegal resident by the Sharjah Naturalisation and Residency Department (SNRD) and has been given one week to leave the country after which she will get a one-year ban.

Nayana Sanjay Kumar was born in October 2007 at Al Qasimi hospital in Sharjah, but her parents, both Indians from Kerala, could not sponsor their new-born baby as their salary was not enough at the time.

The girl’s mother, Sheeja, who works as a nurse at a Ministry of Health run government hospital told Gulf News that when her baby was born, she tried to sponsor her, but the application was rejected by the SNRD as she and her husband were not earning enough to sponsor the girl.

“In October 2008 my salary was increased. I was then able to sponsor my baby, but when I applied for a residency visa for her at the SNRD it was rejected too. My baby was declared an illegal resident and I had to pay hefty fines because she had been staying illegally in the country for one year since she was born,” the mother said.

Sheeja said SNRD officials told her the baby had to leave the country in less than a week with an outpass to avoid the fines, otherwise she would get a one-year ban.

“I was told that after one year I could obtain a new visa for my baby and bring her back to live with me,” she said.

“I told them my baby is very young, she is only one year old and I cannot send her away from me, but they did not listen to me, saying the law will be implemented equally.”…

Dubai Senior government officials have advised the business community and residents alike to look at the bright future of the country and stop searching for the “dark spots.”

Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director-General of the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) told a gathering of foreign businessmen at the American Business Council in Dubai and the Northern Emirates that the myth about the collapse of the Dubai economy is circulating just because some people tend to have a bleak vision of the future.

On the contrary, he said figures available to the DNRD suggests that nothing of this sort has happened in Dubai and that the future of the city is quite bright..SOURCE

Well. if you ignore the fundamental economic problems… Sure, things look great.

New laws to grant six-month residency visas to individuals who buy freehold properties will be ready next month, a top Ministry of Interior official said on Tuesday.

The ministry is also studying the possibility of granting residency visas to the families of property owners.

The move comes amid a 20 per cent decline in property prices and a predicted fall of up to 50 per cent in some areas by the end of the year.

“We are working on this draft to unify and streamline the procedures of issuance of residency visas for expatriates who purchase properties such as flats, offices, and shops,” said Brigadier Nassir Al Awadi Al Menhali, Acting Director-General of the Federal Naturalisation and Residency Department.

“They will get a six-month visa which can be renewed.”

Al Menhali said that details of the law, such as how much the renewal would cost, have not yet been worked out.

“It couldn’t come at a better time for the market,” said Vincent Easton, head of sales at Sherwoods, a property consultant firm. “I’m just confused about why it is only six months. It seems more like a visit visa.”

Previously, developers in Dubai had tried to entice prospective buyers from Pakistan and Iran by saying they could sponsor them for a three-year visa. However, problems arose when the application for residency was rejected by the Naturalisation and Residency Department (NRD).

In Abu Dhabi, a few developers had offered sponsorship to homebuyers.

Al Menhali said that there is no codified law which automatically grants expatriates residency if they purchase properties. He added that it is better to standardise the procedure across the entire country rather than some emirates applying different rules…SOURCE

Police fear that hundreds of young people in Sharjah are victims of abuse and deprivation after a new support service was inundated with pleas for help.

A committee for deprived children was formed early last year by Sharjah Police and Sharjah Department of Naturalisation and Residency. It has registered more than 1,000 children in need of social help.

The number was far higher than the committee had expected, Brig Humaid al Hudaid, the director of Sharjah Police, said at a recent committee meeting, which was also attended by Col Dr Abdullah Ali al Sahooh, the director of the naturalisation department. Brig Humaid added that there were increasingly more children being deprived of their rights in the emirate.They include abandoned children, child victims of domestic and sexual violence and abuse, children of mothers in prison and orphans, as well as children from families too poor to provide necessities such as food, education and health care…SOURCE

It looks like another misguided attempt to provide government jobs and worsening service.  Is it any coincidence that most of the typing centers are owned by expats?

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) is taking the final steps to launch a semi-government typing company under the Federal Naturalisation and Residency Department and close private typing centres across the country, said a top official in the ministry.

In Abu Dhabi emirate alone, 126 private typing centres will be affected.

Brigadier Nassir Al Awadi Al Menhali, Acting Director-General of the department, told Khaleej Times recently that the private typing centres would not be allowed to type the departments applications once the new company is formed.

This company would unify the procedures and charges of the applications among the naturalisation and residency departments (NRDs) nationwide.

“We work on unifying the formalities in all departments in the seven emirates. Right now, some NRDs demand more documents or additional fees than others to type the applications,” said Brig Al Menhali.

“We discovered that many of the private typing offices charge up to Dh80 for printing applications when the actual fee is Dh40. They also collect more money for online applications.”

The ministry would inaugurate the Naturalisation Institute soon to prepare the staff joining the new typing company, the NRDs and also the new information centre.

“The current steps have been taken in line with the MoI’s strategy to provide the best services to the applicants countrywide,” added Brig Al Menhali.

He added that the staff of the proposed company would be trained by the MoI…SOURCE

Here is another telling quote?:

…Ayman Al Zaytoni, owner of Stroika Contracting Company based in the capital, said the typing centres cause many problems. “The staff members at these centres are unprofessional. They make mistakes while typing and sometimes, I had to pay the printing charges twice or thrice.”

He believes the semi-government company would be better as the staff would be well-trained and they would use Arabic language. “We find it difficult to communicate with the Indians now.”…

…“The biggest risk facing the UAE economy is related to its labour market,” said Mary Nicola, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank.

The first redundancies started last year when global firms, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, axed up to 15 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, of staff in their Dubai International Financial Centre operations.

Layoffs then spread to local firms in the property and financial services sectors. Nakheel and Shuaa Capital dismissed 15 per cent and 9 per cent of their staff, respectively, in the final quarter of last year.

“Ministry of Labour officials were quoted in the local press saying that visa cancellations in Dubai have accelerated since Oct 2008, and are now averaging 1,500 a day, and exceeding 2,000 on some days,” said Ms Nicola.

Companies are obliged to report expatriate employees made redundant to the Government and their visas are cancelled after one month. According to the Ministry of Economy, the expatriate population grew by close to 7 per cent in 2007, with expatriates totalling 3.62 million, against only 864,000 nationals.

“The labour market usually lags the business cycle, so the hope is that the job losses currently evident on the ground are mostly a reflection of what has already happened to the economy, rather than an indication of where it is heading,” she explained.

The Department of Naturalisation and Residency Dubai (DNRD) declined to comment on whether the figure quoted was correct, stating that every ministerial department had its own figures and talks were ongoing in order to determine the right number.
The Government was expected to announce a range of new policies and exact figures next week, a government spokesman said.

In Sharjah, typing centres are seeing a significant increase in the number of people who are cancelling their visas, compared with the number of applications made for new visit and resident visas. About 200 cancellations a day are being filed at typing centres located inside Sharjah government buildings.

“The number of cancellations is far greater than those applying for residency and visit visas – at times we receive only 10 residence visa applications,” said Ahmed Salman, a typist at a Sharjah government building…SOURCE

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

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

Expatriates working in 57 occupations have been banned from bringing their families to live with them as part of Government moves to reduce the number of people breaking visa laws.

Among those who will be unable to bring family include: make-up artists, cooks, bakers, car washers, grave diggers, tailors, waiters and falcon trainers. The new regulation was announced yesterday.

A total of 25,313 visa violators and infiltrators have been caught since an amnesty period ended in Nov 2007, according to figures released by Brig Gen Nasser al Minhali, the acting director of the Naturalisation and Residency Department.

“Our main concern is violators. Ninety per cent of the banned professions do not fit the naturalisation and residency laws anyway. I understand that everyone wants their family to be close to them but I have a responsibility to fight violators,” Gen al Minhali said.

Low-income employees were often not able to pay visa fees for their families, which turned them into illegal immigrants, he said.

“When we identified the 57 occupations, we found a big accumulation of violators between them. For example, there was a person who hired a driver, and then used the driver’s family members [as staff], and this driver’s salary is Dh1,000 [US$270].

His salary is not enough to find a home.

“Would you accept to accommodate his family members with you in your house?”

Ahmad Ali, 34, an Indian waiter, said he believed the law was unfair. “I would like to bring my family,” he said, though living conditions were too expensive for him.

“They are discriminating against people. It’s not fair,” said Mihai Andrei, 36, an engineer from Romania. “People should be able to come here and try for themselves.”…SOURCE

Dubai to open online visa service to all in 2009

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/12/29/10270904.html

12/29/2008 09:31 PM | By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter

Dubai: Starting next year, the public will be able to apply for all kinds of visas online, a senior official from the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) said.

Until now, the facility was restricted to registered companies.

Lieutenant Colonel Nasir Khalid Al Marzouqi, assistant director for the IT department at DNRD, said applications for online visas will be opened to the public next year.

He said all online visa applications must be accompanied by photos of the applicants.