With only a few days left before the UAE rolls out its two-month visa amnesty scheme from September 1, typing centres are inundated with calls and enquiries from overstaying expats who wish to regularise their residency status.
During the grace period, illegal residents will have the opportunity to get their fines waived so they can either fly home or stay in the country.
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“We have been receiving a lot of enquiries from residency visa overstayers. They have a lot of questions, asking us about how to process the documents and how to apply to regularise their status,” said Firose Khan, operation manager at Arabian Business Centre.
Khan admitted that as they tackled all these queries, they couldn’t say much about the procedure because they were also waiting for details from immigration authorities.
“In a couple of days from now, we will be receiving more information from the authorities, and our online portal will be updated,” he said.
Procedures and requirements
Mohammed Dawood Shahbuddin of Seven City Document Clearing Services said his agency was also getting several calls every single day. “These overstayers really want to regularise their status,” he said.
Explaining some details about the amnesty process, Shahbuddin said an overstayer could submit their documents to them and they would turn them over to an Amer centre. Once the application is approved by the authorities, an outpass will be issued and the illegal resident will have 14 days to exit the country.
“The overstayer will have to either get an offer letter from a company and apply for a visa to continue staying here or leave the country,” he added.
Clarifications awaited
Many typing centres, however, are yet to receive full instructions from the authorities.
“When people learnt about the UAE amnesty programme, many of them approached us for detailed procedures. However, the only information we have received so far were the dates of application and for how long it would be on,” said Nazeel Ahmed of Al Burj Document Clearing Services.
Currently, Ahmed said while waiting for clarity, they were focusing on raising awareness of how important the amnesty scheme is.
With the grace period set to begin on September 1, typing centres are preparing for a larger influx of enquiries.
“We urge everyone who is staying illegally in the country to make the most of this opportunity and legalise their residency status. Do not worry about how time-consuming it is. Once you are out of it, you have the freedom,” said Khan.