My son has special needs and is completely dependent on his mother and myself. He will be 17 in March and is sponsored by me. His residency visa will expire in April this year, so are we eligible to renew his visa for another three years? Is there any way to renew the residence visa of a special needs son after reaching 18 years of age on his father’s sponsorship? A M, Dubai
As a general rule, a father is able to sponsor his son up to age 18 years, or up to age 21 if the son is in full-time education, whether in the UAE or abroad. While these are the stated and published rules, a special application can be made to the relevant department in the emirate where the family lives. In this particular case, inquiries should be made to the General Directory and Foreigner Affairs (GDFA) – Dubai (dnrd.ae/en). The GDFA has issued public statements advising that it has set up a special committee to assess humanitarian cases, and I believe this case would come under its remit. While there are no guarantees, with the right proof of dependency A M should have a good case to apply for a standard two-year residency visa for his son.
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Read more from Keren Bobker:
Repatriation is not an obligation if an employee resigns
Can I return to the UAE if my last work visa was never cancelled?
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I have worked for a construction company for seven years and am now on my fourth visa. For the past two years I have not been receiving my salary every month, and it is always delayed. Now I have four months’ salary pending. That is the total due, although it is not for consecutive months. Should I move to another company to get the outstanding salary and gratuity as per UAE law? Also, can my company ban me if I leave or go to labour court? B G, Abu Dhabi
The first thing B G must do is register a case against the employer at the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE). The telephone number is 800 665. In a case such as this, the MoHRE will be sympathetic and helpful.
Generally, an employee can leave a company without consequences if they have not been paid for three consecutive months, but if some payments have been made over the past three months, B G will need to obtain written clearance from MoHRE to leave or he will have to compensate the company for breaking his fixed-term contract.
Even if he was resigning or leaving, as he has been with the same employer for more than five years he would be entitled to receive his end of service gratuity in full.
Assuming the MoHRE rules against the company and B G is able to leave without notice or penalty, the company would not be able to apply for a labour ban against him.
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Read more:
Can I return after being rejected for UAE visa due to diagnosis of hepatitis B?
Am I allowed to re-enter the UAE after deportation?
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My labour card expired yesterday but I have an employment visa that is valid until February 7. My managers say they will cancel my visa by February 1, so can I stay for another 30 days after February 7? What happens if I stay longer? A P, Dubai
The dates on a labour card and employment-related residency visa should be the same, so it is unusual in this case that they are different. If an employer cancels a visa, the date of cancellation is the date that it ends. In this case, if A P’s visa is cancelled on February 1, he will no longer have residency from that date.
Once the visa has been officially cancelled, a person has a 30-day grace period and must exit the UAE before this expires to avoid fines for illegally overstaying. A P will therefore, need to have left by March 2 to avoid a penalty. If someone overstays, either as they have not exited the UAE or a new employment visa is not processed in time, a penalty is payable. The fine for the first day is Dh125, and then a further Dh25 for each subsequent day. There is also a further service fee of Dh100 on exiting the country. These are the official fees as shown on the Ministry of Interior website, but VAT will be payable on top of these quoted amounts. Note that anyone that significantly exceeds the grace period, that is by a further 30 days or more, could find that they are further penalised and added to an immigration blacklist that could prevent them from re-entering the UAE at a later date. The fines for overstaying on a tourist visa are different: Dh200 for the first day and Dh100 for subsequent days, plus VAT.
Keren Bobker is an independent financial adviser and senior partner with Holborn Assets in Dubai, with over 20 years’ experience. Contact her at keren@holbornassets.com. Follow her on Twitter at @FinancialUAE.
The advice provided in our columns does not constitute legal advice and is provided for information only.
TICKETS
For tickets for the two-day Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) event, entitled Dubai Invasion 2019, on September 27 and 28 go to www.meraticket.com.
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
