Fines of Dh100,000: Filipino with expired visa says UAE amnesty is 'biggest blessing'

When the UAE announced an amnesty programme for people with expired visas, a Filipino in Dubai felt an enormous weight lift from his shoulders after four years of living illegally in the Emirates.

JB said it was the miracle he had been praying for since his visa expired in 2020.

The former businessman recently found a job and will apply as part of the visa amnesty scheme to remain in the UAE with his wife and daughter.

A two-month amnesty begins on Sunday across the UAE to allow people with expired residency and visit visas to change their status and stay in the country or leave without being fined.

“It’s a big relief for me and my family, it’s our second chance at life,” JB told The National. “My overstay fines when I last checked some time ago were more than Dh100,000.

“I stopped checking because, honestly, I couldn’t do anything about it. I was waiting for a miracle. Now, everything has aligned for me because I have an employment opportunity and the amnesty happened at the same time.

“The visa fines piling up and not having a proper visa – that was the biggest roadblock. This amnesty removes the fines and lets me work again. This really is the biggest blessing for me.”

Covid-19 blow

JB, his wife and 10-month-old daughter came to the UAE in 2013 and lived in Sharjah, where he ran a business importing herbal juices.

The pandemic hit his food business in 2020 and he was forced to shut the company.

JB’s visa expired that year, also affecting the residency of his daughter who was under his sponsorship.

Since his wife had a job, she removed herself from his sponsorship and acquired an employment visa. But the family’s troubles had just begun.

“It was a really hard time when Covid hit because my business collapsed, I could not fund rent cheques I had given and a case was filed against me,” said JB, who is 41.

“I really tried but there were no jobs available for me. My wife retained her job and that gave us a lifeline.”

Unable to pay the rent for a Sharjah apartment, the family moved into a room in a property with another family.

He received a summons to appear before a Sharjah court in 2021 over failure to pay Dh26,000 in rent and was jailed for eight days.

His wife pleaded for funds from family and collected the Dh7,000 bail required to release him.

The UAE law has since changed, with courts no longer issuing jail terms for failing to pay rent or bounced cheques. An updated law that came into effect in 2022 decriminalised such cases.

Behind bars

For JB, the time in jail was the worst period of his life.

“You never imagine this will happen to you, that you will go to jail,” he said.

“When I received a notification to go to Sharjah court, I was asked to pay the full amount of Dh26,000. How would I get that amount? So, I was put in jail.

“When you come to Dubai, it’s a dream. No one thinks they will go to jail in Sharjah. But the people there had the same problem as me, there were cheque-bounce and rental cases.

“You have this preconceived notion that people in jail are bad but when you are there yourself, your perception changes.”

Free Covid care

JB will never forget the medical treatment his family received when they tested positive for coronavirus in 2021.

They were taken to a designated facility and placed in a room where they were given medicine and food. When JB’s condition deteriorated, he was taken to hospital.

“Even now when I talk to friends about getting Covid, I tell them how the government took care of us,” he said. “They didn’t ask for any payment, gave us treatment for free.

“Our Emirates IDs had expired but they treated us for one week in a separate room with food and medication. I developed complications and when my situation got serious I was taken to hospital in an ambulance.

“The year 2021 was very bad because of Covid but we paid zero for all the medicines they pumped into me. The Dubai government didn’t see us as illegal migrants. This was a humanitarian act I will never forget.”

Life in the shadows

The family has since subsisted on his wife’s salary and on visual projects and exhibits that JB, a keen photographer, was able to deliver.

“I was called for job interviews but when they saw my visa had expired, they didn’t call back,” he said. “I love photography so I did fine art photos, joined art fairs online, took portrait photos.

“In a year, I would get around Dh15,000 to Dh20,000. That’s not a lot but it helped. That was the best I could do without any papers.”

The couple placed their 11-year-old daughter in a school that offered remote education.

“We looked for a school that would accept my daughter even with the problem in my papers,” he said. “We never wanted to sacrifice her education and she learns on Zoom every day.”

Chance to rebuild

The amnesty has opened up a path for the family to regularise their papers.

Residents can get a reprieve if they do not have pending court cases or legal penalties due.

JB recently found a job at a school that is aware of his status and offered him employment based on his photography portfolio. The school also gave him a salary advance to clear his rental case.

JB paid up the Dh26,000 in court this week to close the case and is one step closer to legalising his stay in the UAE.

“The school have helped me get a fresh start,” he said. “I will pay them back the money all through the year.”

Keeping faith

His wife said faith helped her shoulder the responsibility of keeping the family afloat.

“The amnesty will give us a new beginning. It gives high hopes not just for us but others in the same situation,” she said.

“It gives us a chance for a future. Faith has helped because I pray a lot and never gave up.”

The couple has been constantly on the lookout to legalise JB's stay.

When authorities asked people with expired visas to come forward in February last year, JB was among the thousands who went to City Centre Deira. Large crowds on the first day forced authorities to shut the venue.

“I went there but all entrances were blocked,” he said. “When they told us all to go home, I was heart-broken to see that chance pass, but now there will be a much better system with the amnesty.”

He will be among thousands to queue up at the Amer service centre on Sunday.

JB hopes to later go to the Philippines on holiday – the family's first trip since they came to the UAE 11 years ago.

“I’m telling my story so that other people in the same situation can have some inspiration to see that they too can get past a bad situation,” he said.

“I lost faith along the way because it was years and years of nothing happening.

“But my wife has been the star. I was depressed, I lost my self-esteem but she helped me believe.

“Now, I’m waiting for the amnesty to start so I can clear my visa fines and start the process for a new visa.”