The number of immigration officers at Dubai's Al Awir Centre has been doubled in a bid to deal high numbers of visa amnesty seekers in the last few days of the initiative. With the deadline for the UAE visa amnesty on Thursday, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFA) advised any candidates who have not yet come forward to do so as soon as possible.
Amnesty seekers flocked to the centre – one of many ready to welcome overstayers across the UAE this week – on Monday as thousands sought to resolve visa-related issues in the final days of the initiative, which ends on October 31. Tens of thousands are seeking exit permits to leave the country and the GDRFA has implemented a special plan to handle the anticipated influx of applicants in the final days of the amnesty, Lt Col Salem bin Ali, director of the customer happiness department at the authority, told The National.
“We have doubled the number of officers as we expect many people to show up for the last week of the amnesty. It is normal and we’ve seen that in former amnesties,” Lt Col bin Ali said. He also confirmed there will be no extension.
Dubai's Al Awir Centre during the final days of the amnesty – in pictures
Every exit pass allows a 14-day window
Companies have been told to stop recruiting overstayers, as had been the case in the early days of the amnesty, as there is no longer enough time for the procedure to arrange an employment visa with so few days to go until the end of the initiative.
It is believed that many people have waited until the last days of the amnesty in the hope of getting a job opportunity in the country. Lt Col bin Ali assured them they can still return to find employment after leaving.
“If you cannot find a job, please leave the country, you can come back, you are most welcome anytime,” he said. “If someone gets an exit pass on October 31, then he or she has 14 days to leave the country without fines. Many are afraid they will not be able to return to the country if they leave but there is no ban on people getting the exit pass.”
He urged everyone with an Emirates ID to go directly to an Amer immigration centre to get an exit pass. Those without an Emirates ID can have their fingerprints done at Al Awir Centre and their exit pass should be processed within three days.
“With few days left, people should seize the opportunity. We are working in Al Awir Centre from 8am to 8pm,” Lt Col bin Ali added.
Plans to return
Innocent Chibuzo, 34, from Nigeria, decided to wait until the final week of the amnesty in the hope of finding employment before taking the decision to get an exit visa.
“I came on a visit visa in February 2020, a few days before the outbreak of Covid-19,” he told The National. “I couldn’t find a job and stayed illegally in the country.”
Mr Chibuzo has worked on a construction site in Abu Dhabi for the past four years but said he could not get an employment visa. In that time, he has accumulated fines of about Dh80,000.
“I kept searching for a job in the last two months in the hope of waiving the fines and stay legally in the UAE. But now I want to get an exit pass and leave the country without paying the visa fines,” he said. “I booked a flight on October 31 to return to Nigeria. “I want to return and apply for a job in a proper way.”
Eman Ganam, from Morocco, got her exit pass one year after her residency visa had expired.
“I worked in a coffee shop but had problems with my sponsor in Dubai. He cancelled my residency and I stayed illegally hoping to get a new job,” she said. “I've now got the exit pass. I’m planning to return to the UAE with an employment visa.”
What are the visa overstay rules?
The financial penalty has been standardised at Dh50 ($13.6) a day for tourists or residents who overstay their visas, following updates by the Federal Authority For Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) in October 2022.
Residency visa holders are given six months to leave the country or change their status by finding a job once their visa expires or is cancelled.
The amnesty supports those who remain in the country illegally beyond this grace period.
Where to apply for the amnesty
There are locations throughout the Emirates where an application for amnesty can be processed.
In Abu Dhabi, people can apply at ICP centres in Al Dhafra, Sweihan, Al Maqam and Al Shahamah and private typing centres that are recognised by the ICP.
Typing centres typically perform administrative services, including application submissions.
In Dubai, amnesty services will be provided at its Amer service centres, and the centre for immigration violators in Al Awir.
Amnesty applications can be made at ICP centres throughout the rest of the Emirates.
Service centres will be operational daily throughout the amnesty from 8am until 8pm.
Why is there a need for a visa amnesty?
Such amnesties provide a reprieve for those without valid documentation who could be reluctant to come forward due to concerns about potential fines or jail sentences.
This allows the government to ensure people are living in the Emirates legally, an important consideration against the backdrop of a population boom.
It is also a chance for many to grasp the chance of a new start – whether in the UAE or back in their home country.
Most residents living or working in the UAE would usually have a two or three-year visa in their passport. That has since been replaced with the Emirates ID.
In April 2022, visa changes were brought in by the UAE Cabinet and several more categories were added. This included an expansion of golden visas and the introduction of green visas, with several of the new categories aimed at self-employed people and business owners.
The new rules came into effect in September of that year.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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.
Jumanji: The Next Level
Director: Jake Kasdan
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Nick Jonas
Two out of five stars
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MORE ON THE US DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The Freedom Artist
By Ben Okri (Head of Zeus)
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MATCH INFO
AC Milan v Inter, Sunday, 6pm (UAE), match live on BeIN Sports
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Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Movie: Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster 3
Producer: JAR Films
Director: Tigmanshu Dhulia
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Jimmy Sheirgill, Mahie Gill, Chitrangda Singh, Kabir Bedi
Rating: 3 star
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
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
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I Feel Pretty
Dir: Abby Kohn/Mark Silverstein
Starring: Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams, Emily Ratajkowski, Rory Scovel
