Foreigners who marry Emiratis should undergo security checks, a member of the Federal National Council has claimed.
Ahmed Al Shehhi said the move would ensure those welcomed into the Emirati society would not be from an extremist background.
“Therefore, a security check must be conducted before the marriage," he claimed.
The issue was raised during a debate about the number of Emirati men, in particular, who married expat women. More than 5,900 Emiratis married non-Emirati women between 2017 and 2019.
The member proposed his suggestion to the Minister of Community Development, Hessa Buhumaid.
“So what is the ministry doing to curb the number of marriages of Emiratis to non-Emirati women?” said Mr Al Shehhi.
“There were 780 divorce cases for such [mixed] marriages within the same year,” he said.
Ms Buhumaid did not comment on security arrangements.
But she said the ministry has launched several programmes to encourage marriage among Emiratis.
“The ministry organises mass weddings to help cut down marriage costs, and regular awareness campaigns are launched to educate young men about making the right choice when picking their spouse,” the minister said.
“More than 1,000 UAE nationals benefited from related workshops and the number of marriages to Emirati women increased by 3 per cent in 2019 compared to 2018.”
Mr Al Shehhi put forward two suggestions to help improve the number of Emirati-only marriages.
“I would like to raise two recommendations: establishing an Emirati Family Council that would combine all concerned ministries,” Mr Al Shehhi said.
He said the council would provide a legal umbrella that deals with family cases, including marriages and divorces before they go to court.
The second recommendation, he said, would be to “activate the role of social counsellors in family cases”.
The minister said the cabinet has issued a decision on establishing a family council and work was under way.
Pari
Produced by: Clean Slate Films (Anushka Sharma, Karnesh Sharma) & KriArj Entertainment
Director: Prosit Roy
Starring: Anushka Sharma, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Rajat Kapoor, Mansi Multani
Three stars
The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
Asia Cup Qualifier
Venue: Kuala Lumpur
Result: Winners play at Asia Cup in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in September
Fixtures:
Wed Aug 29: Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore
Thu Aug 30: UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman
Sat Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal
Sun Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore
Tue Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu Sep 6: Final
Asia Cup
Venue: Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Schedule: Sep 15-28
Teams: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, plus the winner of the Qualifier
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
