UAE residents have welcomed the Indian government's announcement that it would defer its directive asking Indian nationals to register on a government portal before leaving their home country to work in the UAE from January 1.
A notice posted on Twitter on Wednesday by the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi said the decision on registration would be kept “in abeyance until further orders”.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs had issued an advisory on November 14 that online registration on the government’s eMigrate portal was mandatory and required to be completed at least 24 hours before departure by Indians travelling on employment visas to the UAE and 17 other countries or travellers would be offloaded.
These countries include Afghanistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Thailand, UAE and Yemen.
The government said the move aimed to provide protection to Indians overseas to allow them to reach help quickly in case of emergency situations.
Indians in the UAE then sought details on whether the directive applied to all Indians with work visas who returned home for a visit or only to first-time job seekers and questioned why people with valid visas would be offloaded.
UAE resident KV Shamsudheen who heads a welfare trust urged the government to connect with its citizens overseas before introducing new systems.
He recalled a proposal in January this year when the government withdrew a plan to issue orange-coloured passport covers for unskilled and semi-skilled workers who have not completed year 10.
The move was denounced as discriminatory by Indians, although the government then said the plan was to easily identify and protect workers travelling overseas for employment from agents who exhort money while promising jobs.
“There was strong objection from the NRI (Non-resident Indian) community against that proposal and finally the ministry withdrew that order also,” he said while appreciating the government's acceptance of concerns raised by citizens on the most recent directive.
“I request the ministry before introducing new systems to please try to get the opinion of Indian diplomatic missions and from Indians living abroad.”
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Indians heading to UAE for work must now register online to help tackle job fraud
UAE's Indian residents welcome government backtrack on orange passports
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