23/07/2018
The general visa amnesty will start on August 1.
Expats living in the UAE illegally can now utilise the amnesty scheme to either regularise their visa status or to exit the country without paying any overstay fines.
In order to reach out to more beneficiaries, Indian missions in the UAE have opened a help desk, a hotline and an exclusive email address to help maximum number of Indians staying in the country illegally to avail of the three-month amnesty, announced recently by the UAE government.
If you are looking forward to avail the services under the amnesty, here is what you need to know:
Amnesty 2018 by UAE government
Duration
The duration of the amnesty will be from August 1, 2018 to October 31, 2018 (3 months), subject to extension for a further period of two months depending upon the circumstances.
Beneficiaries
All individuals who are overstaying in the country can utilize the amnesty either to regularize their visa status legally or to exit the country without paying any overstay fines without entry ban.
How to utilise
> The individuals who are staying illegally can regularize their visas by getting a new sponsor. They can submit their application through Amer centers for new visa by paying an Immigration fee of Dh500.
> Those who wish to exit the country can approach Awir Immigration directly and get exit permit without ban. The Immigration will issue exit permit and they can exit the country within 10 days after issuance of permit. A fee of Dh220 is to be paid for the exit permit. The Immigration will take the fingerprints and eye scan as normal procedure and will issue exit permit accordingly.
> Those who entered the country illegally without any documents will get exit clearance with two years Immigration ban. They can re-enter the UAE after two years.
> If there is an absconding report against a person, the Immigration will remove absconding report against him with payment of Dh500 and will issue exit permit without ban.
The exit permits will be issued from the concerned Immigration authorities from where the visa is issued. Therefore, the individuals have to approach the immigration authorities of their respective emirates.
The applicants can approach the Immigration either with original Passport or EC issued from the consulate. In case of the passport already submitted in any Immigration office the same will be located immediately and handed over to the applicant directly. If passport is not available, the Consulate can issue EC and exit permit will be issued without police report. They will consider requests of the Consulates for repatriation of individuals in special cases.
