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Issue No 48, August 2007 |
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MoI to take stringent action against illegals after amnesty
Recently released reports quote Brigadier Mohammad Ghurair Al Rumaithi, Deputy General-Director of the Naturalization and Residency Departments in the Ministry of Interior, (MoI) that illegal workers who stay on after the expiry of 2 September 2007 amnesty deadline will face prison terms in addition to fines and permanent re-entry ban.
The reports quote Brigadier Al Rumaithi further as follows:
After the amnesty ends, a law defining fines and prison terms will be passed and strictly implemented. The country gave the illegal workers two opportunities in 1996 and 2004. However, many ‘illegals’ did not pay heed to the amnesty facility.
The concerned authorities will launch inspection campaigns across the country and anyone found violating the residency laws will face stern action and penalties.
The Cabinet decision No. 1/33 regarding the amnesty stipulates punishment for employers, sponsors and companies who provide shelter to
‘illegals’ in the UAE.
Currently, the NRDs are issuing outpasses which are valid for a week, but extendable by another week or more until the amnesty-seeker leaves the country.
So far a total of 110,650 illegal workers, mostly maids, drivers and farm workers have approached the Naturalization and Residency Departments across the UAE to benefit from the three-month amnesty period.
While, 49,029 ‘illegals’ were seeking reguralization of status, 61,621 have been given outpasses. Ninety per cent of amnesty-seekers are Asian males.
NRD offices are working 18 hours a day to provide assistance for completion of formalities, be it departure from the country or reguralization of status.
Sponsors who wish to get a temporary permit for recruiting a worker, maybe a driver, for example, can get a three-month temporary permit. However, these permits are not renewable.
In case of a woman who has come to the UAE to work as maid, but has run away from her sponsor to live with her husband, who is also working in the country, and was reported ‘absconding’ by her sponsor, the NRDs will consider the husband as violator of the Cabinet decision. He would be liable to face the penalty for sheltering an
‘illegal’, which could be one month in prison and fine up to Dh50,000. |
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