As the UAE’s two-month amnesty program starts this coming Sunday 1st of September where all the illegals and those who have overstayed in the country on visit visa are allowed to legalise themselves or go back to their home countries without being penalized, a new threat has now surfaced.
Another area that has received reports of scams is the residency visas where these con artists are targeting vulnerable expats with offers which are hard to believe at these incredibly low prices.
The media went round Jebel Ali and Sonapur to interview few expatriates who have been overstaying and they all noted that they have been approached by some people who offer to help get them residency visas for as low as $ 1000 – far from the market rate.
Siddiq (name changed), a 35–year–old Pakistani nationals residing in UAE but currently overstaying, relate an experience of an online scammer he met.
He also reported that a man offered him a residency visa for Dh5,000; he said it was too good to be true and when the man was pressed into more details about the company, and the position they were willing to offer, the man grew smart.
Siddiq is among those many people known as overstayers who have lived in the UAE for a long time and are not willing to risk taking any action without seeking legal advice.
B.N., 39 years old overstayer who used to live in Sonapur said some few scammers approached him in the recent past to offer him a chance to renew his residency status and also the issuance of a new visa as well.
“I have been penalized more than Dh70,000 and this person by the name of Khan, has approached me a couple of times duping me into starting a fresh life,” averred B. N.
“There are always ways, Khan told me that for Dh8,000 all the fines will be paid and I will get a clean residency visa to begin a new life in UAE But the feeling of consistent temptation was impossible to believe” – A. N.
‘No office’
Yet another person in Sonapur was trying to find a way to legitimise his status after having been in UAE for nearly one year after the expiry of his visit visa Raj Thiru is an Indian expatriate from Tamil Nadu.
“In the last few days, as the amnesty period was announced, a few of them contacted me to help me get an online residency visa for Dh 6,000, but none of them had a proper office or any venue,” said Raj, adding that he has heard that some of them have also been caught in this scam.
Immigration experts urge caution
While interviewing some immigration experts for this article, we got to know that the real amount one pays for a genuine residency visa is far more than Dh5,000.
It has been claimed that these scams have been created to prey on overstayers who seek to find a loophole that will enable them to regularise their status cheaply. “There are tendencies of some conmen taking advantage of the amnesty period to con the overstayers with fake job offers,” said Mohammed Dawood Shahbuddin of Seven City Document Clearing Services offering to clear the documents.
“The actual process of acquiring a residency visa is more complex and costly. The visa rates vary depending on what type of visa is applied for. There are three grades in the UAE visa system — for government companies, for multinational companies, and small-scale companies,” said Shahbuddin adding that people must be cautious and only deal with accredited agents or directly with government authorities.