UAE | General

Agencies know the rules, but don't tell

"We were never told we have to wait here for so long," shouted a Filipino at a hotel in Kish, Iran.

  • By Mahmood Saberi, Senior Reporter
  • Published: 23:36 October 27, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Visa applicants are briefed by a hotel official in Kish.
  • Image Credit: Hadrian Hernandez/Gulf News
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Dubai: "We were never told we have to wait here for so long," shouted a Filipino at a hotel in Kish, Iran.

"Didn't your travel agency tell you the new rules [about the 30-days out of the country]," we asked. "No," he shouted again in distress.

Video: Click here to watch visa-runners stranded in Kish

A number of travel agencies promising 'visa change and holiday' are located in Naif, a crowded area of Dubai with its warren of busy, tiny lanes.

"To Khasab, Oman, by road. Fare as low as Dh345 only," says a poster at one of the travel agencies.

"Golden tour to Beautiful, Kish Island. Round trip Iran Air [Terminal one]. Two nights, staying five-star Dariush Hotel. Half-day sight-seeing. Two days/two nights Dh990," says another advert.

But the last is a visa change in style. The usual visa change run by air costs about Dh550, which includes the ticket and a day's stay at a hotel, sharing a room, dormitory style.

We were here on 24th Street trying to find a travel agency which most Filipinos in Kish, Iran, said had sent them there on a visa change run.

We found Al Hedaya Travels near the Diplomat Hotel, a busy office, with phones constantly ringing and staffed by efficient Filipinas. "Visa change exit to Oman. It's safer, nearer and much easier to return than ever before," said a poster in this office.

This promise, unfortunately, did not hold true last Ramadan when something went horribly wrong and hundreds of Filipinos and Filipinas, were left stranded in Buraimi, Oman. News of the sorry situation of people starving and Filipinas prostituting themselves, reached Manila and soon a top diplomat reached Oman to assess the situation.

A top Federal officer, Brigadier Nasser Al Awadi Al Minhali, Acting Director-General of the Federal Naturalisation and Residency Department, had earlier explained to Gulf News that it is not guaranteed to those who exit the country that their visa will be extended.

Case-by-case

"Each application is studied on a case-by-case basis and then the decision to issue a visa or reject the application will be made," he said.

Apparently this information was not provided to the expatriates by the travel agencies.

We could not interview the owner of Al Hedaya, a Filipina, but found Dilip Kumar of One Line Tourism and Travels nearby. "Nothing has changed," he said, of the visa run business. Every day he sells on an average five tickets to various visa change destinations.

Tourist agencies now cannot apply for a visit visa into the UAE. They can only apply for a tourist visa, which is valid for 30 days. After that the 'tourist' has to go out of the country for a month before another extension is granted.

Brigadier Obaid Bin Surour, Acting Director of the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD), had also said earlier that there is no rule that visitors have to return to their home country to renew visit visas. "We only check whether they left the UAE or not."

We saw that process at the Dubai Airport at Terminal 2, where expats leaving for Kish lined at a counter at the Duty Free section.

After passport control, they went and got the passport page with the exit stamp photocopied and faxed it to their sponsors, to show they have exited the country and the application can now be processed.

Abdul Abdullah Rahman, sponsor of a travel agency run by another Filipina at Karama Centre, said it does not give assurances to its clients that they will get the visa within the one-month time frame.

"They know the rules but it is their choice. It is cheaper to go someplace nearby and wait than going to the Philippines," he said.

"Everybody knows the rules. If they can read the job wanted adverts, they can read about the rules," he said. But many Filipinos come here on an assurance that they will get jobs and do not understand why they have to go out of the country. They are never told exactly what the situation by these agencies.

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