UAE | Media
Making the borders secure
Ram Buxani, a businessman and resident in the country for 47 years, says in the mid 1970s the UAE issued a visit visa only for 72 hours.
- By Sunita Menon, Staff reporter
- Published: 00:04 November 9, 2007
- Gulf News reported earlier this year about a couple of Afghans who sneaked into the country through the mountains.
- Image Credit: WAM
Dubai: Ram Buxani, a businessman and resident in the country for 47 years, says in the mid 1970s the UAE issued a visit visa only for 72 hours.
These visas were issued on arrival, but one had to deposit passports at the airport. A situation developed when hundreds and thousands of passports went uncollected at the airport, he said. This is because people did not go back.
Economic benefits and brighter prospects have always been prime factors for many nationalities to land on the shores of the Arabian Peninsula.
With the discovery of oil, the economy in Gulf states started booming in the 1970s, giving rise to infrastructure development with a demand for a large labour force.
The UAE has undergone a magical metamorphosis, and today it is a country with one of the highest salaries in the region.
Back then, those who were skilled and semi-skilled found jobs easily and were legally employed with a proper residence visa and a labour permit.
The news of opportunities in the UAE spread far and wide and the lure of the Gulf made people even risk their lives by taking illegal means to dodge the authorities and enter its shores.
Reports published in Gulf News as far back as 1978 talk of how individuals found with false passports faced immediate deportation.
Imprisonment
The deportation was at the expense of the illegal person, under a decree issued in Abu Dhabi, and if immediate deportation was not possible, officials had the power to imprison the person for up to 14 days.
Another article published in the same year reports on the imprisonment of a man and two captains of ships as part of a crackdown on illegal residents.
K.V. Shamsuddin, 61, who heads the Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust, has been living in the UAE for the past 37 years. He said people risked their lives to get to the shores of the UAE to earn a living.
"I have been a subscriber of Gulf News for 30 years and have read news on how the authorities are battling it out day after day to tackle the menace of illegal migrants.
"I still recollect that people used to come by dhows from the western Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The majority came from Mumbai ports through unscrupulous agents by paying Indian rupees 1,000 to 2,000. I remember in those days 1,000 Indian rupees was about Dh656," he said.
He said illegals used to land on the shores of Khor Fakkan in Sharjah and then travelled to Al Rolla by four-wheel drive.
"The Coast Guard used to man the coast of Khor Fakkan and to avoid arrests these illegals used to disembark from their dhows and swim to the shore at night. There were many among them who used to get caught by the coastal patrol and the police," said Shamsuddin.
Buxani, 67, said tougher rules were then put in place. "As time passed I have seen how people changed their tactics to sneak into the country," he said.
Buxani, who has been reading Gulf News for 30 years, said many people came to visit the UAE and never went back.
"There were also people who came to the UAE with two passports. In those days the Indian passport authority was not computerised so it was easy for people to dodge the authorities and get a passport issued from Mumbai as well as from Delhi. Many came with two passports; one was deposited at the airport in the UAE, while the other they carried with them.
"The problem of illegals is not a recent phenomenon. Remember, air travel in those days was not affordable for all and many used the dhows to land here. A network of agents took advantage of the illiterate villagers and lured them with golden stories of the Gulf and got them here through illegal means," said Buxani.
A report published in Gulf News in 1981 spoke of 400 illegal immigrants who were rounded up by the Inspection Department of the then Labour and Social Affairs Ministry, following raids at companies in the Sweihan area of Abu Dhabi.
The news quoted ministry sources who had said people had entered the country illegally or changed jobs without regularising their sponsorship transfers. Some of them had expired visas.
The inspectors, who conducted the surprise raids in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior in Sweihan, discovered that many employers had not legalised the status of their workers.
The problem of illegal residents continues even today as thousands throng to the country in pursuit of a better life and secure a future for their families.
In June, the authorities announced an amnesty for illegal residents and more than 340,000 took advantage of it. While some left the country, others adjusted their situation.
LEGAL
Thousands benefited from amnesty
- Amnesty has been declared by the UAE thrice: in 1998, 2003 and recently in June 2 this year. Thousands of illegals have left the country during the amnesty. In the recent amnesty, 341,958 people benefited from the amnesty. This includes 95,259 who legalised their status and 171,000 who left the country.
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