UAE | Visa
Move to ensure decent housing
Federal authorities in Abu Dhabi have announced everyone in the UAE applying to sponsor their family to come here for the first time will need to produce a copy of their tenancy contracts.
- By Rayeesa Absal, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:43 August 20, 2008
Abu Dhabi: Federal authorities in Abu Dhabi have announced everyone in the UAE applying to sponsor their family to come here for the first time will need to produce a copy of their tenancy contracts.
"People will have to show tenancy contracts when applying for residence visas for their family for the first time, as well as during its renewal," Brigadier Nasser Al Awadi Al Minhali, acting director-general of the Federal Naturalisation and Residency Department (FNRD), told Gulf News.
The contract should either be in the name of the sponsor or in the name of the company where he works. It could also be in the name of a close relative of the applicant.
The move comes as a measure to ensure that applicants who wish to sponsor their family have proper accommodation.
Though the new regulation applies to all the emirates, it is understood that not all the Naturalisation and Residency departments have started implementing it.
The Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) does not ask for tenancy contracts for residence visa.
The regulation is enforced by the Sharjah Naturalisation and Residency Department, who now demand a contract duly attested by the Sharjah Municipality.
Financially capable
Lieutenant Colonel Salim Ali Mazaini, head of the visa section at the Sharjah Naturalisation and Residency Department, told Gulf News the rule has been introduced to ensure that only those who are financially capable of providing decent accommodation can bring their families to the emirate.
"We are not insisting that the tenancy contract should be in the applicant's name. The contract can be in the name of close relatives also, like a brother, sister or father-in-law," said Mazaini.
Typing centres in Abu Dhabi and Dubai said the contract is not being demanded for sponsoring families, but only when applying for residence visas for relatives such as parents.
"Right now, officials only insist on the contract if one is applying to sponsor parents, in-laws, relatives or domestic helpers," said the owner of a typing centre in Dubai.
Tawfiq, an employee of a typing centre in Abu Dhabi, said: "We have submitted some applications but they have not been asking for the rent contract."
Meanwhile, a Dubai resident said his application to sponsor his mother in law was rejected since he lived in a single bedroom apartment.
"The application was rejected because we do not live in a two bedroom flat," he said, declining to be identified.
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