Abu Dhabi: An apparent case of mistaken identity has cost a man his job.
Indian Junaid Faiyyaz, 25, who landed a job in Abu Dhabi last month, claims he is unable to travel to the capital and start work because he is blacklisted, even though he has never set foot in the country.
Visa rejected
Fayyaz, who was offered a Dh8,500 job as an IT support engineer at an Al Danah-based IT firm on October 29, says his company’s work visa application was rejected this week apparently because he failed to clear security checks. The shocked IT graduate claims he has never transited through the UAE, not even during his four years in neighbouring Riyadh where he worked in a similar role for Dh6,000 (just over 6,000 Saudi riyals) a month.
“That’s why it came as a shock to me,” Fayyaz said from his hometown of Saharanpur where he returned last month after resigning from his previous company.
“In the process I lost not just bonuses worth Dh18,000 in my previous company but also, now as it seems, my new job that promised a better pay and sadly I don’t know exactly why,” added Fayyaz who was his family’s only earning member until last month.
Now Fayyaz virtually has no time to sort his papers and salvage his job. “My prospective employer told me on WhatsApp that they are going to apply for a work visa once more. If the outcome is the same, then I’m afraid this job is as good as gone,” said Fayyaz who is willing to undergo all sorts of tests and scans in order to be ‘whitelisted’ by the authorities.
“There clearly must have been a mistake. I did a simple online search the other day and saw scores of people by the same name. So it is a possibility but the bad news is that my poor parents, my two sisters and I have to suffer because of all this,” Fayyaz said.
The HR manager of the company that offered Fayyaz the job confirmed to XPRESS that his visa was rejected because he failed to clear ‘security checks’.
