Al Aweer amnesty centre back to business after Eid holiday
With just a little more than two months left before the deadline, officials urge visa overstayers to act fast to regularise their status
Dubai: Hundreds of amnesty seekers thronged Al Aweer and Amer centres on Sunday after the weeklong Eid Al Adha holiday.
Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director-General of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) Dubai, visited Al Aweer centre on Sunday and met some amnesty seekers, answered their questions and listened to their concerns.
The amnesty seekers became violators for various reasons and it is a chance for them to modify their status.”
He was accompanied by Brigadier Khalaf Al Gaith, assistant director-general, Violators and Foreigners Follow-up Section in Dubai, and other officials.
“Here at Al Aweer centre, we provide humanitarian service. The amnesty seekers became violators for various reasons and it is a chance for them to modify their status,” Maj Gen Al Merri said during a meeting with his employees.
He lauded the efforts of GDRFA employees at Al Aweer centre who have worked on the cases of thousands of amnesty seekers since the start of the amnesty programme on August 1.
He urged the employees to help amnesty seekers and stressed on the importance of treating the violators in a humane way and providing them with the best service possible.
“The amnesty gesture came from our leaders as part of the humanitarian role of the UAE. We should work hard to achieve the leaders’ goals to reinforce the reputation of the country.”
As many as 10,797 people applied for amnesty on the first week of August in Al Aweer and Amer centres in Dubai.
The fifth amnesty to be announced in the UAE, the three-month period of leniency will run until October 31. The amnesty window gives foreigners who have overstayed their visa a chance to leave the country without having to pay their overstay fines and without getting a ban. Those with absconding cases against their name will also be given a choice to leave the country or stay on provided theu legalise their visa status.
With just a little more than two months left before the deadline, officials are urging people who have cancelled their resident visas without changing their status to act quickly as the fines will no longer be waived by October 31.
To date, tens of millions of dirhams have been waived for amnesty seekers, most of whom are from Asian countries.
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