Emergency visa counters to process urgent applications during holiday

Emergency counters have been set up at Dubai and Sharjah naturalisation and residency departments. They are for customers who need to obtain or renew their visit visas during the official mourning period and Eid holidays.

The counters at the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department will only receive applicants who need to obtain, renew or cancel their visit visas urgently. The counter will also deliver visas that are ready, said Brigadier Saeed Mattar Bin Bleilah, director-general of the department.

"The counters will help in urgent cases only, this includes obtaining visit visas for carers, expectant wives or ill people. Renewal of visit visas and the cancellation of residence visas in emergency cases will also be processed. The section will also accept applications from UAE nationals wanting to obtain and renew passports for urgent cases, such as newborns who are ill and need to travel abroad for treatment.

"The investigation and follow-up section will receive absconding reports and issue departure permits," he said.

The counters will also deal with passport delivery for companies and the cancellation of domestic workers' visas. They will be open daily from 9am to 1pm, Saturday to Wednesday.

The department counter at the airport is open around the clock but will only accept applications for urgent cases. The 95-strong emergency team began receiving applicants on Saturday.

In Sharjah, the Naturalisation and Residency Department started receiving applicants on Saturday. Col Salem Al Suwaidi said that due to pressure on the department's emergency counter at Sharjah International Airport, an emergency team would receive applications every day until the end of the Eid holidays.

"The team will work for two hours after 7pm to receive customers who want to renew a visit visa, cancel a residence visa, deliver a passport for a company, deliver a visit or residence visa application or cancel a housemaid's or domestic worker's visa."

The departments are now closed for the eight-day holiday to mourn the death of Shaikh Zayed. They will remain closed during Eid Al Fitr holidays as well and will reopen on November 20.

Eid holidays

• The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has announced that Eid Al Fitr holidays for the private sector will be for two days only in accordance with Article 74 of the Labour Law of 1980. The ministry also clarified that private sector employees are entitled to fully paid two-day leave for the first two days of Eid Al Fitr, as specified by the law.
• If employees must work during the holidays, the employers are obliged to not only compensate for it but also increase the wages for the day(s) worked by 50 per cent. If the holiday is not compensated, the employer should pay 150 per cent of the basic salary. --If a worker abstains after the holidays, the employer is entitled to take punitive measures in accordance with the labour law.