Blacklisting, life ban for overstaying? GDRFA Dubai responds to ‘UAE overstay announcement’
Authority denies social media posts, asks public to get information from official sources
Dubai: The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) Dubai has denied social media posts about an “overstay announcement” as rumours.
Gulf News received two such posts addressing travel agents and customers on WhatsApp.
The posts said: “Dubai immigration has announced a final overstay policy change effective immediately. Any passengers overstaying more than 5 days will be permanently absconded without prior notice.”
Furthermore, the posts said, “Their names will be added to the blacklist, and they will be excluded from processing any work visa and deported with a lifetime ban.”
Though riddled with typos and grammatical errors, one post urged agents to inform their “customers about the new rule urgently to avoid any issues”.
“Please ensure compliance to avoid severe consequences,” said another post addressing “customers”.
GDRFA Call Centre said that they are aware of those posts and clarified that they had not been issued by GDRFA. One such post carries the logo of the Ministry of Interior with the name of GDRFA.
When contacted, the GDRFA media department also issued a statement rebutting the rumours.
GDRFA statement
“The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai urges the public not to follow rumours and to obtain information from official sources,” the authority said in a statement to Gulf News.
“It also calls on residents and those whose residency is issued by the Emirate of Dubai and are facing specific residency issues to communicate with the administration through its official channels in order to find suitable solutions to their problems,” it added.
Dubai resident Amal Gireesh said he had received the posts from a couple of travel agents.
“I was checking for the latest updates for someone I know who is on a visit visa. That is when I received this WhatsApp post. I checked with a couple of travel agents. Everyone said this is the update. I was wondering how this could be true when the GDRFA logo in the post itself is not correct,” he wondered.