Dubai: The UAE’s introduction of multiple-entry 5-year visas will help businesses plan better on costs - and help with business continuity as well.
In addition, business sources in the country say that the latest reform on residency rules should be seen in the same light as allowing foreign businesses to own 100 per cent ownership in their companies across industries.
“Sure, there have been reforms such as Golden and Green visas - by these were for investors,” said a business owner. “The 5-year visas and 100 per cent ownership have full-scale benefits for businesses as a whole.”
Gulf News speaks to businessmen across industries to get their views on what the 5-year visa rule would mean for them and their operations.
“It is great to see the UAE coming with more innovative ideas that business sectors will need at the moment. This reiterates the UAE’s position as a global destination on three dimensions -- business, tourism, and work. It will create innumerable employment opportunities in line with business evolution, increased consumption, and individual purchase power. For companies like us, this saves a lot of time and effort to get our trade partners, stakeholders and technical experts who need to visit us as and when required,” said Bharat Bhatia, founder, and CEO of Conares.
“This will further boost the country’s image as the global business hub; providing flexibility to the international business community. Dubai has already established itself as the destination of choice not only for tourism and shopping but also as a preferred place for doing business. The ease, transparency, supportive government policies, strategic positioning all work in its favour,” said Dr Raza Siddiqui, Executive Director, RAK Hospital
‘The issuance of 5-year multi-entry visa for employees of multinational comes at the right time since various multinational companies are still dealing with a high level of uncertainty in the human resources planning. This initiative allows greater flexibility and more options in the short- and medium-term,” said Linus Benjamin Bauer, MD of Bauer Aviation.
This is a very good initiative to boost ‘corporate tourism’ - MNCs will benefit for sure. If possible, multiple visas could at some point also be allowed to more companies, of course, based on the merit
"For those large businesses, especially in the projects field, there is an ongoing requirement for employees to visit the UAE multiple times over an extended period. This new visa option will ensure that these employees are entering on the correct work permits in accordance with the UAE’s labour laws – whereas previously many would have been entering on tourist visas. For those large multinationals concerned about compliance, this will help them breathe a sigh of relief," said Scott Cairns, Managing Director, Creation Business Consultants.
"Dubai will see an uptick of consumer spending via accommodation, F&B, and entertainment as foreign employees take advantage of this new initiative."
Abdul Jebbar PB, MD, Hotpack Global, said: “This initiative will be highly beneficial for our operations in terms of accommodating our stakeholders as we have trade activities with more than 100 countries. This 5-year move is yet another milestone in the history of business in the UAE. It will especially benefit technical experts from foreign countries, as this will make logistics and visiting the UAE easy for them.”
GDRFA-Dubai has now fully activated this visa process and has started issuing it to employees of multinational companies, allowing them to visit and stay in the UAE for 90 days, with the option of extending their stay for another 90 days.
