Sharjah: A Pakistani man rendered jobless after the death of his sponsor says he is grateful to Sharjah Police for helping him travel to his home country to see his sick elderly father despite his illegal status in the UAE.
Sharjah Police, in cooperation with the Sharjah Foreign Affairs and Residency Department, helped Muneeb Ullah, 33, in accordance with the UAE law and reduced his fine from Dh18,000 to Dh2,000.
In July 2016, Ullah’s life turned upside down when he became jobless and his visa expired. He violated UAE residency law for a year and a half as he could not find a job and accumulated a fine for overstaying that reached Dh18,000,
He also had to deal with two cases of bad cheques — one of them has been settled while the other remains unsolved.
One day, Ullah received a call from his family in Pakistan to inform him that his 93-year-old father was admitted in the ICU of a hospital and his health was worsening.
At that time, Ullah decided to approach Buhairah police station and inform officers about his ordeal.
He hoped against hope for a miracle.
Ullah, a father of two children, told Gulf News that there is no word to thank Sharjah Police and Sharjah Foreign Affairs and Residency Department for their kindness and generosity.
“It is a miracle that I could see my father,” he said. “I had not seen my father since 2014 when he visited the UAE and stayed here for three months.
“They (police) kept my wife’s passport with them until I came back from Pakistan,” he said. The passport was kept for the unresolved case of bad cheque, he said.
“I travelled to Pakistan and spent 18 days with my sick father who was admitted in the ICU with partial paralysis,” he said.
Seeing his father was a big relief after a couple of rough years following the run-in with the law.
Ullah and his Filipina wife fell into trouble in 2016 and were fined Dh50,000 for hiring a Filipina nanny who was later found to be an illegal resident.
Ullah had asked the nanny for her papers and passport to process her visa but she kept making excuses claiming her documents were in Abu Dhabi with her first sponsor.
“When police came, they discovered that the nanny was an illegal resident and I was fined Dh50,000. I was jobless and did not have this big amount and my wife did not have a job,” he said.
Eventually, his wife secured work. They borrowed money to pay the fine and life has gradually returned to normal.
“I feel that I am the luckiest man in the world to have such a great and kind wife … I am really grateful to her,” Ullah said.
