Ajman: A website is illegally offering UAE residence visas to expatriates for a price.
"UAE residence visa for sale for male person, but you have to find your own work in UAE. You get a garment company visa, which is in Ajman so you can work where you want. The price is Dh9,000, interested people please mail me," the website reads.
Rashid Bakhit, Deputy Director of Naturalisation and Residency Department in Dubai, said: "This is an illegal act, and the person who sells the visa will be taken to court."
He said the system of selling visas via the internet is not allowed in the UAE, and anyone who purchases the visa will be deported.
"The person who buys the visa will be deported because he will be considered as having bought a fake visa," said Bakhit.
"There is a big business of people selling visas in the black market, this is not new. Sometimes there is no activity in the company, and those people selling visas only use the information from the file, and sell the details," said Abdul Rahman Hassan, spokesperson of the Land and Property Department in Ajman, who said the common rate is Dh8,000 to Dh10,000.
The availability of residence visas online comes at a time when the UAE has taken constructive steps to curb unscrupulous recruitment agents operating in various Asian countries with their networks extending to the various Gulf countries.
Pay money first, says vendor
During investigations, Gulf News discovered that the only way to contact the salesperson of the website was through a personal e-mail account. There were no contact details - telephone number nor company address - available.
Contact details were only given after this reporter confirmed buying the visa. The visa fees had to be sent through a money exchange.
The website also promised that once you pay the money, they will
be able to find you a job with a full package, within a week.
When this reporter applied for a job as a nurse asking for Dh3,500 as a minimum salary, the vendor in his reply offered Dh4,200 and asked to send the visa fee as well as the passport copy, eight photographs and the résumé.
