Dubai: When Syrian-Armenian expat Harout K. heard that he would be able to rectify his visa status under the amnesty scheme and finally reunite with his 13-year-old daughter and wife, his eyes began to sparkle.
The UAE resident for over 20 years never imagined his life would take a big turn after losing his job as a manager in a jewellery firm and becoming an illegal resident for the last four-and-a-half years.
In an interview with Gulf News, Harout, 56, spoke about how his ordeal started when he couldn’t find another job, and as a result, he slowly began falling short of funds to pay for his house rent.
“I’ve been working and living in the UAE for a very long time. I had worked for a jewellery company for 17 years but then the owner of the firm wanted to sell it, and after I helped him find a buyer, he never gave me my gratuity,” he said.
“I looked for work, but no one was willing to hire me,” added Harout, who was raised in Aleppo and did not have a choice to return to his war-torn country as it was not safe.
“My visa then expired and I slowly started facing troubles in paying for the studio apartment. As a result of a rent dispute, my passport was confiscated and I was issued a travel ban. That’s when I began to lose hope,” said Harout.
During this time, Harout began accumulating thousands of dirhams in overstay fines. The only small income he was able to make was through commission work and relying on the mercy of his relatives and friends.
“My wife and daughter are in Russia and I haven’t seen them for so many years because I can’t travel outside the country and they can’t come here. When my mother passed away, I couldn’t even leave the country to attend her funeral,” he said.
The struggle will soon be over, he said, as he is now in the process of finding a way to settle the pending rent payments with the help of friends and get his passport released in order to apply for amnesty.
“I will first have to fix my pending rent dispute case and then I will finally be able to rectify my visa status without paying for the accumulated overstay fines,” he said. “This is such a generous move by the UAE and it gave me so much hope for my future.”
Residents who have escaped war in Syria and taken refuge in the UAE or lost their jobs in the country can stay in the emirates as per the resolution adopted by the UAE Cabinet that permits them to regularise their status with a one-year residence visa.
The resolution states that citizens of affected countries will be granted an extendable one-year permit, “regardless of their condition of residence” from August 1 to October 31 this year. They will also be exempt from any imposed fines.
“Once I get the visa, I will first go to Aleppo and sell my small house and then come back to Dubai to start a new life.”
