Abu Dhabi: A US citizen and his fiancée - who have pending court cases - are unable to go home and have no financial support after losing their jobs.
Daniel Morehouse, a resident of Abu Dhabi since 2016 lost his job working for an Abu Dhabi government entity in March at the start of the coronavirus outbreak and now can’t return home because of minor unsettled court cases, involving a rent dispute and traffic fines.
Morehouse approached Gulf News seeking humanitarian assistance so that he and his fiancée, who came here on visit visa in October looking for work, can return to the US.
His fiancee’s visa expired in November and she now has a Dh15,000 fine for overstaying, which the couple can’t pay to rectify her status.
Speaking to Gulf News, Morehouse said, “Right now I am stuck in the UAE after losing my job in March and can’t go back due to pending court cases. The court cases are minor in nature pertaining to traffic fines and rental disputes.”
“Me and my fiancée want to leave for home. She has visa fines as she came on visit visa and overstayed. Now her fines only amount to Dh15,000 but we are unable to pay due to lack of income.”
“Whatever money I had I used to book flights, but I lost the money to travel agents and flight bookings and cancellations. I have had two flights cancelled while trying to get my fiancée back to the USA and have about US$5,000 (Dh18,000) tied up in those. Now the airline company says, we can’t get reimbursed until six to eight weeks,” Morehouse said.
“I have paid my court cases but still it’s not cleared. To top it, I also lost my ATM card to a machine, while trying to withdraw money and cannot get it back so we have no money,” he said.
Now I have a travel ban on my visa, so can’t travel because of traffic fines and court cases,” he said.
“I have three court cases - two rental car disputes and one apartment. I signed the agreement but never moved into the apartment and took keys from the landlord. I told them that I can’t move in but they wanted me to pay three months’ rents and opened a court case against me,” Morehouse said.
It’s all happening because I don’t have money to pay off,” he said.
“However, I am in constant coordination with the court to clear my cases and obtain a clearance certificate so that I can travel hassle free. I hope this may be done soon. I just hope everything works out,” he said.
“I do love Abu Dhabi and the UAE. Just I hope to be able to have money and get our card back to buy another flight ticket,” Morehouse said.
“I talked to the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi about my fiancee’s case only as I know they can’t help me as I have court cases,” he added.
