Interior Minister Lt. Gen. Saif ibn Zayed Al-Nahyan announced the granting of an additional period of two months to enable amnesty seekers to complete all procedures for leaving the country. The two-month grace period would end on 3 November. Al Nahyan clarified that the extension applies only to those wishing to return to their home countries. Those who wish to rectify their status or transfer their sponsorship should do so before the original 2 September deadline. Amnesty seekers who fail to submit their completed applications before this deadline would be fined for overstaying.
The Sharjah Department of Naturalization and Residency reported that a total of 23,503 irregular migrant workers have either regularized their status or left the country since the start of the three-month amnesty period last 3 June. In Abu Dhabi, immigration authorities said that between 4 June and 25 August, outpasses were issued to some 15,000 irregular migrants while the status of 5,609 others was regularized. Al Ain's Deputy Director of the Department of Naturalization and Residency, Major Matar Al Shamsy, disclosed that a large number of irregular migrants have left the emirate under the amnesty period. According to Shamsy, close to 90 percent of irregular migrants in Al Ain are Bangladeshis. Meanwhile, the Dubai Police noted that some 92,000 amnesty seekers have approached its general headquarters for routine security procedures, such as electronic fingerprinting and picture taking, to determine if they are wanted in any criminal case. Almost five percent of amnesty seekers turned out to be wanted for minor crimes.
Some 200 irregular migrant workers employed by a local maintenance company marched to the Al Ain Labor Office to demand the regularization of their status. They demanded an assurance that their employer would take the necessary measures to regularize their status before the amnesty period expires on 2 September. A company official informed the workers that arrangements have been made for their work visas. He assured them that they would be under the firm's sponsorship before the end of August.
Officials at the Abu Dhabi Naturalization and Residency Department revealed that nearly 100 European and Western irregular immigrants have applied for amnesty. Among them were 35 British citizens, 28 Americans and 10 Canadians and several others, including eight each from France and Germany, seven from Australia, two each from Russia, the Netherlands, Romania and Turkey, and one from Sweden.
100 free air tickets for needy amnesty seekers
The NGO, Valley of Love is donating air tickets to 100 needy amnesty seekers of various nationalities as a humanitarian gesture. The first batch of 31 amnesty seekers received their free air tickets at the Sharjah Indian Association on 20 August. Recipients include Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis, Ethiopians and 15 others who were confined in hospitals.
Small traders who use dhows for their business are complaining of an acute labor shortage due to the amnesty program. A trader revealed that up to 75 percent of the workers they employ to load and unload shipment are undocumented. Many of these workers availed of the amnesty and have since left the country. At the capital, businesses in cafeterias have reportedly gone down as well since many of their customers have left the UAE under the amnesty program. However, sales at supermarkets have allegedly gone up as amnesty seekers purchase items to take home to their families.
According to Dede Achmad Rifai of the Indonesian Consulate-General in Dubai, more than 1,500 outpasses have been issued to Indonesian amnesty seekers as of 27 August. Rifai said the consulate does not expect the total number of amnesty applicants to exceed 2,000. The consulate has returned to their rightful owners 1,000 of the 2,000 passports turned over by the Immigration Departments in Sharjah and Dubai.
According to Philippine labor attaché Virginia Calvez, the Dubai Naturalization and Residency Department has authorized the repatriation of all 68 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) at the shelter for runaway workers run by the Philippine Labor Office-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA) in Dubai before the amnesty period expires on 3 September. Calvez reported that 45 of the shelter's wards have been sent home while the remaining 23 are awaiting financial assistance for their return tickets. Consulate officials have appealed to the Filipino community in Dubai to donate air tickets to allow the remaining wards to return home.
Filipino national Annariza Tangan identified the body found at the back of a villa in Jumeirah, Dubai on 20 August as that of her sister, Mary Ann Carbellido, 38. The victim, who had been working as a domestic worker for a British expatriate for more than two years, was reported missing on 12 August. Tangan pointed to a Bangladeshi national, known as Habib, as the primary suspect in Carbellido's death. According to her, Habib had threatened to kill her and her sister after the latter refused his advances. Authorities are now trying to track down the suspect.
The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced a 21-year old national to three years in prison for impersonating a policeman and for kidnapping and raping a Filipina domestic worker. According to the Public Prosecution, the man, pretending to be a police officer, lured the domestic worker into his car and raped her. He allegedly stole her money totaling Dh2,500. He is also a suspect in a similar case involving another Filipina. A ruling on the second case is also expected to be out soon.
Consul Nopakhun Luichant called on all Thai nationals based in Dubai and the Northern Emirates to register for Thailand's coming general elections. The registration of overseas voters for the December elections started on 20 August.
The Indian Consulate is looking into the case of Alia Begum, a 35-year old widow from Hyderabad, who has a six-year old daughter possessing a Pakistani passport. Alia thought her husband was a UAE national, until her husband applied for a Pakistani passport for their daughter. After his death, Alia could not return to India because she was worried over complications that might arise from her daughter's Pakistani passport. With the current amnesty offer, however, she was able to apply for an outpass from the Indian mission, which also promised to give her child a visa to travel to India. Officials then advised her to apply for her daughter's change of nationality upon reaching India.
The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi announced a new system to reduce the crowding of amnesty seekers at the mission's premises. According to Indian Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, the embassy has arranged to send SMS messages to amnesty applicants to notify them to collect their exit passes. Meanwhile, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi revealed that India's diplomatic missions in the UAE have issued more than 45,000 outpasses to amnesty seekers. Air India and Indian Airlines have also been asked to increase their flights to accommodate the thousands of amnesty seekers wanting to return to home.
Indian nationals, Sheikh Mastan and Hamza Aboobaker sent an appeal for clemency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds to King Abdullah through the Indian ambassador. The two convicts were sentenced to death on drug smuggling charges.
According to Sri Lanka's envoy to the UAE, Mohammad Nabavo Junaid, the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB) has decided to increase the minimum wage of Sri Lankan domestic workers from Dh550 to Dh600 effective 1 September. Junaid explained that the new wage rate would apply to new recruits. To ensure compliance with the new minimum wage, the FEB will strictly monitor the recruitment of Sri Lankan domestic workers, including approval of all job contracts.
Sharjah police arrested a Sri Lankan domestic worker and her boyfriend, also a Sri Lankan, in connection with the murder of Indian businessman, Devrajan. The businessman was found dead in his apartment on 23 August. According to the domestic worker's account, Devrajan had tried to molest her, prompting her boyfriend to hit him on the head with a heavy tool. Her boyfriend then slit Devrajan's throat with a knife.
Pakistan Embassy's First Secretary Faisal Tirmizi revealed that as of 29 August, the mission in Abu Dhabi has issued some 1,812 outpasses and returned the passports to 672 amnesty seekers. Meanwhile, the Pakistani Consulate in Dubai had to deal with the mad rush of irregular Pakistani migrants in the last few days before the amnesty deadline. According to Consul Naveed Elahi, the consulate has been issuing some 750 outpasses a day during the last 10 days of the amnesty.
An Asian domestic worker was sentenced to six months imprisonment after the Fujairah Criminal Court found her guilty of stealing valuables from her sponsor's wife. The sponsor had earlier filed a complaint with the Fujairah Police against the domestic worker, who allegedly absconded after stealing Dh5,000, some gold jewelry and a mobile phone belonging to his wife. The accused, who was arrested at her friend's house, admitted her crime and returned the stolen items except the cash.
The Dubai Municipality had decided to amend specifications for the construction of future labor camps in a bid to provide laborers with decent and hygienic accommodations. The new specifications increased the minimum amount of space for each laborer, from the previous 20 square feet to the new norm of 40 square feet. The use of bunk beds as well as temporary structures, such as Portakabins, has also been prohibited under the new rules. All rooms in the labor camps are required to have enough ventilation, air conditioning, thermal insulation, drainage, water supply, gas, electricity and fire-safety features. The municipality issued a circular to the engineering consultant offices in Dubai informing them that building designs for new labor camps to be built in the emirate should incorporate these changes.
Some 260 Asian laborers employed by an Abu Dhabi-based contracting company approached the Labor Court on 16 August to demand the immediate resolution of their case. The workers filed a complaint against their company with the Ministry of Labor in October 2006. The case was referred to the court after the company refused to pay the workers' back wages, overtime remuneration, air tickets and end-of-service dues. The workers said the case has been dragging in the past six months without any results.
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