UAE has recently granted Visa Amnesty to many families which gave them a chance to make legal their stay in the country and build a better future for themselves and their children. One of the beneficiaries is Fathima Marbella, 37, a Filipina-syrian mother, who stays in Dubai at the time of this writing. The amnesty has given her a ‘new chapter’ which means she can clear overstay fines and the case of absconding. Thanks to this she has been able to secure birth certificates and passports for her two children so that could attend school and access proper medical attention.
Fathima’s story is not different from other women and girls who are suffering from the evils of society. Another Filipina mother now on the multitude is AM. AM had crossed Dh52,000 in overstay fines after escaping from her job as housemaid. The amnesty lead to these fines being wiped clean and this created the opportunity for her as well as her four-year-old daughter to live a dignified life. AM now has a job offer and will try again to get that birth certificate for the child which will change their lives.
The amnesty programme which is to end on October, 31, 2024 is one of the most important immigration programme for the residents that have overstayed their visas or those that have been charged with absconding. For them, it gives an opportunity for washing the fines, receiving new working experience, legalization. But it only applies to the illegal residents in the UAE and does not protect people who have settled in the country unlawfully.
Virginia, another Filipino mother has found a solution on a longstanding problem with the help of the amnesty. She and her husband Maximo had been fighting for the permit to legally reside in Dubai and give a home for their son Xavier who was born in Dubai. With the Dh7,000 in overstay fines washed away, they can now go for a residence visa of their son so that he has a future in the UAE.
These are the real life stories of several families of the UAE, showing all the struggle which people force to face living in the country and, finally, whose lives have changed for the better because of the UAE visa amnesty.
