Jay Tee

Hi,

I have been offered a job in Abu Dhabi. I have yet to accept it as I have been trying to negotiate the salary.

I am interested to know what the procedure and all necessary UK and employer documents that are needed for applying for the Residence visa. Does the residence visa represent a sticker in your passport or is it a separate document ?

And about the Emirates ID card , is this mandatory ?
If so I presume you can only apply for an ID card once you have a residence visa ? Finally is the Emirates ID card biometric and if so what biometric info does it store ? Thanks in advance.

mikewot

Full page sticker in your passport.
Yes and Yes.
Fingerprints and palm prints. Allegedly drivers licence etc. will all eventually be on one card (they are trialling the EID for cash withdrawals) inshallah.

Jay Tee

Thanks Mike, in terms of UK documents for the visa application , presumably there is some form of UK police check , if so exactly what type of check does it entail and is it something you have to personally obtain ? And other than presumably an employer sponsorship letter , are there any other employer and personal documents that are needed for visa application ? Thanks again.

mikewot

Not aware of any police check in UAE and for the rest let the company PRO sort that out, it's what they get paid for.

Jay Tee

Cheers Mike. I assume they have the means to check the biometric fingerprints against country of origin police databases.

I am thinking of visiting Abu Dhabi for a week over Xmas to check the place out to see if I could see myself living there. I am very well acquainted with Dubai but have only once made a flying visit to Abu Dhabi where all we did was visit Marina mall and a city KFC outlet. Compared to Al Ain , Abu Dhabi is streets ahead to me it seems but at the time we visited AD , I had never visited Al Ain and getting back to Dubai from Abu Dhabi at the time had felt like getting back to civilisation again, and marina mall was not a patch on any mall Dubai has to offer :/

I am not expecting it to be Dubai though, as much as we love visiting the place . But living in AD would mean Dubai is less than a 2 hr drive away at the best of times.

To Abu Dhabi residents in particular, are there any must see / must do things that are worth doing , to help me really take to the place ?

mikewot

I very much doubt it. You seem a bit worried about being caught out as a crim. Not likely.
I cannot tell you anything much about AD, I'm in Dubay and I detest driving the highway of death.

csdf

If you're applying for a government job they do a security check; I've no idea if this involves linking back to the police records of your country of origin.

It won't hurt to make sure you have: Degree Certificate, Marriage Certificate, Birth Certificate (you, wife and children), International Driving Permit (for the period leading up to getting your residency visa).

mikewot

I'm in da gubbmint and they never checked with UK. UK driving licence is OK but (and I could be wrong) I don't think you can drive until you get your visa. BB2 or someone in the know can dive in on this.

archie159

Police checks have been required since earlier this year - don't know if it applies to all jobs, but we all need them.

Re PRO... yes, maybe. Some people still seem to work in old-fashioned firms where the PRO does everything for you, and provides you with helpful advice. I personally know no-one who has a PRO like that - my firm, and all the others I know of, the PRO will do no more than give you a badly-written list of requirements, which will probably be full of errors and confusions, and then you'll have to ask all sorts of questions to sort it out.

Anyway, for police clearance, below are some notes one of the Brits in my HR dept produced. Finally, at the moment we are being told that the police certificates need to be attested due to their lack of an original stamp.

In the UK individuals can only obtain a basic Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. It was previously known as a CRB checks. Some candidates may already have one.

They are computer generated in the UK and, as such, they do are not stamped or signed.

To confuse things further, individuals applying for a basic disclosure have to apply through Disclosure Scotland and they don’t have to be from Scotland to do this:

Basic Disclosure Online

They can only apply on line if they have an address in the UK. If they have an address outside of the UK they have to apply using a paper copy!! Here is the link to request one:

Request forms - Disclosure Scotland

You can look into this further through the Disclosure Barring Service on the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/disclosure-barrin...check/overview

archie159

AFAIK, you can drive on a UK licence until your visa is in your passport. At that point, you need a UAE licence - which, if you are prepared, can be done in a few hours.

Inselaffen

have always been advised that you cannot drive on your UK licence as soon as your visa process is started.

busybee2

yes you can use a foreign licence to drive a rental car, but once you have your visa stamped in passport you must then stop using foreign licence and go to traffic and get a uae driving licence.

busybee2

most rental agencies allow you to use foreign licence etc, but as i said above once you have your residence visa stamped in passport then you must obtain a uae driving licence.

Tramps_mate

Is the UK license transferable like it is in Australia or do you have to do a test?

archie159

Transferable.