Tami2

Hi everyone,

We are finally here and now trying to sort out the residency visas for myself and the kids. My husband has been here for over a year and when he applied for his residency visa back in June 2004 the told him to go out to Doha and come in again and it would be cheaper, just getting some sort of stamp in Doha and coming back here.

Now, we went to the Government relations office in the DIC where Hubby has his business and they want to charge us an additional 1420 Dh. per person (me and 3 kids x 1420 each) for the incountry visa and the transfer visa. The girl there said we wouldn't have had to pay that if Hubby had gotten our visas before we arrived here. So we asked her if we could just go out to Muscat or Doha and come back in and she said we'd need to go and stay there for several days while the visas were made here in Dubai and then we could come back. Hubby just did a round trip flight and never left the Doha airport, but this girl is saying it's different now and we can't do that. We're really confused and it's a rather large amount of money we could save if the in/out thingy would work.

Anybody know anybody who knows what the deal is?

Thanks all,
Tami

MJC

I'm not sure about your case, but when I got my son (11, and here) the initial "pink sheet" for residency, I had to pay AED500. This is standard cost. I then sent that with a copy of his passport showing his entry stamp, they sent it back with a verification stamp on it, then I sent his passport for the actual residency stamp to be put in.
Get yourself down to the naturalization place near WTC roundabout - EARLY say 7.15 am, there's no queues and as long as you have the cash, it's all done with in about an hour. No messing.

PS I don't know whether it makes a difference, but I'm a UK passport holder.

Hope that helps

M

Jammy_Dodgers

I arrived on a visit visa, and DIC did all the residency for me.
For 500dhs (i think??) they will also do a "Visa Position ammendment"
(transfer from visit to residency)

They realized that everyone had to fly out to Oman or Doha..and the costs of the flights were around that price....so the government changed the rules so that they take the money instead..and ammend your visa without you leaving..

Eeyore

Yes, your husband would have been doing a standard "visa run" flight. This would have meant that he entered the country on a tourist visa. If you do that, *and* you have a job, *and* you then apply for residency, you have to leave the country and re-enter in order to get the residency stamp in your passport. A number of airlines offer specially-discounted visa run flights solely for this purpose - you don't leave the airport at the other end.

If you originally enter Dubai on a work visa, though, you don't need to leave the country in order to get your residency stamp.

When my wife Suzanne (Zannie) arrived, three months after me, she did so on a tourist visa, but my company handled all the residency processing and did what's called a "Position Amendment" - converted her from a tourist to a resident without her needing to leave the country.

From what you're saying, I would guess that Position Amendment is more expensive than entering the country on the right visa in the first place, but then we were lucky in that my company did all the work and paid all the costs, plus it was done within a free zone, where such things are generally faster, easier and bound by less red tape than elsewhere in Dubai.

shiva

hi tami, unfotunately DIC are telling the truth. They are absolutely useless arent they. because you are in they country you must pay for the in country amendment.
they are however seperate from the central govt. so you have two options, get your residency from them and pay their charge or go down to central immigration and check with them as to costs and visa run options it should be considerably cheaper.

DIC are in a position to assist and complete residency paperwork but in real terms they are just an agent for the central govt. and add a healthy surcharge to the standard fees.

on the plus side they are marginally easier to deal with than the central option and after fighting with the central govt office for a month i gave up and sorted the wifes residency out through DIC and paid the fee!!

they get you either way here really.
oh and every time you go to DIC go at 8.30am and take every single bit of paper they have ever given you, you will need them. you cant go in the afternoons as after 2.00pm they will only see you for collection of documents.

you dont know me if asked !!! but ask for Moyad at DIC he was really helpful.

Tami2

Hi guys,
Thanks so much for all your great advice! I guess we figured that there wasn't really a way around paying the excess fees since the kids are already in school and can't afford to take a week off to leave the country right now, but it helps to know that this is just the standard shite and we have to deal with it.

We already went in to the Gov. Relations office at DIC and they guy there said the paperwork was fine and gave us ANOTHER number to sit and wait for and we finally had to just leave to run and pick up our youngest from kindergarten, so we'll be back again tomorrow morning to pay the fees and deal with setting up my medical appointment and all.

It's really frustrating; DIC seemed really on top of things and very helpful a year and a half ago when we were setting up the business there, but now, there entire system seems to have hit a snag and it's chaos in there most of the time. I guess it's like everything else, once they get your money they don't want to know you exist, until the rent is due again!!

So, thanks again for your help!

JD, sweets, I'm soooo sorry you've gone off to the UK just when I got here! I thought I'd get to bump into you around the DIC sometime!
I hope it's all going well for you and you're getting to spend a lot more time with that sweet little girl of yours. Keep me posted on what's happening.
Hey, we went to Scarlett's for the Friday lunch thingy last weekend! The kids LOVED the jumpy thing and the balloon guy and the food was good and didn't cost an arm and a leg. Nice place! Of course, I know it's completely different at midnight on a Monday, right, stud?

Later all,
Tami

Jammy_Dodgers

Fear not Tami.............Im back there in a few weeks....

MJC

Oh bugger, there goes the "no-alcohol" diet for me then....

Jammy_Dodgers

Ha Ha!!!!!!!!!!!!....