New visa terms in UAE, no renewal for loan defaulters

Our UAE Correspondent

UAE’s emigration authorities have decided to set new terms for renewal of residence visas even as the economic crisis takes toll of more jobs and rendering many foreigners loan defaulters.
The cases of non-repayment of bank loans and credit card outstanding by expatriate workers are on the rise following job losses or salary freeze and UAE banks are facing the grave situation of sky rocketing non-performing assets. This has forced the banks to approach the enforcement authorities to help them recover the dues.

Residency departments will not renew the residence visas of expatriates if they are wanted by police for financial obligations, Interior Ministry officials said, according to a report in Gulf News. Residency visas of expatriates, their relatives and their employees will be renewed only after the settlement of the financial disputes. Applications to renew visas were rejected as banks had lodged complaints with police, who had issued arrest warrants. Police have instructed residency departments to arrest these expatriates or send them to the authorities.

Lawyers point that the police have no right to ask residency departments to arrest people who have defaulted on bank loans or other financial issues. They said that residency departments are administrative units and have no right to arrest or punish people by not renewing their residence visas for such matters. If banks file a case with police against a person for financial issues, such as delayed payments of loans or bounced cheques and an arrest warrant is out, no transaction is carried out for that person, according to Major-General, Nasser Al Awadi Al Menhali, Assistant Undersecretary in the Ministry of Interior for Naturalisation, Residency and Borders. However, the department said it would take a humanitarian view in select cases.

“We look at the case on humanitarian grounds. We renew the residency visa if the person has a family, wife and children,” the official said. “The ministry does not want to increase the number of illegal residents. The residency department does not arrest people if they are involved in bank loans but we ask them to sort out the matter.”

Legal experts said that not renewing the person’s residency visa is a kind of punishment or pressure that is illegal and unjustified. “It is illegal if the residency department does not renew someone’s residence visa if they do not pay their bank loans. There is no article in the law which says residency will not be renewed for not paying banks, for example,” he said.