“ICA” extends “Protect Yourself by Changing Your Status” Initiative to December 1st

Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship announced the extension of the grace period for the “Protect Yourself by Changing Your Status” Initiative, which was launched by ICA in early August until December 1^st, in order to provide a new opportunity for the violators who have not been able to settle their status till now, to take advantage of this initiative and avoid the actions that will be taken by ICA against those who persist in continuing to violate the Law of Entry and Residency of Foreigners in the State.

The initiative launched by ICA allows the violators to leave the country state without any fees and exempts them from their fines regardless of their value, enables them to change their status with a simple fee, close the records of absconding from the sponsor, and allows the departure without the ban seal, and allow persons who have been able to enter the state from unofficial ports to leave the state with banning from entering the state for two years, in addition to allowing the transfer of residency for those wishing to change their status without fines and simple fees.

The initiative also has the unprecedented advantage of allowing those who want to stay in the state after settling their status through the virtual labor market system, which helps them to find new work by presenting their expertise, profession, and qualifications to companies and employers through an electronic platform supervised by Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, and granting him a 6-month temporary residency visa without a sponsor, so that he can find a new sponsor and settle his status or arrange to leave the state after the end of this period.

HE Brigadier Saeed Rakan Al Rashidi, Director General for Foreigners Affairs and Ports at Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, confirmed that the decision to extend the grace period comes within the directives of the wise leadership of the State to make every effort to ease the lives of everyone who lives in UAE and is keen to be a good person in its community, and the continuation of the policy of the State, which gives the humanitarian aspect great importance and is keen to achieve happiness for human beings, whether on its own land or anywhere in the world where its beneficent hands can reach.

He added that what has been witnessed and is still witnessed by the nine violators reception centers, established by ICA under the initiative, of the heavy attendance by violators wishing to benefit from the grace period, called to consider extending it so as not to miss the opportunity to those who approached the end of the grace period and were unable to apply to change their status to avoid fines that were imposed on them and leaving the state without any restrictions or finding a new sponsor and transfer their sponsorship to him and benefit from all the distinguished and advanced services provided by the state to citizens and residents alike.

He added that through this extension, ICA put into consideration to compensate the time that caused some of the obstacles faced by the technical systems at the beginning of the implementation of the grace period, in order to achieve the goals of the initiative in accordance with the best standards of efficiency, effectiveness and transparency, ensure receiving its message by each violator, encourage those who are hesitant and afraid from the initiative and to be keen to benefit from it, especially after they know, from those who have visited the centers of ICA, the value of this precious opportunity and the easiness of its procedures.

Al-Rashidi pointed out that the delay of the embassies of some countries in accomplishing the procedures of their violators and the slow pace of completing their transactions hindered their efforts to benefit from the initiative, the matter which ICA decided to take into account their circumstances and alleviate their conditions and give them the sufficient opportunity and time to change their status. He invited all the concerned embassies to communicate with their citizens and call upon their violators to quickly benefit from the extension and explain the objectives of the initiative and the great benefits it entails for them and to urge them to cooperate fully with the efforts of ICA to change their status.

Al Rashedi recalled the nine centers set up by ICA to receive the violators and complete their transactions, which are the Al Shahama Center in Abu Dhabi, Al Aweer Center in Dubai, and the reception centers annexed to the premises of Residency and Foreigners’ Affairs in Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain, Al Ain City and Al Dhafra in Abu Dhabi, which operates from 8 am to 8 pm, from Sunday to Thursday. He invited the public, if they have any questions or inquiries, to contact the 24-hour call center via (80080).

Al-Rashedi warned every violator who does not benefit from this initiative that the state will not be lenient, after the end the initiative,  in implementing the Law, and that ICA will take decisive measures against anyone who wishes to continue violating, after the expiry of the initiative’s grace period, and will conduct intensive search and prosecution campaigns to punish violators and impose the penalties imposed on them, including fines for the entire duration of the violation, as well as imprisonment and deportation from the state.