UAE grants expired visit visa holders another 1-month grace period

The UAE government, in a move widely been seen as a humanitarian gesture, has given those on expired visit visas another month-long grace period beyond the Aug. 11 deadline to renew their status or leave the country.

With this, affected overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) stranded in the country over cancelled flights due to quarantine issues back home may now heave a sigh of relief with more time to avoid overstay fines.

The matter stemmed from a new directive by the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA), which issued a new directive on Thursday, July 16, to this effect.

The government agency stated in its Twitter account that the 30-day grace period originally set for expired visit visa holders to renew their visas or depart, and of which counting starts July 12, to avoid fines, has been rescinded to allow for a one-time, month-long extension.

“As per the last amendments, it has been decided to grant entry permits and visit visa holders inside the country, a period of one month (30 days) to leave the country. The grace period is renewable one time by the authority. After which, the entry permit or visit visa holder needs to exit the country,” ICA said on its Twitter account.

Fines for overstayers is Dh200 on the first day and Dh100 for the succeeding days, according to immigration policies.

In light of this, Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes asked OFWs to keep monitoring the situation and be guided accordingly.

“I urge my kababayans to keep abreast of developments in policies as set by the ICA and ensure that they abide by host country regulations on validity of their current visas,” he said.

The UAE government recently reversed visa policy changes announced during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which would have allowed those with visit and residency visas as well as national IDs that had expired in March 2020 to extend their stay till Dec. 31, 2020.

Instead, it gave a one-month grace period for visit visa holders and up to three months for residency visa holders, including those who have remained outside the UAE.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has rolled out a repatriation program for OFWs. In the UAE, approximately 500 have been flown home.

Cortes said visit visa holders are a priority. Recently, he said over 3,000 OFWs heavily impacted by COVID-19’s economic effects have sought help from the Philippine Consulate for them to be repatriated.

There were also over 1,000 OFWs, a mix of those terminated from work and those in the UAE on expired visit visas, who have remained stranded because of cancelled flight bookings.