DUBAI/SHARJAH/ABU DHABI - While the immigration offices in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and other emirates require residents to submit tenancy contracts for renewal of their family visas, or for sponsoring of their families, the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) said this was not a condition in the emirate.
"Submitting tenancy contract copy is not a condition required for people wanting
to apply for residence visas of their families," Brigadier Obeid Muheir bin
Suroor, Acting Director of DNRD, told Khaleej Times on Monday.
The Acting Director of DNRD, however, said that although the tenancy contract
was not a condition, providing an accommodation to the sponsored persons is a
prerequisite.
"We don't get into such details such as asking for the tenancy contract, but we
ensure that whoever applies for a residence visa for his family has first
accommodation available for them. Otherwise, the visa application gets
rejected."
Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Rashid Al Khidir, Manager of Legal Administration at the
Directorate General of Naturalisation and Residency of the Ministry of Interior,
told Khaleej Times on Monday that residents should submit tenancy contract copy
when they apply for residency visas for their spouses and dependants at any
immigration counter across the country.
According to the legal procedures followed by all emirates since 1995 in this
respect, the salary of the resident should not be less than Dh3,000 (plus
accommodation provided by the employer), or Dh4,000 gross, for him to sponsor
his family.
However, on humanitarian grounds, the local departments have the power to make
some exceptions to those on whom the said conditions are applicable, and their
salaries are less than the assigned limit by a maximum of Dh200, said Lt. Col.
Al Khidr.
Abdulla bin Sahooh, Director of Sharjah Naturalization and Residency Department
(SNRD), clarified that applicants must produce a copy of their tenancy contract
to prove their eligibility to sponsor a family so as to ensure they can actually
afford to give their families a decent living space.
However, the new regulations are not mandatory for renewal of residency visas
for bachelors living in shared accommodations.
He further clarified that it's not necessary for the applicants seeking to
sponsor families to produce only Sharjah emirate's tenancy contract. The tenancy
contract could be of any other emirate, but on their name, or a close family
member's name.