Fines waived, UAE job scam victim returns home

Abu Dhabi - When he came from Uganda to UAE, there was no job waiting for him.

A Ugandan national and a victim of job scam, who has been stuck in the UAE for weeks after his visit visa expired, will finally go home after authorities waived his overstay fines under the amnesty scheme.

Hussein Kabenge, 28, received his exit pass from the Al Aweer registration centre in Dubai and was scheduled fly to Entebbe Uganda on Tuesday (today) morning.

His overstay fines of nearly Dh5,000, which had hindered him from leaving the UAE since mid-June as he didn't have means to raise the money, were waived by the immigration officials under the ongoing Protect Yourself by Modifying Your Status initiative.

Kabenge had been allegedly duped of Dh9,000 by a bogus recruitment agent in Uganda for getting him and an air ticket, a job and processing his residence visa in the UAE. The recruitment agent in Kampala, Uganda had convinced him that he got him a job of 'factory helper' in Abu Dhabi.

But when he reached here in May this year, things were different. There was no job for him. Kabenge also realised that he had come on a short term visit visa and a one-way air ticket. This meant that he had to return home after the 30-day visit visa got expired, something he found hard because he didn't have a return air ticket, which led to his overstay in the UAE.

"I have been in a terrible situation here after being cheated by a recruitment agent," Kabenge told Khaleej Times.

"He sent me here in May claiming that he had got a job for me in an Abu Dhabi factory. I had paid him Dh9,000 for getting me the job, processing the residence visa and for booking an air ticket."

The recruitment agent told him that he would stay in the company accommodation in Abu Dhabi and would be paid a monthly salary of Dh2,000.

And when he reached Abu Dhabi, he was received by a Ugandan woman, allegedly working with the recruitment agent, and she was the one to take him to the said factory that offered him the job. "The woman instead took me to an apartment in the Navigate area of Abu Dhabi where she made me stay with other people looking for jobs," he said.

"After a few days I asked her when she was to take me to the factory so I start working. She, however, replied to me that she was waiting for a call from the managers. The woman then told me that I would start working after the end of Ramadan."

He said that after Ramadan, the woman ignored him. She told him to contact the person he paid his money in Uganda because she didn't have a job for him.

Thrown out of the house