UAE: Over 1,500 Ugandans benefit from overstay waiver initiative

Some of these are domestic worker who ran away from their employers due to unfavourable working conditions while some had been trafficked into the country

by

Ismail Sebugwaawo

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Published: Sun 23 Oct 2022, 1:56 PM

Last updated: Sun 23 Oct 2022, 3:59 PM

More than 1,500 Ugandans who were staying illegally in the UAE after their visas had expired have been granted the waiver as part of the government initiative to help some African nationalities go back home without paying for overstay fines, according to the Ugandan envoy to the UAE.

Almost all those Ugandans who turned themselves in have already returned home after the UAE government provided them with the air tickets.


Speaking to Khaleej Times, Zaake W Kibedi, the Ugandan ambassador to the UAE said the overstay waiver scheme which started in August this year, was granted to people from some African countries who had overstayed their visas or those who were staying in the country illegally.

Most of the Ugandans who sought for the reprieve had come to the UAE on visit visas to look for jobs, but their visas expired before getting the jobs. Others, especially domestic workers, had run away from their employers due to unfavourable working conditions while some had been trafficked into the country, according to the ambassador.


350 out of the 1,500 Ugandans who applied for the overstay waiver were men and the rest were women.

“All these Ugandans have had their overstay fines waived by the UAE government and they have been allowed to go back home without any issues,” said the ambassador.

“The embassy of Uganda in Abu Dhabi in coordination with the government back home has so far processed emergency travel documents of 1,220 Ugandans for free. Only 280 of those who have sought for the overstay waiver had their original passports with them.”

Many of the Ugandans, especially the runaway housemaids, had left their passports with their employers and efforts to retrieve them were futile.

According the Kibedi, UAE authorities have coordinated with embassies of several African countries including Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leon and others to help these illegal immigrants who were stranded in the UAE to ensure that they go back home to their countries.

“Ugandan nationals were the majority of those Africans with overstay fines who sought for the waiver,” he said.

“We thank the UAE government for extending help to our people by waiving the overstay fines and providing them with air tickets to return back home.”

Kikomeko Ismail Semambo, a Ugandan volunteer who has been coordinating with authorities to help the Ugandans who were apparently been kept at the Al Awir Deportation Centre in Dubai as they wait for their repatriation documents said the government of the UAE has been providing these people with food and all the basic needs.

“So far, all Ugandans who sought for the overstay waiver have been repatriated back home. The last batch, about 160 Ugandans flown to Uganda on Fly Dubai and Air Arabia with air tickets provided by the UAE government,” he said.

Semambo said the initiative has been so helpful to the Ugandans as many of these were staying in public parks of Dubai because they couldn’t afford paying for accommodations due to lack of jobs.

The number of Ugandans living and working in the UAE has grown from less than 1,000 in 2009 to approximately 100,000 as of today, according to ambassador Kibedi.

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