Hundreds seek ‘No Criminal Record’
Appointments for fingerprinting at Philippine consulate fully booked until March
Appointments for fingerprinting at Philippine consulate booked until March |
More than 2,000 Filipinos have applied for a ‘No Criminal Record’ certificate at the Philippine Consulate-General, a prerequisite for the issuance of the good conduct certificate required for issuing new UAE work permits since February 4.
The ‘No Criminal Record’ issued by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Manila, popularly known as NBI Clearance, is the good conduct
certificate’s counterpart in the Philippines.
The requirement is in line with the UAE’s new rule for all visit visa holders to obtain a certificate of good conduct from their home country first to be issued a work permit when applying for a job in the UAE.
The Philippine ConsulateGeneral in Dubai last week set up an online appointment system for those who wish to have their fingerprints taken at the consulate instead of doing it at
the Dubai Police Headquarters.
Some 300 people have already availed of the online appointment system for NBI Fingerprinting since Sunday.
“We assigned one staff who is dedicated to do the fingerprinting at the consulate despite our limited manpower for the benefit and convenience of our compatriots. We have 100 slots per day but all the fingerprinting appointments are now fully booked until the end of March,” Consul-General Paul Raymund Cortes said.
“We used to give out 500 copies of the NBI Form 5 daily when the new rule took effect. We eventually had to raise it to 800 per day due to the high demand,” he added.
Cortes advised Filipinos who wish to work in the UAE to not come here on visit visa but to go through legal channels, primarily through the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. This way, all these documents are processed prior to their deployment overseas.
“Presumably, the majority of the Filipinos applying for NBI Clearance here in Dubai are visit visa-holders. Some are switching jobs. For those who are on visit visa, this new requirement could set them back roughly three to four weeks.”