New mothers stuck abroad seek entry visa exemption for their babies
PARENTS URGE UAE AUTHORITIES TO EXEMPT NEWBORNS FROM ENTRY VISA REQUIREMENTS
After a long wait, Maleha Haq finally got ICA approval to return to the UAE on Tuesday, but the Pakistani mother stranded in Islamabad can’t travel to her Dubai home within the stipulated 21-day deadline as her newborn doesn’t have a visa.
Hundreds of UAE-based new mothers stuck overseas face a similar predicament as issuance of entry visas remain suspended in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
‘Am I supposed to leave my 3-month old son behind?’
“I am sure this is not the idea of reuniting families,” said Maleha, who travelled alone to Pakistan in early January to deliver her first child. “Does the ICA approval suggest that I fly back to my husband in Dubai, but leave my three-month old son behind?”
‘There is no way for ICA to know I have a newborn’
Briton Tina Hamilton, who is stranded in the UK since the birth of her first child Ruby in March, said: “My first ICA application was rejected without reason while the second is awaiting approval since May 22. There is no way for ICA to know that I have a newborn as this cannot be mentioned on the application or linked to my residency because my daughter’s visa is yet to be issued. It’s very frustrating.”
‘We got entry permit for my son, but it was cancelled’
Sally Shaheen from Egypt,
who travelled to Cairo to give birth to her second child, said: “My son Yassin was born in December 2019. We got an entry permit for him in February. My three-year-old daughter Nadia and I were due to fly back with him to Dubai in March, but all new entry permits were cancelled and immigration authorities in Cairo didn’t let him board the flight.”
Sally and her daughter got their ICA approval on June 14. Her husband Murad, who is in Dubai, said that the family has been separated for over six months. Sally said newborns should be allowed to return to the UAE if they are accompanied by their mother.
‘I got approvals on June 15, but what about my son?’
Zainab Taimoor, who delivered a baby boy in Pakistan on April 4, said she flew out of the UAE with her three-year-old daughter on March 14 hoping to return by mid-May.
“Now we can’t travel without ICA approval. My daughter and I got our approvals on June 15. It’s valid for 21 days but we can’t travel within this time as we are unlikely to get an approval for our infant as he doesn’t have a UAE residency,” she said.
‘My wife was forced to manage on her own’
Abu Dhabi-based Pakistani expat Zeeshan is desperate to meet his first child — a daughter named Minsa — who is now two months old. The baby is stuck in Pakistan along with his wife Dr Zahira Tahir.
Dr Tahir travelled to Faisalabad on work, but got stranded there. “Our first child was born in Pakistan with asymmetrical IUGR [a condition in which the baby has a normal head, but the rest of the body is small]. My wife managed everything on her own,” Zeeshan said. “I was happy when she got her ICA approval, but then we realised that my child needs an entry permit too.”
There is no way for ICA to know that I have a newborn as this cannot be mentioned on the application or linked to my residency.”
Tina Hamilton | British national stranded in the UK