Hope, Priscilla and the thousands of others who were granted a golden chance by UAE Amnesty
When a 29-year-old Nigerian mother Hope Edemevughe and her eight-month-year-old baby daughter, Favour, approached Khaleej Times on August 10, their future was bleak.
Abandoned by her husband, Hope and baby Favour were going from door to door begging for alms to clear an unpaid hospital bill of Dh12,492. Hope’s visa had expired over a year ago, and Favour did not possess a birth certificate. This made it impossible for her passport to be issued.
But 12 days into the launch of UAE’s 2018 amnesty programme ‘Protect Yourself via Rectifying Your Status’, Hope realised that it would be her only way out.
The first hurdle was the bill. Thanks to the article in Khaleej Times, several KT readers stepped in generously to help mother and baby start over. Hope’s dues were cleared overnight.
On September 11, mother and daughter took a flight back home to Lagos, Nigeria. Favour now lives with her grandparents with whom she recently celebrated her first birthday — a day after Christmas.
Hope’s story was only one among the thousands of lives that were saved from ‘impending doom’, thanks to UAE amnesty. Many rectified their status and returned home to their loved ones. Thousands of others opted for the six-month job seeker visa. The programme provided foreigners who were violating the residency law a three-month grace period to either leave the country voluntarily — without prosecution — or legitimise their status by paying the fees. Amnesty seekers were given ‘a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity’ in the form of a six-month job visa.
Though immigration authorities have not released statistics of people who received amnesty, diplomatic missions reveal that “at least thousands” have availed the service.
By early December, Khaleej Times learnt that up to 20,000 Bangladeshis had approached their missions, according to the Ambassador to the UAE, Muhammad Imran.
Officers from the diplomatic missions of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and several other countries have also worked tirelessly to help their citizens. The 2018 amnesty was never a story of statistics. It was a display of generosity from the UAE.
It was a remarkable to see community leaders, welfare organisations and social workers come forward to provide financial and emotional support to amnesty seekers, who were strangers to them.
Indian widow Priscilla Aden, 53, mother of a 24-year-old son, lived like a hermit for three years. She had been in depression after Darrol, her husband, died. When she received her job visa, Priscilla was filled with gratitude. Her plan was to look for a job to clear her debts and look after her son. “When I walked into the ladies’ tent, I felt a huge sense of peace and calm. No one judged me for being ‘illegal’.