Breaking up families

[Patricia Lotte]

An article in one of our local newspapers today really p*ssed me off. In this country, all foreigners must be sponsored to be able to stay here. Generally, your employer is your sponsor and in most cases, the husband then sponsors his wife and kids. A woman can sponsor her husband in only a few cases (yes, the 'superiority' of the male over the woman ...). However, a husband can only sponsor his family if he earns above a minimum salary. This is the reason why so many families are split up with the husband living and working here and the wife and children having to stay back in their home country. Sometimes the wife also lives here but the children remain in their country with other family members because both parents don't earn enough. This really shocks me, and particularly today's article stating that an 18 month old baby has to leave the country within 1 week as she is 'illegal' ... yes, let's break up another family ... (read the article) ...

One piece of advice to all Oranjemunders, don't let the 'men in white' take over the town ...

18-month-old baby declared illegal

Sharjah: An 18-month-old baby has been declared an illegal resident by the Sharjah Naturalisation and Residency Department (SNRD) and has been given one week to leave the country after which she will get a one-year ban. Nayana Sanjay Kumar was born in October 2007 at Al Qasimi hospital in Sharjah, but her parents, both Indians from Kerala, could not sponsor their new-born baby as their salary was not enough at the time. The girl's mother, Sheeja, who works as a nurse at a Ministry of Health run government hospital told Gulf News that when her baby was born, she tried to sponsor her, but the application was rejected by the SNRD as she and her husband were not earning enough to sponsor the girl. "In October 2008 my salary was increased. I was then able to sponsor my baby, but when I applied for a residency visa for her at the SNRD it was rejected too. My baby was declared an illegal resident and I had to pay hefty fines because she had been staying illegally in the country for one year since she was born," the mother said. Sheeja said SNRD officials told her the baby had to leave the country in less than a week with an outpass to avoid the fines, otherwise she would get a one-year ban. "I was told that after one year I could obtain a new visa for my baby and bring her back to live with me," she said. "I told them my baby is very young, she is only one year old and I cannot send her away from me, but they did not listen to me, saying the law will be implemented equally." Sheeja said she tried to meet the SNRD director-general but she was not allowed by his secretary who told her he is very busy. "Nayana is my first baby. I cannot imagine my life away from her. I am still breast-feeding her. Added to that I have nobody back home to take care of her," Sheeja said. "It is impossible for me to stay one year without my baby. I cannot also afford to pay the full amount of fines which is around Dh10,000 because I started working here recently." She said she was told that earlier, illegal residents could go to the court at the residency department and their fines for overstaying would be reduced, but that system has stopped now. "They said my daughter was born at a time when the court at the department was no longer functioning. She was born after the latest amnesty," she said. Officials from SNRD were not available for comment.

[SandyB]

Patricia .. a friend at work   said  she had  an  itersting atricle on Dubai ... I first scoffed .. but yes told her to forward it to me ... will read it and pass on ...