UAE Visa Amnesty

Tim Elliott
Welcome to Lawgical, the first regular podcast navigating the latest legal updates shaping the UAE. I’m Tim Elliott and as always, is Ludmila Yamalova, Managing Partner of the Dubai-based legal firm HPL Yamalova and Plewka. Ludmila, always good to see you.

Ludmila Yamalova
Great to see you too, Tim. Thanks for being here.

Tim Elliott
Good news on today’s episode – the UAE visa amnesty program has just been updated. Let’s get into it. But first of all, would you just give an overview of the details?

Ludmila Yamalova
Yes, indeed. Well, so what we’re talking about is a program or initiative that’s called the UAE Visa Amnesty Initiative. And ultimately, it’s a limited period of time during which the UAE government has offered all those residents, or those who used to be residents, or those who came to the UAE either on the tourist visa, visiting visa, and ultimately have overstayed their welcome, so to speak, or overstayed their visas.

Some of them might have overstayed for a few months, others might have for a few years, and yet others might have actually been born here without a proper visa to begin with. So there’s different types of cases that are involved, but all of those residents or all of those foreigners are usually basically considered illegal foreigners, if you will, illegal residents. In other words, people who are in the UAE without proper immigration status.

Now, some of them might have come here on an employment visa and then after the employment, they did not leave the country in time, maybe because they wanted to stay in the country, maybe because they didn’t have the ability to go back to their home country, or maybe because they had already overstayed and their fines were too heavy and too high for them to pay and leave.

And then others might have been actually born to parents who didn’t have or already had expired residence visas. This amnesty program ultimately has made it possible for all of these types of people to come forward and have their immigration status cleared. So at a high level, that’s basically what this amnesty program is. And clearing the status has two components.

One is clearing the status and having the ability to leave the country without having to pay the fines. And then the other one is just clearing their immigration status and having the ability to apply for a new residence visa and stay in the country legally. So at a high level, that’s ultimately what this amnesty program is all about. And remember, because it is called an amnesty program, it’s basically the other way of phrasing it: forgiveness.

Ludmila Yamalova
And that’s forgiveness from all the fines that would have been accrued—immigration fines, the overstaying of or not receiving, for example, proper legal documents such as Emirates ID or even passport, even birth certificate—because each one of these sort of it’s like a chain reaction if you don’t get it.

If you’re born to parents who have a visa that has already expired, they may not be able to apply for a residence visa for you. And then, if you don’t have a residence visa, you may not have a passport, and you may not have a birth certificate, and so on and so forth. And each one of these can have or has separate implications under the law in terms of the laws that it violates and therefore the penalties that accrue for each violation. So as a result, for a number of these people, the violations and the fees might have been quite excessive.

So this amnesty program ultimately waives all of these financial liabilities, waives the liabilities, cleans their immigration status, and then offers one of these two options either, go home or,  go home not as a deported individual with a travel ban, but go home, and then whenever circumstances change, you will still have the ability to come back into the country. Or if you want to stay in the country now that your fines have been waived and your immigration status has been cleared, now you should have the ability to apply for a new residence visa if you have a job or if, for example, some people may not even have a job, but they may have a spouse who may be able to sponsor them. So once they’ve been cleared, then they will also have the ability to apply for a new residence visa.

All in all, that’s kind of how the amnesty program works.

Tim Elliott
It’s a welcome respite, isn’t it? It gives you that time, it gives you that opportunity, and it lifts the burden from your shoulders. Because for a lot of people, it’s kind of a catch-22 situation. The longer you stay, the more the fines rack up. There isn’t really anything you can do. It’s a really tough thing to handle, I think.

Ludmila Yamalova
Well, indeed. And so I have to tell you, because over the years, there have been so many people that we have seen ourselves and in terms of some clients, helpers, clients’ family members, and the stories range quite a bit. And we can talk about some of these specifically. But I will tell you the number of, if you will, illegal residents, illegal aliens, is fairly significant. And so one of my personal, perhaps, concerns was, is this visa amnesty term or timeline long enough to allow for all these different people to come forward and have their status cleared?

And that’s why when the program was launched in the summer, at the end of the summer, it was basically September and October, a two-month period. The initial amnesty initiative was limited to these two months. And October 31st was supposed to be the last day. And we’re recording this on November 1st, which is a day after October 31st. So October 31st was supposed to be the last day of the amnesty.

And the UAE, in its typical fashion, loves the element of surprise. And so surprised us at the end of October 31st and announced that the initiative is being extended for yet another term of two months. So that’s another October and December. So all in all, four months and additional two months. Which, to me, personally, is a great development and great initiative because I’m sure many more people would benefit from this additional time.

And to be honest with you, as you mentioned earlier, it’s a two-way street. The government as well as the country also benefit from this because it doesn’t ultimately benefit the country having all these illegal aliens, illegal immigrants basically, being in the country and sort of kind of unrecognized and reported, while many of us know that these people exist and so they are ultimately like outlaws.

Ludmila Yamalova
It really is in the interest of the country to give these people a chance to either leave the country or to continue to contribute because, as you know, you can’t really stay in the UAE for very long without contributing to the country. So somehow they’ve been contributing to the economy. So this way they’ll be able to contribute formally and legally.

So it’s a win-win all around. The UAE continues to grow, and its economy and business continue to grow. So all these people certainly have the opportunity to continue to help contribute into the overall growth of the country and the economy. So why not allow them to do it but do it legally? And an added benefit is many of these people have been in the country for quite some time, which means they know the system, they know the country, they know how it works. In terms of what they’re able to contribute to the country, it’s that much more just by virtue of having experience of what the UAE is all about versus bringing new labor, new employees, or new talent from the outside. So on both fronts, I think it’s a very positive initiative.

But I will tell you, think, as you and I often talk about, I’ve been here for onto my 16th, 17th year now. All too long, but I think this is the first time that I remember, at least I personally remember, of this initiative, such an initiative being introduced. So every so often we hear of certain fines being waived or reduced and certain pardons are being issued, but this kind of comprehensive nationwide initiative that ultimately it’s amnesty, not just a pardon or not just a reduction in fines. It’s an amnesty, just an opportunity for people to completely start with a clean slate. So this is the first time I see this. So a tremendous initiative, much welcomed, and I’m sure a lot of people are benefiting from it. And now with this new extension, I’m assuming that many more people will be able to benefit, and perhaps this is the reason why the government last minute ultimately doubled the term of the initiative for an additional two months. And I would assume it’s because of the volume of people—the number of people coming forward and trying to avail themselves of this new benefit. And also, as we all know, I mean, we’re trying to play our own part in information, disseminating information and sort of being kind of the news agency delivering this message to the different parts of society, but the message still takes time to travel to all the people. So I would imagine that over the last two months, some people might have learned about this initiative only at the end of the last two months, or some people might have wanted to benefit from this and try to stay in the country, but it still costs money to apply for a new visa, so they might not have had enough money, so maybe they’ve been saving. So I think now having this additional time would allow many more people to benefit from this great program.

Tim Elliott
I think that’s an important point to make because it does seem as though, you know, in the past there have been amnesty initiatives, but it’s generally been, you know, the fines are waived or reduced and you can leave. It’s not in this kind of comprehensive, certainly not nation-wide way. And I wonder if people are starting to come forward with that knowledge in mind rather than, I’m not really sure, you know. So, you know, it’s a confidence builder, isn’t it? And I think that’s really important to say. Let me just ask; this is for people obviously inside the UAE, not for people who have left the UAE, and there may be some questions over the reasons they were here originally. So you have to be in the country. But just talk me through who benefits from this particular initiative.

Ludmila Yamalova
You made two great points. One, in terms of the application, the scope of this initiative, and you are absolutely right, it does apply to people who are in the country. And this, by the way, was not necessarily so clear from the beginning. And we are, as law firm; in response to our announcements, we’ve received a lot of questions from people who have had to leave the country and or have been deported from the country, asking whether they could benefit from this initiative and to have a chance to come back into the country. So obviously this initiative has a much wider appeal and also I guess it’s a testament that the number of people that want to come back into the country is a testament to this country’s opportunities that it offers to so many of the people who still want to come back even after perhaps they’ve been deported or they’ve been forced to leave the country.

So as we learned more about initiative and the overarching objective of it, it became very clear and also the authorities have clarified it since then that it really only applies to people who are within the country. And that’s why it’s called an amnesty. Because the idea here is that to allow people who are right now cannot or could not have paid for these fines, they could not have maybe even paid for some of the cancellation documents just because everything costs money. So it’s the people who are in the country to help them ultimately become legal. So it’s not all those who have already left the country, but rather that’s why it’s an amnesty for those who are inside the country to help them or to help the country to have fewer illegal residents and help all those people who want to continue to stay in the country or want to finally leave the country to ultimately do this legally. So, yeah, so that’s one limitation or perhaps a parameter of this initiative.

The other one, one that to me personally is of specific interest, is that it would also apply to individuals, and there are a fair number of them that might have been born in the UAE, but they were born under perhaps circumstances that, for one reason or another, did not allow them to have proper legal documentation. So what do I mean by that? Is that as we know and have covered this on this podcast many times before until recently, for example, births out of wedlock were illegal? That being said, we also knew of people who were born in the UAE under such circumstances and whose parents, mothers did not want to, I guess, do not want to either report or for one reason or another, did not come forward and ultimately gave birth in the country without coming forward to the authorities because that would have led them to either be deported or not either, would have led to deportation, but prior to deportation, there was also an imprisonment for one year. So the previous laws made it fairly difficult for people who might have gotten pregnant and conceived babies under those circumstances to do anything about it. Some people maybe did not want to leave the country. Other people might not have had the ability to leave the country because they didn’t have the funds to leave. Yet other people might not have been able to leave legally because they were already visibly pregnant and so then the authorities might have already found out about it. So there’s different reasons why people might have gotten pregnant in the UAE without a marriage certificate and might have delivered without reporting to the authorities, which means what? That there are babies that would have been born in the country under those circumstances would have been basically born illegally, which means they don’t have a birth certificate.

Now, if you don’t have a birth certificate, you don’t really have effectively legal existence. And you and I have dedicated specific podcasts to this very topic. So, but that’s, you know, that ultimately it’s a kind of chain reaction. If you don’t have a birth certificate, you don’t have a passport, because a passport is based on the birth certificate. If you don’t have a passport, don’t have, you’re not, and your parents cannot apply for your residency. So therefore, you don’t have your residency, don’t have your residence visa, and you don’t have Emirates ID.

Ludmila Yamalova
So if you don’t have any of those, don’t even have, since you don’t, legally you don’t exist in the system, you cannot avail yourself, for example, of insurance. You cannot go to school, legally that is, and so on and so forth. So it’s a whole sort of network and chain reaction that creates this web of complexities for all those who would have been born in this country under those circumstances. And certainly, for people who were born under these circumstances, it’s not themselves that they would have violated these laws because they were babies; their parents would have, but a number of laws would have been breached as part of this. One of which, for example, you need to report births, right? You need to apply for residency within certain periods of time. You need to apply for a birth certificate within a certain amount of time. But anyway, each one of these violations basically has a penalty assigned to it.

So, we’ve over the years been approached by people who were born under those circumstances or by parents who had children who were born under those circumstances, and there’s not much they could do because by that time the fines were so high that it was just you physically; they were not able in practical terms to ever pay those fines, and because the children, even if they had the money, didn’t have the certificates or the legal documents to be able to leave the country. So now this amnesty does actually apply to these kinds of individuals as well because, as part of the initiative, in addition to waiving the fines, the authorities also offer, as part of clearing the record, the exit documents. So for example, let’s say somebody was born here without the birth certificate and therefore without any of the legal documents, including the passport. But now, as part of this initiative, the authorities would give them, issue them in collaboration with the embassies or the consulates of the countries of their parents, basically, nationality. So they would issue exit papers. So they would be able to actually leave the country with an exit paper, still without the birth certificate, without the passport, but then they can apply for all these documents in their home countries. So this particular initiative also offers benefits to this group of individuals, and obviously I don’t have the statistics of how many there are, but they know they exist.

And I know that those who exist, you know, some of them, and this, this we know from people who reached out to us directly, have been in the country for seven years, eight years, 10 years. So you can imagine what it means for them. So if you’re 10 years old now and you have the ability, you might have gone to school here, but all the things that a child of that age would have done in the UAE would have been a little bit under, you know, under the radar and off the books. So now these people will now have the opportunity to go back or go back, back, sorry, go back, go to their country, the country, I guess, of their parents’ birth, and then have a proper legal status, establish their birth certificates passport, and then from there on go to school and so on and so forth. And then, in the future, they will still be able to come back. So that’s a huge benefit that I would suggest that these people would certainly benefit from, and I do really, really encourage all those who find themselves in situations to do everything possible to try to avail themselves of this very benefit.

Tim Elliott 
It’s such a challenging situation. I mean, as you mentioned, we’ve covered a number of cases, a handful of cases, and we know, you know, clearly there are going to be more than that. So it’s a chance to an opportunity to wipe the slate clean. And I think that’s really what differentiates this initiative from previous visa amnesties that we were aware of. Let’s look at the process, the nitty gritty, the nuts and bolts, Ludmila. What steps do individuals who are eligible for this in the UAE need to take to apply?

Ludmila Yamalova
Well, so the process is more or less straightforward, but it depends on the specific factors in terms of what tools can be used. So one of the tools or one of the services is the ICP website, and that’s the immigration website. And so those who can actually, who have some, perhaps a more recently overstayed their visa, may have access and maybe may have their own kind of login into the ICP website so they can use ICP website to apply for this service. And so that’s for those who actually have access to the ICP website. And then those who do not or for other reasons, for simplicity sake, there’s also amnesty centers that are based all over the UAE. And they’re actually open quite late.

We’ve even visited some of them and I have to tell you, at the outset of this initiative, are busy. Centres are busy. A lot of people certainly took advantage of the service very early on. So, that’s, I guess, in anticipation of that, the centers; when they were opened, it was announced that they will be open early and they will stay open late. And then there will be many of them across the country.

And so, and then, but one of, I guess, the next steps once you come forward, either you do it through the ICP, so when you lodge the request or through the Amnesty Centre, one of the other necessary steps in this is that they will have to be the registered biometric fingerprints if they have not done so. And this is done in one of the designated centres, which, you know, once you approach the Amnesty Centre, specific Amnesty Centre, they’ll direct you where to do it, but that’s basically part of the country’s effort to ultimately bring that person in compliance with all the other regulations, which, as you know, we, the long-term residents of the UAE, have had to do the same thing. the basic of the biometric fingerprints has been kind of the protocol over the last several years. So I’d imagine many of these people might not have gone through it before, especially those who have overstayed their visas for a few years now.

So that’s kind of the next step. And then once you’re there, then it depends on the circumstances of a particular case and what your next plans are to decide what the next workflow, so to speak, would be.

Tim Elliott
Okay, so if anybody’s listening to this right at this moment and they are sure that they’re eligible for a visa amnesty, they’re going through this feeling of, I should visit, what can I expect when I get there, how will it go – what would you advise them?

Ludmila Yamalova
Well, I have to tell you, just, I’m so, so, so personally and professionally in every, like, human level, just so relieved and grateful that the initiative was extended because I truly think that two months, while it was extremely generous and to begin with, it was just not enough time because the information didn’t travel fast enough. Like you said, people might have been afraid.

And as is perhaps predictable, people wait to see how it really works, does it really work, and does it really mean what it says it means? And that’s natural to kind of question it. And we know firsthand that a lot of people just didn’t quite believe it; they were still worried. I’ve overstayed here for so many years, I’m afraid to approach these centers. What if they lock me up? So obviously, once more people approached the centers and used this particular initiative, and so the success stories, if you will, would have traveled, disseminated further and more and more people felt more inspired and more confident that they too might be able to benefit from it. So I am extremely grateful that the service has been extended, but also to tell you that I still know people firsthand who still have not done it, who still have not benefited from it. And there are some practical difficulties for them to have done that.

Okay, I’ll give you a specific example. So let’s say there’s a person who’s worked as a nanny or school teacher who maybe during COVID had lost the job since then hasn’t really been able to get a proper job. then whose kids also might’ve been born here, may have residence visas, may have passports, but expired residence visas.

And so this person, the mother, wants to stay in the country because she’s able to make money and still provide for the children. And perhaps she thinks that this is for many reasons, and she’s not alone, to think that it’s still better to work here in the UAE than to, say, go back home with the children because maybe there is nobody in their home country to help take care of the children if she just sends them back. And if she goes back with the children, there’s just not enough jobs available for her to be able to make a living and to provide for them. So, and that’s basically the main reason why so many people continue to stay in the country even when they overstay their visa, because in their minds, their ability to provide for the families is much greater, much better than they are in their home countries. And so, but what that means is that for them, for this particular case, for her to clear her status,

So she doesn’t want to leave. So she could, if she wanted to benefit from the amnesty and then just leave, it’s easy enough because not only she might have overstayed, but her children overstayed as well, right? Or let’s say she overstayed, but the children, she may be able to clear her record, but the children’s visas have also; basically, they’re also overstayed and they have their own individual fines. And so, but let’s say she can clear them all using this amnesty, but she doesn’t want to go home.

Which means what? Okay, then she needs to be able to apply for a new residence visa. And how do you apply for a new residence visa? You need to have a job that would apply for you. And then even if you have a job that would apply for residence visa, you still need to be able to sponsor your own children. And to sponsor your own children, there’s still certain requirements of a certain kind of visa. And then you still need to pay fees to apply for the visa for your children. Plus there’s insurance and so on and so forth.

It’s a fairly substantial amount of money still for a lot of people who find themselves in situations. So I know of cases of people who could benefit from this Amnesty program in terms of having their visa cleared or their status cleared, but they cannot move on to the next step, and that is, they don’t have enough money to be able to apply for new visas.

But it’s for these people in particular that I would really, really, really just encourage them to figure out ways to find enough money to do this, because this could still be a one-in-a lifetime opportunity for you to actually clear your records, stay in the country legally, and make sure that your kids are staying here legally, and then continue to be able to stay in the country in the future and contribute, and for your kids to be able to contribute and live in the country without fear.

So I know it’s easier said than done, but I know first-hand of people who find themselves in these situations and they’re like, we can’t do anything about it because we don’t have enough money to apply for new visas. And I just wish that they were more resourceful and try to find some money, maybe loan some money, borrow some money from someone to help themselves make the best of this amnesty initiative and apply, you know, not only have their fines waived, but apply for new residence visas, especially for their children. So I hope that now with these additional two months that are being offered, they will have more time to maybe save more money and maybe find some additional resources to help find that money to be able to apply for a new visa.

So that’s my plea to all those who are listening. Please make the best of this initiative. I mean, yes, it’s been extended for another two months. I would not expect for it to continue to extend for additional two months. So we should use this new extension as kind of the opportunity or as the last opportunity, this last chance for you to clear your immigration status. So I really, really hope that all those who are listening can hear my message, and really, you know what? In the worst case scenario, leave the country, okay, and then send your kids back home, even if it’s for a temporary time, temporarily, and then bring them back, you know, when you’ve made enough money to be able to apply for new visas for them. But don’t continue to stay here illegally because things are only going to get worse.

And what we have already heard from the UAE government is that after the end of this initiative, the penalties for overstaying will actually be increased. We don’t know what that means yet, but in terms of the penalties and the fines, the measures that will be used against people who continue to stay in this country will be more severe. So that’s what I would like. I would like that message to be heard.

Ludmila Yamalova
Please make the best of it. You still have two months. You can do a lot in these two months. Now we have a lot more information. We know the program works. We know a lot of people have already benefited from it. So please don’t hesitate and make the best use of it.

Tim Elliott (29:57.181)
The individuals who have been employed in the UAE but maybe have, you know, the employment hasn’t gone as they may have hoped or in the right direction and they’ve ended up violating residency laws because of the employment. They’re included in this initiative?

Ludmila Yamalova
Indeed, great question. And absolutely, you’re correct. because the people who might have overstayed their residence visa fall into different categories. Some, as I mentioned earlier, might have come here as tourists, might have come here as visitors, or might have come here as looking for jobs, but they never had a job. So they fall into one category in terms of how they would have their record cleared. But then there are others who came here and worked in the UAE, and they had an employment visa, that is, either they were not able to find another employment afterwards or they didn’t cancel their visa in time or many might have had an abscondment case filed against them, and when abscondment is filed, that itself creates all sorts of problems, which further leads to fines. So all those who ultimately have overstayed their residence visa that would originally stem from employment relationship they have a different process to apply for the amnesty, and that is through the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization or MOHRE. And that includes also domestic employees, so all the nannies, your drivers, and your chefs who would have been on the domestic employment visas. And let’s say there are many cases of those people in particular who might have been declared absconded, and they’ve been kind of hiding ever since and living sort of in a shadow society.

So yes, all of them can also benefit from this, and for them to apply for this initiative, it would be through the MOHRE website or the MOHRE centers. So that’s a very important clarification: yes, the program does apply to them as well and in fact MOHRE has made a concerted effort to also educate, to announce and educate all those who fall under its authority to also come forward and because MOHRE has prepared specialized services as well as specialized centers and specialized hours also to extend for all those to come forward and benefit from this initiative through the MOHRE system.

Tim Elliott
Okay, that’s good to know. let me just run through eligibility and see if I’ve got this straight in my head. And it’s pretty straightforward in terms of the benefits. So it’s full exemption from fines or penalties. And it’s the option that you can either leave the UAE without facing a travel ban or you can stay legally if you’ve managed to secure a valid residency visa. Now that’s pretty clear. It’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it?

Ludmila Yamalova
It is very straightforward and it’s very clear, but as you rightfully pointed out, it’s, I guess I should not say it surprisingly enough, but it’s still not so clear to others because a lot of the time, a lot of people, especially in the beginning, thought, well, what this means is I’ll go forward, okay, they will allow me to leave the country without having to pay the fines, but ultimately, this will be a form of deportation.

Because, by the way, and I think you and I might have covered this in one of the podcasts before, there was a measure before, is that if you wanted to leave the country without paying the overstaying fines because you just don’t have the funds to pay, then there was an option to leave, but you were leaving in exchange for basically being deported. And that meant there is this sort of the eye scan that would be registered before you leave, and then you’re being put on a plane and sort of a one-way trip.

And so a lot of people still thought that this amnesty meant that, okay, they wouldn’t have to pay the fines, but that meant that they would ultimately be deported and would not be allowed to come back because that’s what deportation means. So as you rightfully said, this amnesty program is not that. It’s the option of having your fines cleared and being allowed to leave the country without any travel ban, without a deportation decision.

And therefore, in the future, you’ll still be able to come back into the country. So that’s one option. The other option is that if you still want to stay in the country and try to find a job or have a job already lined up, then you would be able to apply for a job here. Furthermore, and by the way, especially for those who are applying through MOHRE, is that, but also for other amnesty centers as well, from what we hear is that there’s a lot of employers that are also taking part in this initiative. And they, when people clear their record, also offer jobs to them right there on the spot, which will allow them to then, you, because if you have a job, then you will be able to apply for a new, for a new residence visa, sort of visa initiative. So there’s, it’s kind of a collaborative effort, if you will, it’s the various government authorities, immigration, more gray, plus various employers that work in collaboration with them with the idea that once you’ve had your record cleared, there are employees there that are also offering you jobs. So, yeah, so that’s perhaps the other very important aspect for all those who are coming forward is that there is an opportunity for you if you don’t already have a job lined up; there may be an employer there that may have an opportunity for you to at least consider, know, as kind of to start with. It may not be the best job, it may not be the best paid job, maybe not the best sort of employment terms, but it certainly is a chance and a chance at a clean start.

Tim Elliott
Key is it’s an opportunity, isn’t it? It’s an opportunity to write something that would quite naturally weigh you down. I think we’ve covered pretty much anything, and I think the word transformative comes to mind with this, to be honest with you. But is there anything you would like to add that you think anybody listening to this or watching this could benefit from?

Ludmila Yamalova
Well, just that remember now the new deadline is December 31st. So it’s not too far away. And I would just encourage everyone over and over again, please, please make the most of this opportunity, find ways to make extra money, to borrow money, to be able to, if you want to stay in the country, to certainly at least find enough money to apply for new visas for yourself and your family. And even if it means some sort of temporary visa.

And if not, then certainly come forward and at least those, especially whose kids were born here, do consider allowing them to maybe leave the country so that they can come back and return here, you know, on sort of new visas when you might have saved money. But certainly don’t continue to stay in the country and accrue visas and continue to be illegal because the penalties for doing this after this initiative ends might be a lot more severe.

Tim Elliott
You can help with navigating processes like this, can’t you?

Ludmila Yamalova
We can, indeed. Yes, so obviously we are here to help, and we’re trying to help best we can and by virtue of our social media outreach. It’s through these kinds of podcasts and our blogs and our articles that we publish and the social and short clips that we put out there. We try to disseminate information and keep people informed and help them that way to at least learn information to be able to help themselves. But certainly we, as a firm, can help, and we have already helped a few people. So we’re here, know, if we cannot help perhaps in substantive terms because those people who might need our help and not be able to afford our services, we have all sorts of other, I guess, free services, if you will, that’s still hugely beneficial. So we do encourage whoever may be interested to at least reach out, and if we cannot help you from sort of a business standpoint, we certainly will be able to provide you with tools that allow you to help yourself.

Tim Elliott
This is another Lawgical – UAE’s visa amnesty initiative—and how it can benefit maybe you or somebody you know. The key to remember is that it’s an opportunity and it is available until December 31st, and as you said, Ludmila, we’re recording this on November 1st, just after it’s been extended for two months. Thank you for listening and watching; perhaps if you’re with us on YouTube, thanks as always to our legal expert, managing partner, Ludmila Yamalova. I really appreciate your insights, Ludmila, and your experience as well.

Ludmila Yamalova
And likewise, I appreciate you being here and always making the time to highlight and feature these kinds of important initiatives. So thank you.

Tim Elliott
You can find us across social media—Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube—wherever you find your podcast. There’s the website, which is, I think, a treasure trove of UAE centric legal information. You can listen to hundreds of our podcasts for free. If you’d like a legal question answered either by a qualified UAE experienced legal professional or maybe in an episode of Lawgical, head to lylawyers.com.