DNRD chief rubbishes visa cancellation rumours

THE TRUTH: Major General Mohammed Al-Marri has dismissed rumours of mass visa cancellations. (ITP Images)

The boss of the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) has described as “nonsense” claims of mass visa cancellations and thousands of cars being abandoned at Dubai Airport.

In an exclusive interview with Arabian Business magazine to be published on Sunday, Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al-Marri said that other countries were “jealous” of the success of the emirate.

“When you are successful, people never focus on your success. That is human nature. They look for the mistakes and try and find problems.

"Everyone in the world wants to know how Dubai has become so pretty, so they can copy our ideas. But it is not easy to copy, and this is the problem. So they become jealous and they write what is complete nonsense,” he added.

The Major General also rubbished rumours that some residents were being stopped from leaving Dubai because of bank debts or holding only one way travel tickets.

He said: “People are saying that there is a list of wanted people by the banks. That is not true, absolutely not true. Life is normal, there is no change at all. Do you think we can just stop people at the airport without and order from the court? Or that we want to?

"Of course not, it is rubbish. And then they claim that if you are leaving Dubai with a one way ticket you will be stopped and quizzed. Rubbish. Nonsense. We have no idea at immigration whether you bought a one way ticket or return ticket, it is meaningless.”

Read the full interview with Major General Al-Marri online on Sunday.

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READERS' COMMENTS

DREAM TIME HAS COME, ME THINKS
Posted by ametis, Dubai, UAE on Thursday 19 March 2009 at 06:29 UAE time


I think Doc was probably on the same train as the ones who belived that the boom time was eternal..??

Investor Definition

An individual who commits money to investment products with the expectation of financial return. Generally, the primary concern of an investor is to minimize risk while maximizing return, as opposed to a speculator, who is willing to accept a higher level of risk in the hopes of collecting higher-than-average profits.

Voice of Expats
Posted by Thameez, Dubai, UAE on Wednesday 18 March 2009 at 10:18 UAE time


Dear Mr. Kumar, your views are voice of Expats. Well said. They have sown the seed and they are reaping now. They WILL reap.

Come out of your Closet
Posted by Mosa, Toronto, Canada on Wednesday 18 March 2009 at 09:44 UAE time


The over confidence or should I say arrogance! of developers, authorities should not be there. They must come out of 'take it or leave it' attitude. Time to have some good customer service.
Bahrain is offering life long residence with 5 year renewable visas. UAE should match that or better.
A lot more is desired like some other readers mentioned. No visa cancellation, no banks stoping us leaving the country, no job transfer ban are something to think about at this time.
Time is really bad even after all these, light at the end of the tunnel is tooooooo far away! Gool luck any ways.

A SIMPLE ACT CAN GO A LONG LONG WAY
Posted by Doc, DUBAI, UAE on Wednesday 18 March 2009 at 09:36 UAE time


I honestly believe if the government re-instated the 3 year visa, it would go a long long way in shaking up the market. There is a lot of pent up demand from the countries in the middle east that from the people that want to move here, have the means to buy properties here but are concerned about the residency laws.

For example, I guarantee you that at least 10,000 buyers from Iran would be interested to invest here as the prices are attractive now and these people want to leave Iran to live in a place that gives them a lot more freedom to live the way they want. This is an ideal place for them due to its closeness to Iran and similarity in culture and religion.

This is a very simple thing that the government can do. They should do this now and make it effective immediately. You wait and see the outcome.

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