No decision yet on UAE residency cap - official

No decisions have yet been taken regarding a possible cap being placed on UAE residency visas, a top official has said.

Brigadier General Nasser Al Minhali, acting director general of the Department of Naturalisation and Residency, said the Ministry of Interior was still studying all sections of the residency law.

His comments, published by UAE daily The National on Friday, followed reports that the government would introduce a new residency law limiting the time certain foreign workers may remain in the country, including a six-year cap on unskilled workers.

However, he indicated the law would be changed in some way before the end of the year, without giving specifics.

“The law covers everything to do with the resident’s residency, from fees to rules to duration. We will revise it all,” he told the paper.

Last May, the Federal National Council followed up on a suggestion in 2007 by GCC states that visas for unskilled workers be limited to six years to address a population imbalance.

It proposed that such workers would only be allowed to return to the UAE if they restarted the visa process from outside the country.

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