Police to do spot checks on UAE residency visas

Police spot checks of residency visas are to increase as part of a UAE government crackdown on illegal immigrants, it was reported on Tuesday.

Residents should carry their visas and labour cards, or copies, at all times as officers will be doing random checks on the streets of the Emirates, the Ministry of the Interior has warned, according to UAE daily The National.

However, there would be no road blocks, said Brig Gen Nasser Al Minhali, the acting director general of the federal Department of Naturalisation and Residency.

“This is not a one-time campaign but a new mission that will be entrusted to each police station to catch those living illegally in the country,“ he said.

“The details will depend on each police station, but officers will be doing these random checks for documents as they patrol the streets. The point is not to disrupt daily life, but to catch those living here illegally,” Al Minhali added.

The strategy, which has seen a number of measure to stop people living int eh country illegally, also sets out a plan to set up more police stations in populated areas Al Minhali said.

Iris scanning has prevented more than 300,000 deportees from re-entering the country under false names, while an amnesty for illegal workers in 2007 helped legalise the status of more than 176,000 workers.