Many of the thousands of Filipinos stranded in Oman and Iran after falling foul of the UAE’s new visa rules have declined their government’s offer to repatriate them and are sticking it out in the hope of returning to the Emirates to find work, a senior official has said.
Adelio Cruz, first secretary and consul at the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi, said the Philippine government has the money to repatriate its countrymen, but most do not want to return home, UAE daily Gulf News reported on Sunday.
“Although the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department in Manila decided to repatriate the stranded countrymen, only a few of them wanted to go back home because they hope to return to the UAE to join a job,” Cruz was quoted as saying.
“Still, no deadline has been issued to them to make up their mind.”
More than 6,000 Filipinos are stranded in Oman and Iran due to the recent changes in the UAE’s visa rules in what some sections of the media in the Philippines have labelled a “humanitarian crisis”.
Thousands have gone on what is commonly known as a “visa run” only to find what previously took a couple of days is now running into weeks and even months in some cases under the new system.
The visa rules, which came into force at the end of July, are aimed at stemming the number of expatriates that come to the UAE on visit visas and work illegally.
Under the new rules expatriates on visit visas that leave the UAE must reapply as tourists, resulting in thousands of visa applications being rejected.
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