Mother overstays visa by 12 years

The fate of a family of four is hanging in the balance after the mother was told she does not exist from the UAE's point of view. A.H., who came to the UAE from Uzbekistan as a tourist 12 years ago, said she was told that nothing can be done to legalise her status because her entry date was never recorded. Now the family's future depends on dealings between the Uzbekistan Consulate and the Department of Residency and Foreigner's Affairs in Sharjah. The woman says she came to the UAE on June 16, 1999, arriving at Sharjah International Airport on a one-month tourist visa issued in Ras Al Khaimah. Since that visa expired she has been living in the country illegally. Article continues below A.H. is now a 35-year-old mother-of-two having married a Pakistani man in 2000 in Dubai. The couple's nine-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter hold Pakistani nationality. The husband told Gulf News of his ten-year battle to legalise his wife's status. "My wife's passport was handed to her country's consulate in Dubai in 2000 for renewal but the consulate sent the passport back to her country because she broke their rules by over-staying here," he said. She never got her renewed passport. Hefty fine "I need to pay the hefty over-staying fines for my wife in order to send her back home where she can get a new passport and return on my sponsorship," he said. "If my wife travelled without paying her overstaying fines then she would face a life ban and her home country will not issue her another passport easily." The husband added that he searched in vain for any data for his wife which would help in legalising her position. "Officials from the Department of Residency and Foreigner's Affairs in Ras Al Khaimah informed me that they have no data about my wife in the system from which they can calculate her overstaying fines," he said. Dilemma The husband said that he and his children could not live without their mother. He added that he has tried and failed to find a way out of this dilemma through police departments and officials at the Ministry of Interior. "I approached the immigration section at Sharjah Airport several times but they said there is nothing in the system indicating that my wife entered the country through the airport," he said. He said that he also approached the General Directorate for Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Ras Al Khaimah but he was told that there is no visa issued in her name or passport number. "I have no idea what to do and how to help my wife and my children. I cannot understand why they cannot get any details about my wife," he said. The husband said that he tried to contact his wife's country's consulate to bring back her passport, but they refused. "We spent several years trying to bring back the passport but we failed," he said. He said he also failed to obtain Pakistani nationality for his wife because she does not have her own passport. "I do not know what to do or, if we leave the UAE one day, what will happen to the mother of my children," he said. Ordeal Officials at Sharjah Airport and at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Sharjah and in Ras Al Khaimah said that they are aware of the ordeal of the family but the there is little they can do. "The husband presented us a copy of his wife's passport that showed that she entered the country on June 16 1999, but we cannot fined any information about her in the immigration system," an official said yesterday. The official said the mother needed to pay the fine for overstaying otherwise she will face a life ban and will not be able to enter the country again. "When she leaves without paying fines, we will take her iris scan so she will not come here again," he said.