Dubai, Dec 27: Abu Dhabi emirate has stopped accepting applications for visit visas for those other than immediate relatives of expats after a study found that 25 per cent of illegals came on such document.

The Abu Dhabi Naturalisation and Residency Department (ADNRD) took new measures this month to stop issuing visit visas to bring friends and workers to the emirate, according to a senior official at the department. Colonel Nassir Al Awadi Al Minhali, Director of ADNRD, told Khaleej Times, ''The ADNRD allows issuing of visit visas only for immediate relatives, such as parents, brothers, sisters, wives and children.'' The ADNRD would not issue visit visas for the firms because they were allowed to obtain only employment visas after getting temporary mission permits from the Ministry of Labour (MoL).

The new protective measures were aimed at weeding out the phenomenon of illegals from the country.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) has completed a study, after the 2007 amnesty period that ended on November 3, to find out the factors that contribute to the problem of illegals in the country.

The study showed that about 25 per cent of the illegals entered the UAE on visit visas. The companies could apply for visit visas only for delegations. This was a special case and the ADNRD would demand bank guarantees ranging between Dh2,000 and Dh5,000, depending on the applications.



UNI