UAE: Family of 5 who got evicted hopes for fresh start after years of living illegally

For the mother, the amnesty is her 'only hope' as she aims to give her young children a better future

Nasreen Abdulla

Published: Sun 1 Sep 2024, 5:36 PM

Last updated: Sun 1 Sep 2024, 8:56 PM

For Indian expat M.K., the last three years have consisted of one nightmare after another. First, she lost her job and then her husband was made redundant. Later she was evicted from their apartment over non payment of rent dues.

She has been overstaying in the country for over three years with her young children. “I have not been able to afford to send them to school and some days to even feed them,” said M.K., speaking to Khaleej Times. “We have been living thanks to generosity from our friends and family.”

She is hopeful that during the amnesty period, she will be able to leave the country or regularise her status so that she can give her children, aged 11, 9 and 2 a better future. However, right now there are some obstacles in her way that prevent her from leaving – the most important of which is the travel ban imposed on her.

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“When we lost our job, we were unable to pay the rent for our apartment,” she said. “We had informed the real estate agency of our plight but they did not pay heed to our request for leniency. They deposited our security cheque the day after the rent was due. This resulted in the cheque being bounced. Since it was issued in my name, a travel ban was put on me. We now owe the rental agency Dh25,000.”

A tale of woes

What followed was a series of misfortune. “We were approached by two employees of the rental agency saying they would help us secure financial aid from a social organisation here,” she said. “They asked us to pay Dh4,000 for this. We did not even have money to eat so how could we afford that amount of money? They asked us to borrow from our friends, saying the social organisation would pay us Dh30,000 and we could repay the money from that.”

The family borrowed small amounts from various people and managed to give the money. However, within days, the men stopped picking their calls. “Not only did the charity amount not materialise but they also stopped answering us,” she said. “We understood that they cheated us.”

M.K. said she was scared of approaching authorities. “People keep asking us why we didn’t approach the police but we were scared,” she said. “Even the real estate employees kept threatening us that the owner of the building as well as police were looking for us. We would not even go outside because of the fear. Now, this amnesty is our only hope.”

M.K. dreams of being able to leave the UAE and return on a work visa. “I want to be able to work here and send my children to school,” she said. “I was near desperation when this amnesty was announced. Now, my husband and I have hope that we will be able to fix our status and start rebuilding our lives.”

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