UAE amnesty: Syrian expat to be reunited with daughter after four years

Shawakh Zaher is a resident in Abu Dhabi.-Supplied photo

A Syrian expat in the UAE is overjoyed as he will soon be reunited with his daughter, whom he hasn't seen for over four years because of the war in his home country.
Shawakh Zaher, a resident in Abu Dhabi, applied for his 10-year-old daughter's residency visa this week and her one-year visa has been approved.
The UAE had announced in June that citizens of war-torn countries - Syria, Yemen and Libya - will be eligible for a one-year residency visa from August 1 to October 31, regardless of their current status. In 2016, the UAE had also announced that it will give residency to 15,000 Syrian refugees in a span of five years.
"Now that my daughter will be coming, our family can start becoming complete. I've also applied for a visa for my other daughter and I'm waiting for its approval," Zaher said.
Zaher's first wife relocated to the UAE in February 2018, along with their three children.
However, Zaher has a second wife, with whom he also has three children, and they are still in Aleppo.
Zaher moved to Abu Dhabi in 2014 and has not seen his second wife or their three children since then.
"It's been more than four years since we last met. We had to leave them behind in Aleppo because I didn't have enough funds to bring them all. In February, I was able to bring my first wife and our three children. Now, I'm trying to get the rest of my family here, so we can all be together again," he said.
Zaher's two wives and their children used to live in separate homes in Aleppo. However, they are among the thousands of others who had to escape to find safety because of the ongoing war, especially during the Aleppo siege.
When they returned to their home in Aleppo in 2017, it was completely destroyed and uninhabitable. They were displaced for a while until a relative gave them refuge.
"It's been very difficult for us. When I moved here in 2014, there was some hope that I can bring all my family here and we can make a new life. And now, finally, I can see that we can all be one family again," Zaher, who will be applying for a residency visa for his 12-year-old daughter next, said.
After her visa comes through, he will then apply for visas for his second wife and their four-year-old daughter.
For now, he will be booking a flight ticket for his daughter whose visa has been approved.
Zaher is one of many Syrians in the UAE who is trying to relocate their loved ones to the UAE. Zaher's brother-in-law, Hassan Ibrahim, has a 12-year-old son living in a refugee camp in Germany since 2015.
Ibrahim was able to bring his wife and three children to Ajman in 2016, however, his son still remains in Germany.

KTNANO