By Spy Uganda
The latest news landing on our desk indicates that the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has stopped the issuance of 30-day visas commonly referred to as Visit Visas to Ugandans until further notice.
The UAE has also stopped the issuance of short-stay Visas to 20 countries among them including Nigeria. The Dubai authorities announced that all applications were halted until problems between the governments of the UAE and Nigeria were handled.
The United Arab Emirates government on Friday announced a visa ban on Nigerians, adding that all submitted applications are rejected and fees non-refundable.
The ban was announced in a notice issued by UAE immigration authorities to its trade partners in Nigeria including travel agencies.
It’s worth noting that on September 28th 2022, the UAE government blacklisted Ugandans and Nigerians and announced that effective October 6, 2022, no Ugandan or Nigerian will be allowed into UAE without a certificate of good conduct and about 5,000 Dirham (Shs 5.3 million) on their bank account.
The move, according to the source, is aimed at curbing criminality and illegal immigration. Recently, the UAE government offered free air tickets to all illegal migrants to return home. They were required to surrender to immigration authorities.
The UAE government deported over 600 Ugandans who had overstayed their welcome and had accumulated fines. The group was allegedly part of the over 1,000 Ugandans detained at Dubai Central Jail.
It’s said that UAE was not happy with; “Ugandans and Nigerians who had turned into crooks, conning people and sleeping on streets.”
Meanwhile, this will be a huge blow to the Ugandan government which collects about US$1.2bn (Shs 4.5 trillion) from Ugandans working abroad. The Middle East alone sends about $600m (Shs 2.2 trillion) and $200m (Shs 762 billion) from UAE.
