# Employment entry visa - no driving



## saracen (Nov 23, 2014)

So I figured I would come to Dubai a week before my job starts, to have a look around, find somewhere to live etc.

Turns out that I am not allowed to rent a hire car on an employment entry visa.

Does anyone know if there is a way around this? Surely there must have been a lot of expats in this very situation.

Is it possible for me to not use my employment entry visa for the first week (i.e. come in on a tourist visa) and then go to some government immigration building and get it stamped in before I start work. Just a week's freedom of exploring the place with a car would be worth the hassle if this is possible.

Any ideas?

Ta.


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

Hi,
My wife got the job first in Dubai - so she came on a work visa and i came on a visit visa at first.
Hired the car in my name and i did the driving until she got her visa and UAE licence through.
Then i went through my residency process!
Also had to wait three months before we bought cars on bank finance - as they needed a salary certificate that showed that my wife was permanent employee - not still on probation.
Cheers
Steve


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## saracen (Nov 23, 2014)

Stevesolar said:


> Hi,
> My wife got the job first in Dubai - so she came on a work visa and i came on a visit visa at first.
> Hired the car in my name and i did the driving until she got her visa and UAE licence through.
> Then i went through my residency process!
> ...


Thanks Steve - Unfortunately the wife and kids wont be joining us until a little later (when I find somewhere for all of us to live!).


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

saracen said:


> Thanks Steve - Unfortunately the wife and kids wont be joining us until a little later (when I find somewhere for all of us to live!).


Hi,
Then you are stuffed!
Taxis are cheap!
Cheers
Steve


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

When you arrive get the paper stamped, but don;t hand it over.

Your Visa won;t be in process until you do so I believe you can still rent.

And you can not rent once your Residency is actually issued, rather than when the process starts.

Alternative would to be to come in on a Tourist Visa and do a border run to get the stamp and at th same time do the touristy bit at Al Ain.


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## saracen (Nov 23, 2014)

twowheelsgood said:


> When you arrive get the paper stamped, but don;t hand it over.
> 
> Your Visa won;t be in process until you do so I believe you can still rent.


Hi twowheelsgood

I'm just trying to understand the process having never gone through it before.

- Arrive at DBX
- At Immigration control - show them the employment entry paper?
- They stamp the paper, and give me a pink slip in exchange?

You suggested I could opt to not hand over the paper? What is the impact on my employment which starts a week later? (Just looking back at their email, they've specifically reminded me to make sure I come in on the employment entry and not a tourist one  )

Btw, what does the passport stamp for employment entry look like? If it looks just like the visit visa, I'm guessing the car rental company would be non the wiser?



> And you can not rent once your Residency is actually issued, rather than when the process starts.


That's fine. When this happens, I'll happily take a cab for a couple of days as I understand that its pretty much all it takes to convert to UAE license. Ideally, I just want to be able to drive in my first week where I'll be free to explore.

Ta.


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

Hi,
The car rental companies don't give two hoots. The problems arise with the police if you have an accident - which seems more likely whilst driving in a new (mad) environment!
Cheers
Steve


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## saracen (Nov 23, 2014)

Stevesolar said:


> Hi,
> The car rental companies don't give two hoots. The problems arise with the police if you have an accident - which seems more likely whilst driving in a new (mad) environment!
> Cheers
> Steve


I think you're right about the firms - what's funny is this isnt something that came up whilst I was trying to book and hence forced me into looking for a work around - would have all been done and booked by now if I remained ignorant!

I almost completed a booking on a major global rental company, at no point did it ask about my type of visa - it did advise that I must have held my UK licence for at least 1 year, and a few other bits, nothing about the visa however. It's just inquisitive me!

Anyhow, will look for a way around for the first week - after that its work work work anyway so I'd be paying for a rental to be parked up for most of the day!


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## BBmover (Jun 15, 2013)

A colleague came in on an employment visa, rented a car then once rented the car hire realised he was on an employment visa through paper work so the car had to be returned as he'd used his UK license and they stated he should be on a UAE license. Insurance on a rented car isn't covered. 
My husband was in a similar situation when he arrived and he used taxis and metro until his residency was sorted and we arrived and leased a car.


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## sm105 (Jan 9, 2014)

I don't know whether it makes a difference between RAK and Dubai, but we were very specifically told that we could drive a rental car on our international licenses after entering on the pink employment visa UNTIL the actual residence visa was stamped into the passport and the Emirates ID received.

I was even stopped at a random license checkpoint in RAK during this period (driving with a Canadian license and a photocopy of my pink visa) and the police officer made a couple of phonecalls and confirmed this was ok. He even told me that I had 28 days grace period after the residence visa was issued to obtain my UAE license (subsequently confirmed by RAK Police DVLA when doing the license exchange).

I know RAK has different rules on licensing and license exchanges than Dubai, so its possible that their regulations also differ on this point.


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