# jules



## jules grange (Jul 31, 2011)

Hi
I am sure you have all heard this one before but i would appreciate some advice, my husband started a post in abu dhabi as a surgeon, the contract initially said it would bring his wife and family with him, however once out there he was told that the person who wrote this got it wrong and he would have to sponsor his wife (me) and daughter, we all went out to abu dhabi and of course i ended up returning with my daughter to sort out our paperwork as the company did my husbands.We did go through the whole process but without the"little stamp" needed in abu dhabi. 
So i have sent my marriage certificate and daughters birth certificate of to the FCO however as we are british but married in the usa, we had the certificate stamped by a notary of public first, this was apparently not right either, so at the moment my original certificate is winging its way to an office in the USA and the photocopy and the birth certificate has just returned from the FCO - where do i go from now? 
my solicitor did not even know what they meant by attesting the documents, i think i have to now send the documents to the uae office in london is this correct? can anyone just give me a simple four step procedure (i think its four steps and hope i have so far managed 2! We even have a school waiting for the copy of the residency visa :confused2: any help would be appreciated before my poor husband gives up ! he has now been there for 10 months alone all bar 6 weeks when we went out! thanks


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## Racing_Goats (Sep 5, 2015)

It sounds like you are doing the right things re attesting documents, the USA bit is an unusual complication I guess but once you have docs back and stamped by FCO they should be taken to British Embassy in UAE for a stamp there and finally to UAE Ministry of foreign affairs to be attested.

Companies here and how they look after employees varies hugely but I'm surprised to hear of your situation, particularly (rightly or wrongly) for a UK national hired as a surgeon.. as far as I know companies operating in Abu Dhabi are required by law to provide residency visa and medical insurance for employee's dependents - you said it was in his contract? Is the employer based in dubai or abu dhabi?

your husband is a doctor and presumably earning a decent salary, if he has his Haad/DHA licence he should be looking for another employer as these guys are at it.. or if after 10 months he's still there and doing a decent job he should speak to HR and politely point out that they're taking the piss and quite probably breaking the law.

Besides all that, you and your daughter as British passport holders get UAE visit visa on arrival and infinite visit visa renewals at the border, no reason for you to stay in the UK unless that suits your circumstances. Attestation can all be done via courier from here.

Good luck


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

Employers don't provide visas for their staff's families, but some may help with the application. It would also be very unusual for the employer to arrange the attestation of documents, but they should be able to advise you on what is required to complete the process. I'd be inclined to use a company to arrange this, such as Blair Consular Services. It will cost more but it saves the headache. Couple of other points to consider. Husbands cannot sponsor dependents without a tenancy contract (I think in Abu Dhabi, there's also something called Tawfiq that's needed?) and children can't start school properly without residency, although I think some schools allow a grace period.


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## Racing_Goats (Sep 5, 2015)

BedouGirl said:


> Employers don't provide visas for their staff's families, but some may help with the application. It would also be very unusual for the employer to arrange the attestation of documents, but they should be able to advise you on what is required to complete the process. I'd be inclined to use a company to arrange this, such as Blair Consular Services. It will cost more but it saves the headache. Couple of other points to consider. Husbands cannot sponsor dependents without a tenancy contract (I think in Abu Dhabi, there's also something called Tawfiq that's needed?) and children can't start school properly without residency, although I think some schools allow a grace period.


I don't think that's right for abu dhabi - all companies must provide health insurance for employee's and their dependents and, given that insurance companies will only insure UAE residents, it's implied although not explicit in the law that employers support the sponsorship of dependents.

Many companies complete and pay for family residency status for their employees so it seems unusual that a company employing a surgeon from overseas wouldn't do so. 

Regardless it seems there's a bit if background missing from the OP as it wouldn't take ten months to sort out if the employee wanted his British family to be here?


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## jules grange (Jul 31, 2011)

BedouGirl said:


> Employers don't provide visas for their staff's families, but some may help with the application. It would also be very unusual for the employer to arrange the attestation of documents, but they should be able to advise you on what is required to complete the process. I'd be inclined to use a company to arrange this, such as Blair Consular Services. It will cost more but it saves the headache. Couple of other points to consider. Husbands cannot sponsor dependents without a tenancy contract (I think in Abu Dhabi, there's also something called Tawfiq that's needed?) and children can't start school properly without residency, although I think some schools allow a grace period.


Hi Thanks for your constructive advice, not sure what a Tawfiq is, i will look into this as well and make sure this time we are fully prepared. we went to join my husband in july at the end of the school year in the UK, as my daughter had just finished year 8. my husband has sorted out the tenancy etc. I am using an agency for the us marriage certificate, once that document returns i will send it to the UAE office in london. Thanks


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## Racing_Goats (Sep 5, 2015)

Tawtheeq is confirmation that you reside at the address stated on tenancy contract and confirms that the property is fit for purpose as a residential home - your landlord (or management company at some developments) can provide the document.


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## jules grange (Jul 31, 2011)

Racing_Goats said:


> It sounds like you are doing the right things re attesting documents, the USA bit is an unusual complication I guess but once you have docs back and stamped by FCO they should be taken to British Embassy in UAE for a stamp there and finally to UAE Ministry of foreign affairs to be attested.
> 
> Companies here and how they look after employees varies hugely but I'm surprised to hear of your situation, particularly (rightly or wrongly) for a UK national hired as a surgeon.. as far as I know companies operating in Abu Dhabi are required by law to provide residency visa and medical insurance for employee's dependents - you said it was in his contract? Is the employer based in dubai or abu dhabi?
> 
> ...


Hi Thank you for your constructive advice, i will wait for the marriage certificate to be returned before i go to the UAE offices, the company was a uk based agency, my daughter and i joined my husband in july after my daughter had finished the school year to avoid any disruption to her education as she has just started year 9. I take on board all of your comments thanks


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## jules grange (Jul 31, 2011)

Racing_Goats said:


> I don't think that's right for abu dhabi - all companies must provide health insurance for employee's and their dependents and, given that insurance companies will only insure UAE residents, it's implied although not explicit in the law that employers support the sponsorship of dependents.
> 
> Many companies complete and pay for family residency status for their employees so it seems unusual that a company employing a surgeon from overseas wouldn't do so.
> 
> Regardless it seems there's a bit if background missing from the OP as it wouldn't take ten months to sort out if the employee wanted his British family to be here?


Hi wasn't sure i needed this part of the information.!!!! I wanted to make my post short so no i didn't include everything, i was a bit tongue in cheek when i said that he would give up i meant his job, not that he didn't want us there! The company will give us medical insurance and will pay for our ticket out there however they have told my husband that they expect him to sort out his wife and family. We have a strong marriage and have been together for 20 years! We decided as a family that we would join my husband at the end of the school year 8 which was july, when we went out we were on a visitors visa, we approached a school and then tried to get our residents visa, we were told that it was best to return to the UK to sort out the paperwork for my daughter and myself, which i have done, i thank you kindly for your constructive information concerning where we go next. But the insensitive parts i could do without thanks.


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## Racing_Goats (Sep 5, 2015)

Didn't intend to seem insensitive, sorry if thats how it came across.. welcome to the Internet


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## jules grange (Jul 31, 2011)

thanks thats great, we have that, we had everything translated into arabic as well and got the photos etc eventually we visited the offices in abu dhabi which is where we discovered that we needed the documents attested, so i think it is just the UAE offices in london now and then the UAE office in Abu Dhabi, we tried to get the british embassy to stamp our documents in Abu Dhabi but they advised us that they no longer do this and that we needed it stamped in the UK. We even visited the American Embassy in Abu Dhabi they provided us with an address to send the documents too in Washington. I don't want to get out there and then find my daughter loses any school time as she starts to take her options soon.


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## Racing_Goats (Sep 5, 2015)

Sounds like all in hand, if you haven't arranged a school place yet you may want to find one soon - a lot of the better schools and the cheaper ones have waiting lists, you might also need your daughter's school transcript and/or any previous test or exam results attested (depending on the school)


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