DUBAI // Immigration chiefs on Sunday reversed a decision to increase to Dh10,000 the minimum monthly salary required for expatriates to bring their families to the UAE.
Applications for family visas will again be accepted from expats who earn Dh3,000 and have accommodation provided by their employers, or Dh4,000 for those who pay for their own accommodation.
Now applicants who were told last week their salaries were too low will return to the immigration offices and apply again.
“I was told I didn’t meet the criteria,” said Anoop Suresh, a newlywed Indian sales supervisor at a logistics company. He applied last week to bring his wife to join in him the UAE but was told his forms were rejected because his basic salary was Dh5,000.
“I am relieved if the requirement hasn’t changed. I’ll go back later this week to reapply for my wife’s visa,” he said.
The National reported at the weekend that immigration officials were telling applicants they no longer qualified for residency visas for their families if their basic monthly wage was less than Dh10,000. Officials at the immigration headquarters in Al Jafiliya and staff at the immigration call centre said the rule had come into effect last Sunday.
However, Maj Gen Mohammed Al Marri, director general of DNRD, the Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, in Dubai, insisted on Sunday that the rules had not changed.
“DNRD in all its branches continues to accept applications smoothly without any restrictions,” he said, and any changes to visa regulations would be announced by the Ministry of Interior.
“Our department is highly transparent in everything we offer customers and this has always been the way things are done.”
Nevertheless, some worried residents have already sent their spouses back home because of the confusion.
“One of my friends took his eight-month pregnant wife back to India to deliver her baby,” said Sajan Francis, a safety officer at an oil field construction company.
“When he called immigration to check if he could sponsor his newborn child under the new rules, the call centre said he wouldn’t be able to unless his salary was Dh10,000. They told him that it would be considered as a new visa and his salary did not meet the new rules.
“He was so stressed and worried what would happen after she delivered. So he took emergency leave and accompanied his heavily pregnant wife to India at the weekend.”
Immigration officials said on Sunday that under existing rules, expatriates who meet the Dh4,000 minimum salary requirement must supply an attested marriage certificate, a salary certificate and proof of accommodation, if provided by their employer, to obtain a residency visa for dependents. Imams, teachers and bus drivers for schools and other educational institutions are exempt from the salary requirement.
pkannan@thenational.ae
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
