4,000 Filipinos await visas in Kish - report

MANILA, Philippines - Some 4,000 Filipinos are among more than 5,000 visa changers stranded on Kish Island in Iran since a new visa law in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) went into effect.

Online news site Khaleej Times reported that Filipinos prefer to go to Kish for visa change as Kish offers an affordable, easier and cheaper exit from the UAE.

Reza Ardalan, head of the Extension Office, Residence Permit Office in Kish, said before the implementation of the new UAE visa law, his office used to process an average of 70 applications for extension of their stay in Kish everyday.

"After this, specifically just before the start of Ramadan, the number of stranded visa changers has doubled to 150 daily," he said.

Before the new visa law, he said the Indians used to top the list. Now, he said they are second to Filipinos, followed by Arabs such as Moroccans, Egyptians, Ethiopians and others.

Most of the stranded Filipinos are male. Every month, at least five children come to apply for extension, he added.

Kish Island has 50 hotels catering to visitors, he said, but only 10 of them are affordable for visa changers. The rest are three-, four- and five-star hotels.

He said the problem is not with Iran, but with the immigration in the UAE, which grants multiple entry visas to as many as 70 to 80 per cent of visa changers daily.

He said people whose applications are on multiple entry have to wait 14 days to a month in Kish. They can stay on Kish without visa for 14 days, and can seek an extension of their stay for one month to three months at Dh80 per extension.

"All stranded visa changers are staying in hotels. Our law forbids tourists and foreigners from sleeping in private homes. If they are caught doing this, the police will arrest and jail them before deportation," he said.

He said less than five per cent of those stranded escape their obligation by requesting their passport from the hotel purportedly for extension of stay, but silently book their tickets upon receipt of their visa and leave. - GMANews.TV

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