New one-year visa introduced for students

The Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (FAIC) has announced that effective from June 15, it has started issuing a one-year residence visa, renewable for a further year, to students on their parents’ sponsorship who have completed their university or high school study or reached 18 years of age. The FAIC clarified that visas for this category of people are issued only as of the date of their graduation from university or high school or when reaching the legal age in line with the integrated system of entry and residence visas approved by the UAE Cabinet in summer last year.

According to Major General Saeed Rakan Al Rashidi, Director General of Foreigners Affairs and Ports at FAIC, said all resident families with children that fall within this category can benefit from this decision easily and smoothly.

They can submit their applications with the necessary supporting documents including attested high school certificate, graduation certificate or any document to this effect issued by the university in which the graduate studied inside or outside the UAE.

Stressing the FAIC’s keenness on familiarising all resident families with this service and how to benefit from it, Al Rashidi called on parents residing in the UAE to take advantage of these unprecedented facilities by visiting the general directorates of residency and foreigners affairs and their affiliated centres during its official working days from Sunday to Thursday between 8am and 8pm.

He explained that parents no longer need to apply for sponsoring their sons as humanitarian cases, which previously required a security deposit of Dhs5,000 to be submitted. They can now apply for a one-year visa against a fee of Dhs100 and a similar fee for renewal.