New UAE Expat Security Checks Start Today

The UAE’s stringent new security checks mandatory for expats are due to begin today.

From today, expats living and working in the UAE will be required to present a document stating they have no criminal convictions either in their home countries or in countries where they’ve lived during the past five years. The mandatory requirement will apply to all expat residents applying for a work visa, with the document to be known as the Good Conduct and Behaviour Certificate. According to the authorities, the move is intended to safeguard the UAE’s national security.

For the majority of expats, the document can be had by application to a government authority or police force in their home countries or in other countries where they’ve been resident during the past five years. Once received, the document must be attested by the UAE embassy in its country of issuance or by the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Tourists and sponsored family members are to be exempted from the requirement, and long-term Dubai expat residents should apply to the Abu Dhabi or Dubai police for the document.

Hamal al Rohoumi, the lawmaker who initiated the move, told local reporters the security checks are already compulsory for Emiratis, with extending the requirement to expats expected to make the UAE safer for all as well as reducing costs. When asked whether the new rule will cause inconvenience to resident expats, he justified the move by referring to the recent conviction and execution of a Jordanian man who’d kidnapped, raped and killed an eight-year old girl.

Al Rahoumi considers extra paperwork is a small price to pay to safeguard children from harm, adding the emirates don’t want vicious criminals arriving in the region from overseas. He added that, as a government official, the benefit to the public of increased national security is at the head of his agenda, with the new requirements certain to make the UAE safer for all.