Indians in Abu Dhabi
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
Permanent residence for expats
2019: M A Yusuff Ali is the 1st
June 5, 2019: The Times of India
LuLu Group chairman is UAE’s first permanent expat resident
Dubai:
Abu Dhabi-based Indian retail tycoon M A Yusuff Ali has become the first expat to get the UAE’s first gold card permanent residency. Unlike the long-term visa of 5-10 years for businessmen and talented individuals, the gold card gives permanent residency of the UAE to the holder.
The LuLu Group chairman, who was ranked the richest expat in UAE by the Forbes magazine, becomes the first of 6,800 investors with total investment exceeding $27 billion to receive the gold card under a scheme announced last month by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, the Khaleej Times reported.
With more than 170 hypermarkets and shopping malls, the LuLu Group employs more than 50,000 people comprising 42 nationalities.
The new initiative which aims at generating foreign investment and attracting top engineers, scientists and star students — has identified 6,800 qualified expats from over 70 countries in the first phase. Commenting on the honour, the Keralite billionaire said, “(It is) A very proud and emotional moment in my life...I am sure this new Gold Card permanent residency scheme aimed at key investors, who have played a defining role in the nation building process, will further boost UAE’s image as one of key investment and business global hubs as well as attract and retain new investors here.” AGENCIES
2019
Hindi is the 3rd official court language
February 11, 2019: The Times of India
In a landmark decision, Abu Dhabi has included Hindi as the third official language used in its courts, alongside Arabic and English, as part of a move designed to improve access to justice.
The Abu Dhabi judicial department (ADJD) on Saturday said it has extended the adoption of interactive forms of statement of claims filed before courts by including the Hindi language alongside Arabic and English in labour cases. This is aimed at helping Hindi speakers to learn about litigation procedures, their rights and duties without a language barrier, in addition to facilitating registration procedures via unified forms available through the ADJD website, the judicial body said.
According to official figures, the UAE population is estimated to be around nine million of which 2/3rd are immigrants from foreign countries. The Indian community in the UAE, numbering 2.6 million, constitutes 30% of the total population and is the largest expatriate community in the country.
Yousef Saeed Al Abri, undersecretary of the ADJD, said the adoption of multilingual interactive forms for claim sheets, grievances and requests, aims to promote judicial services in line with the plan Tomorrow 2021, and increase the transparency of litigation procedures.
“This is in addition to facilitating registration procedures to the public through simplified and easy forms and raising litigants’ legal awareness via interactive forms of the statements of claims, to ensure access to the legal materials related to the subject of the dispute,” Al Abri was quoted as saying by the Khaleej Times.
He indicated that the extension of the adoption of interactive forms in several languages comes under the directives of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, deputy Prime Minister and minister of presidential affairs and ADJD Chairman.
Al Abri explained that the adoption of new languages comes as part of the bilingual litigation system, the first phase of which was launched in November 2018, through the adoption of procedures requiring the plaintiffs to translate the case documents in civil and commercial lawsuits into English, if the defendant is a foreigner. “The foreign investor receives the case files translated, thus contributing to the provision of a global judicial service that meets the requirements of residents in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi,” he added.
