Sharjah: An undocumented Indian expat in the UAE has flown home after 18 years following his repatriation aided by the authorities and social workers.
The case of Keralite Sunil Kumar OV, who was reportedly plagued by financial and health crises, highlights the need to legalise residency status, social workers said.
Sunil, 47, was repatriated on Thursday, said Praveen Kumar, a social worker volunteering for the Indian Consulate in Dubai who supported the repatriation procedures.
According to Praveen, an unmarried Sunil had arrived in the UAE in 2005 to work as a foreman. “His history is rather sketchy and he didn’t have any valid documents for years. According to him, he was trapped in a financial crisis after losing his job. He also had many health issues and he did not want to go back to his home country,” Praveen told Gulf News.
Old, expired passport
Sunil’s handwritten passport had expired in 2007 and he had secured an emergency certificate from the Indian Consulate in Dubai in the same year.
An emergency certificate is a one-way travel document issued to Indians without a valid passport.
“During that period, apparently his health condition also worsened and he did not fly home during the amnesty grants. His case was reported to me recently by Ratheesh Edathitta who is the Vice President of the Indian People’s Forum in Ajman,” said Praveen.
“Based on the inputs from Ratheesh Edathitta, we initially applied for an emergency certificate to the Consulate,” said Praveen.
Since Sunil only had a copy of the previous passport, which was not a machine-readable one, the consulate sought verification of his details from the passport office in Kochi, Kerala, from where he had taken his first passport. After the verification, another emergency certificate was issued by the consulate in October 2023.
However, Sunil’s health condition further deteriorated and he collapsed at his bed space in Sharjah.
Praveen said it was Ratheesh who called the ambulance to help Sunil get admitted to Al Kuwaiti Hospital in Sharjah.
Mother’s plea
On knowing this, Sunil’s aged mother back home also expressed her strong desire to see him. “His mother is in her seventies. She was begging for help to see her son before anything happens to her,” said Praveen.
The social workers then worked with various departments to facilitate the repatriation of Sunil on humanitarian grounds.
“We contacted Harikrishnan Namboodiri, CEO of Norka Roots, Kerala requesting for the government’s support in getting him shifted to a hospital in Kerala,” said Praveen.
Norka, the Non-Resident Keralites Affairs department of the Kerala government, then agreed to accept the patient in the government medical college located in Thrissur, Sunil’s native place. Norka also offered to provide an ambulance service to shift him to the hospital from the Cochin International Airport.
“In December, we submitted the complete documents to the consulate for the financial support of the repatriation, and the consulate approved the funds for a non-medical escort with a wheelchair ticket to Kochi.”
Praveen said the UAE authorities waived the overstay fines and issued an out pass for Sunil’s repatriation. Another community volunteer, Kabeer Ahmed, escorted a wheelchair-bound Sunil to Kochi.
Grateful
“We took almost three months to complete the whole process. I would like to thank the consulate, Ministry of Health and Prevention, the hospital authorities, the UAE immigration authorities and Norka for extending their support on humanitarian grounds.”
He said Sunil was unable to speak properly when he left. “He was extremely thankful to the medical team at the hospital who saved his life and took care of him for over two months. Though he was choked with emotion, I could feel that he is grateful to everyone who helped him finally fly home after 18 years.”
Sunil was admitted at the Thrissur Medical College and is waiting for the emotional reunion with his mother as it was decided to let his mother see him after he settles in, said Praveen.
He highlighted that it is important to legalise residency documents for expats in the UAE. “If someone is in trouble, they should not wait till they get into more trouble. If they are unable to stay here legally, they should leave the country to abide by the local laws and regulations. It is a must for undocumented expats to seek visa amnesty when the UAE government announces it,” he added.
