Hi there,
Just wondering... if you are offered a job in the UAE... they ask you to get all you documents notorized and authenticated. What is the next step? Do you need to have a visa stamped on your passport in Canada or the US, or do you enter the UAE on some other type of visa? I am asking because I am unclear about how many packages you have to send the embassy. I know a friend who received a job in Kuwait has to do eberything here and can only go to Kuwait once the embassy in DC has stamped the visa on his passport. Same thing in UAE? Help please.
UAE Work Visa
Your school should handle your visa. We entered on a work visa. The school arranged for this before we arrived and it was waiting for us upon our arrival. (The school faxed us a copy for our records so that we would have it when we arrived, in case there were any questions with the airlines, who might want to see a visa stamped in your passport.) I have heard of some schools in the UAE having their teachers enter on a tourist visa (available upon arrival), but they shouldn't be doing it this way.
I had to get my documents notarized by a lawyer, attested by the provincial govt, and then shipped off to foreign affairs in Canada for final certification!
(so start early)
Actually, I didn't realize the docs had to get the foreign affairs stamp so after I arrived in the UAE the school had to ship them back to Canada for stamping again.
Aparently the Canadian embassy in Canada didn't have the "power" to certify.
I came in on a work visa with my family and it was then converted to a residential visa which is supposedly better. Maybe this is only the fact if you have family here.
But at the end of the day if those are the hoops you need to jump through, you just need to get on with it.
good luck!
(so start early)
Actually, I didn't realize the docs had to get the foreign affairs stamp so after I arrived in the UAE the school had to ship them back to Canada for stamping again.
Aparently the Canadian embassy in Canada didn't have the "power" to certify.
I came in on a work visa with my family and it was then converted to a residential visa which is supposedly better. Maybe this is only the fact if you have family here.
But at the end of the day if those are the hoops you need to jump through, you just need to get on with it.
good luck!
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curiousteacher
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2007 4:37 pm
They've probably told you all of this (or hopefully will soon) but you probably need to do some sort of "apistle" or "apostel" or something like that with your documents. I had to do a similar thing when coming to Vietnam...something about Vietnam not signing or being in on some treaty or deal or whatever. The upshot was, as the previous poster mentioned, the US consulate/ambassador didn't have any recognized (in Vietnam) authority to authenticate my documents.
When I contacted both my university and state education department regarding my situation, both knew exactly what I needed. Taking care of it was simple and straight forward if a bit time consuming and heavy duty bureaucratic. I basically had to (for example) get my teaching license certified as legit at the state level, then the federal level (one of the authentications came from the office of Condaleeza Rice!), then send it to the Vietnamese embassy in the US for approval--this process had to happen with my uni diploma, teaching cert, and police record (or lack thereof).
Sounds like Dubai might be similar--I entered Vietnam on a "business" visa and then when I was there the school used all the above mentioned documents to get me a work permit.
An interesting (or maybe not) side note to the whole Vietnam (and probably other countries) work permit issue is that while I was told all of this upfront about having to get all the paperwork certified, verified, notarized, and apostilized, etc., not so long ago at my school the teachers (and admin, apparently) were all on business visas, which are good for 6 months and easy to get--teachers obtained them through legitimate means before arriving in Vietnam, but anybody can get one "downtown" for not a whole lot of money. However, there was apparently a crackdown, and teachers here had to go through the "after the fact" torture of having to get all their documents authenticated and obtain work permits: again, straightforward enough, but time consuming--people had to park it in their home country (actually, I think only US citizens, as other country nationals could use their embassy/consulate to get it done: lingering issues from the American War as they call it here) and the extended stay needed to get it all done wasn't necessarily on everybody's agenda for the summer holiday.
So, good luck with it all and as probably happens close to 99% of the time, all the pieces will fall into place and you'll be enjoying your new posting in no time!
When I contacted both my university and state education department regarding my situation, both knew exactly what I needed. Taking care of it was simple and straight forward if a bit time consuming and heavy duty bureaucratic. I basically had to (for example) get my teaching license certified as legit at the state level, then the federal level (one of the authentications came from the office of Condaleeza Rice!), then send it to the Vietnamese embassy in the US for approval--this process had to happen with my uni diploma, teaching cert, and police record (or lack thereof).
Sounds like Dubai might be similar--I entered Vietnam on a "business" visa and then when I was there the school used all the above mentioned documents to get me a work permit.
An interesting (or maybe not) side note to the whole Vietnam (and probably other countries) work permit issue is that while I was told all of this upfront about having to get all the paperwork certified, verified, notarized, and apostilized, etc., not so long ago at my school the teachers (and admin, apparently) were all on business visas, which are good for 6 months and easy to get--teachers obtained them through legitimate means before arriving in Vietnam, but anybody can get one "downtown" for not a whole lot of money. However, there was apparently a crackdown, and teachers here had to go through the "after the fact" torture of having to get all their documents authenticated and obtain work permits: again, straightforward enough, but time consuming--people had to park it in their home country (actually, I think only US citizens, as other country nationals could use their embassy/consulate to get it done: lingering issues from the American War as they call it here) and the extended stay needed to get it all done wasn't necessarily on everybody's agenda for the summer holiday.
So, good luck with it all and as probably happens close to 99% of the time, all the pieces will fall into place and you'll be enjoying your new posting in no time!