As the tittle suggests, life in Dubai was turning out to be full of surprises.
I had joined college and was working too. I had thought to myself and repeated the sentence "this is how its going to be for the next two years", in my head countless times. Little did i know that tons of surprises were waiting to pound on me like a bunch of salespersons in a departmental store.
It was after two months of rigorous work and those long trips to college, that i found out that i was still on a visit visa!. The company for some reason had completely ignored the task of issuing me a work visa. The reason was unknown for a while after which i decided to investigate on the matter. I did a little asking around and this is the answer a fellow employee gave me;
"As per the UAE law, every private sector company needs to renew its own business licence. Only once this has been done, can they apply for new visas for any new employee that they happen to recruit."
This short story sounded like Greek and Latin to me for a while and i wondered why this guy told me about the UAE law when my question to him was so simple. It was after a little brainstorming session with myself that i realised the real meaning of that sentence. It meant that the company i was working for had not got its own licence renewed and thats why the delay in getting my visa. That made a lot of sense!
The worry now was, how was i supposed to communicate to my company that they needed to get their licence renewed like immediately coz without that my visa was in jeopardy. I decided to mail my boss asking him for an explanation to why my visa had not yet been issued inspite of me working like a good boy for over two months now.
I drafted the mail and kept hesistating to press the send button as i kept contemplating if it was the right thing to do. I mean how many times have you sent a mail directly to the boss of the company that too asking for an explanation?!. These thoughts kept crossing my mind while i decided to push the button.
The boss was rather quick and calm in his response. He actually took the pains of explaining the situation whilst also assuring me that things would be taken care of. The last line in the mail though was like a pinch. It said, "you concentrate on your work and let the company take care of issues like these". Impressive i thought. The boss knew how exactly he was to convey a message. Shot and sweet yet that pinch of spice.
Before i knew it, i was on the verge of having to return back to India as my visit visa would expire in the next few days.
Things suddenly became frantic in my world. Mails turned to phone calls which were made to every possible head in the company begging them to do something and save my puny ass from going back to India. The idea here was not that I hated going back, the fact rather, was that if i went back, i was doubtful of coming back to the UAE.
Again like a tooth fairy, my boss assusred me that everything would be taken care of and that the company visa renewal was taking longer than usuall and that my visa processing was the next thing on his to-do list after the company issue was resolved. He asked me to go back carefree and enjoy my "break" and that he would have somebody intimate to me once the visa was processed.
Next thing i knew, i was on a plane back to India. The memories of Dubai, the work life, the college..Thoughts suddenly broke when the word college struck...I had forgotten about what would happen to the degree course that i had enrolled for. What would happen to the subjects that i would miss, would my admission to the course be cancelled, will i ever be able to get an MBA?. It was like a sudden panic attack.
These thoughts faded away as I went into a deep slumber. The next thing i heard was the airhostess telling me to put my seat back in the upright position as we were preparing to make the landing.
The strange thing here was that the worries and memories of Dubai and the life that was, suddenly got replaced with excitement and emotions of making it back to my home country. I rushed through the entire immigration and security and before i realised, i was standing at the exit of the Bangalore International Airport Terminal giving a high-five to myself!.
It was five in the morning local time. I quickly signalled a taxi, gave him the address, starpped my self in and began planning out on what i would do in the days to come before i would have to go back on a company work visa.
There were a few things that i analysed on my way back to my room; 1. How long will i be here for? 2. Will i go back? 3. What will i do here?.
Whatever the state, i was going to enjoy every bit of it. All that i said to my self was...WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE!
I had joined college and was working too. I had thought to myself and repeated the sentence "this is how its going to be for the next two years", in my head countless times. Little did i know that tons of surprises were waiting to pound on me like a bunch of salespersons in a departmental store.
It was after two months of rigorous work and those long trips to college, that i found out that i was still on a visit visa!. The company for some reason had completely ignored the task of issuing me a work visa. The reason was unknown for a while after which i decided to investigate on the matter. I did a little asking around and this is the answer a fellow employee gave me;
"As per the UAE law, every private sector company needs to renew its own business licence. Only once this has been done, can they apply for new visas for any new employee that they happen to recruit."
This short story sounded like Greek and Latin to me for a while and i wondered why this guy told me about the UAE law when my question to him was so simple. It was after a little brainstorming session with myself that i realised the real meaning of that sentence. It meant that the company i was working for had not got its own licence renewed and thats why the delay in getting my visa. That made a lot of sense!
The worry now was, how was i supposed to communicate to my company that they needed to get their licence renewed like immediately coz without that my visa was in jeopardy. I decided to mail my boss asking him for an explanation to why my visa had not yet been issued inspite of me working like a good boy for over two months now.
I drafted the mail and kept hesistating to press the send button as i kept contemplating if it was the right thing to do. I mean how many times have you sent a mail directly to the boss of the company that too asking for an explanation?!. These thoughts kept crossing my mind while i decided to push the button.
The boss was rather quick and calm in his response. He actually took the pains of explaining the situation whilst also assuring me that things would be taken care of. The last line in the mail though was like a pinch. It said, "you concentrate on your work and let the company take care of issues like these". Impressive i thought. The boss knew how exactly he was to convey a message. Shot and sweet yet that pinch of spice.
Before i knew it, i was on the verge of having to return back to India as my visit visa would expire in the next few days.
Things suddenly became frantic in my world. Mails turned to phone calls which were made to every possible head in the company begging them to do something and save my puny ass from going back to India. The idea here was not that I hated going back, the fact rather, was that if i went back, i was doubtful of coming back to the UAE.
Again like a tooth fairy, my boss assusred me that everything would be taken care of and that the company visa renewal was taking longer than usuall and that my visa processing was the next thing on his to-do list after the company issue was resolved. He asked me to go back carefree and enjoy my "break" and that he would have somebody intimate to me once the visa was processed.
Next thing i knew, i was on a plane back to India. The memories of Dubai, the work life, the college..Thoughts suddenly broke when the word college struck...I had forgotten about what would happen to the degree course that i had enrolled for. What would happen to the subjects that i would miss, would my admission to the course be cancelled, will i ever be able to get an MBA?. It was like a sudden panic attack.
These thoughts faded away as I went into a deep slumber. The next thing i heard was the airhostess telling me to put my seat back in the upright position as we were preparing to make the landing.
The strange thing here was that the worries and memories of Dubai and the life that was, suddenly got replaced with excitement and emotions of making it back to my home country. I rushed through the entire immigration and security and before i realised, i was standing at the exit of the Bangalore International Airport Terminal giving a high-five to myself!.
It was five in the morning local time. I quickly signalled a taxi, gave him the address, starpped my self in and began planning out on what i would do in the days to come before i would have to go back on a company work visa.
There were a few things that i analysed on my way back to my room; 1. How long will i be here for? 2. Will i go back? 3. What will i do here?.
Whatever the state, i was going to enjoy every bit of it. All that i said to my self was...WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE!
