Amongst the very first few to receive amnesty was an Indian boy residing in Dubai who has got his visa renewed without having to pay any fine despite overstaying on the very first day of the UAE amnesty on Wednesday.

The boy’s father was totally unaware of this until when his uncle had mentioned to him about the amnesty some three days ago. Hitesh Rajwani, the boy’s father, tells Gulf News that, “I’ve been struggling to pay the fines and renew the visas of my wife and son, which had expired in October last year.”

The man and his family all hail from Madhya Pradesh. Due to various other personal reasons, he couldn’t renew their visas. He mentions, “I had to go to India frequently for treatment for my back pain and many expenses kept piling up.

He has managed to somehow pay the fine for his wife which was AED 5,000 and renew her visa as well as pay the room rent. However, he struggled hard to pay up the fine for his son who had been overstaying past his visa expiry date. He also adds that, “I had to pay another Dh1,240 fine each for both of them, for the delay in renewing their Emirates IDs.”

On Wednesday morning, he visited the Amnesty Centre in Al Aweer, and goes on to state, “When I came back and checked, the fine has disappeared from the system. It was a big relief when the staff at the counter told me there is zero fine now. I immediately asked him to process the visa renewal application.”

In a matter of minutes of having the application submitted, the father got a text and an email confirmation that stated the fines have been removed and the confirmation for the approval of his son’s visa renewal. He immediately proceeded to the GDRFA office on the Hyatt Regency premises and got the visa stamped on his son’s passport by 12:40 PM.

Rajwani has a lot of respect to this nation for their kind deed and good laws. His gratitude for the good deed had reached new levels and says that, “Dubai is home to me as I’m born and brought up here. My heartfelt thanks to the government for this great humanitarian support to people who wish to live and work here.”