Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Renewing your Emirates ID card.


 A useless piece of plastic so far but a big full page advertisement in the paper announcing fees for late renewal prompted me to begin the process. My card expired last month and with the proposed 20aed per day fees (to max 1,000) it made me think twice. Now the date from which they will begin charging varies depending on the Emirate and Abu Dhabi is down quite late on that list, however, there are some conflicting bits of information about that on the page where it suggests that charges can be calculated from November 1, although they will only be applied (asked for?)  in April 2012. Better be safe than sorry.
Turns out the process is quite easy and relatively quick. But of course there is a hook.  You need your old card, and your passport with your new visa. It is 100aed per year of visa, so if you have a  3 year visa it will be 300aed. Says in the paper that the maximum fee that typing centres can charge is 30aed. So I walked in to my local typing centre with 330aed.  Actually there is a set of 5 typing centres side by side and they fought over my business, but I semi-randomly walked into the middle one which had been the first to beckon me as I wandered nearby.  I confirmed that they could do the ID cards and was ushered to a seat. There I sat for about 10 minutes. The clerk flipped back and forth through the pages of my passport and meticulously copied details from my card. Then to my surprise he stuck a hole punch through the card in two places, destroying the embedded chip. Kind of sad really since it was a virgin chip, and will now never know the joy of electronic connectivity ;-)
He then went over the details he had typed in and together we checked number for number all the digits and words.  Finally he printed out a receipt and submission confirmation form and charged me 370aed. Hold on, where did the extra 40aed come from. Govt charges he said. But, but, but. No, no buts. Just pay up. Back home I called the number on the newspaper article which said to call if you got charged more than 30aed. Yes that’s right 70aed, 40 for the typing and 30 for delivery. Hang on, it says 30 for typing in the paper, nothing about delivery and anyway I have to pick it up from the post office. It’s not being delivered at all. No, no, the 30aed rate is the new rate that comes into effect later. It hasn’t been finalised yet. Then why is it published in the paper? Anyway it says on my receipt 30 for typing, why are you, the official agency telling different figures? …
We all know the answer to that, because nothing is actually ever straightforward. There always has to be thorn on the bush.
BTW, the paper advises strongly that you do not leave your passport with the typing centre, so if they can’t do it straight away, walk out and go to another one that will.

To what Degree are you qualified?


There is a curious thing going on in the academic world. It could spread like a cancer into other realms. It is called ‘equivalency’. There seems to be a problem with the credibility of some peoples’ academic records and doubt about the validity of some degrees. Therefore degrees which have been through onerous attestation procedures are now being called in for scrutiny by the Ministry of Higher Education where they are judged as to whether they are equivalent to UAE standards. This may seem like a joke but it has deadly serious consequences. The idea that we verify that the degree is a real degree and actually worth the paper it is written on is of course a good idea. Attestation, after all, only says that the copy is a real copy of the original document, it doesn’t actually validate the document at all.
The problem here is the process of determining the equivalency has been extended to a ludicrous extent. Not only does the original certificate and an attested degree have to be supplied, but also the transcript of that degree (also attested) and all the preceding certificates right down to, get this, your high school cert. Yes, you need to find your original high school leaving certificate,  and submit it together with your other degrees all the way up to your PhD! But wait there is more, you need passport copies of entry and exit stamps showing you were in said country when you did the study, and you need copies of your Abstract, and CV. Woe betide you if you did a degree in a different language because you will need the transcript and degree translated into English or Arabic. There are a set of countries that are privileged to be exempt from a further requirement to have a letter from the embassy to verify the interaction between you and the universities issuing your degrees, and asserting that the institutions are credible. Of course you pay for all of this and if you don’t have all the documents you will be refused equivalency, which could cost you your job! So far everyone I know that has visited the Ministry to seek clarification has come back with a slightly different story… That doesn't bode well.
Unfortunately there are more issues, according to the Ministry, online and distance and even part time courses may not be recognised here in the UAE for equivalency, so your highest degree may no longer be accepted by your institution which could have ramifications for your salary!  If you are one of many who are studying for a PhD while working here in the UAE, the chances are it is with a university that is based overseas. Better check carefully because that may well mean that the course of study is not recognized for equivalency by the Ministry unless you spend a certain number of hours physically in the country of the host university engaged in running the courses! 
Now so far, I only see this happening in certain academic institutions, but it could easily become a more widespread requirement just as the farce of attestation has.
You can find details of the procedures for ‘equivalency’ here and the main website is https://www.mohesr.gov.ae/en/  The details and requirements are spread over a number of areas in the site and are typically inscrutable.  Good luck. My journey down this tortuous path has not yet begun as in an act of pure bureaucratic brilliance, my HR department has lost all my attested documents so I have to go right back to the beginning. It will be a while before I finally get myself to the stage of being able to even consider the Ministry, however, I'm not sure there is much point since there is no way I can find my high school certificates from a few decades back into last century... and I'm sorry guy but I just don't have my old passports either.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Bus Routes in Abu Dhabi

Just found this useful interactive showing the local and regional bus routes in Abu Dhabi. You can download a PDF version as well.
New maps at http://www.dot.abudhabi.ae/en/info/Bus_Maps (Sept 2013)