You've finally managed to land a job, now you have to get your papers attested from various ministries back home. It's a laborious, time-consuming and a frustrating process if you decide to battle the bureaucratic red tape yourself. Help is at hand, but at a cost.
One-room offices have sprouted all over the emirates whose main function is to assist people to get their certificates endorsed. You find these services being offered at the most unlikely places, such as an Internet cafe.
With thousands of job-seekers in the market, this should be a lucrative business, but apparently the competition is keen. Even if the profit margins are small, you can be assured of excellent service and a motorcycle courier will pick up and deliver the documents at your home.
"Many come and go. They disappear," says S. Kanakam, administrative manager of the Index Group which offers this service. She was speaking about the short lifespan of these businesses.
This group has been in this business for seven years and probably the reason it has survived is because it has offices in Delhi and Mumbai. One has to be on-the-spot for the frequent changes in rules announced by the various ministries, she says with a laugh.
Many of the fly-by-night offices depend on agents in India and suddenly realise their operating cost has gone up because of an administrative change. For instance, the UAE mission in Delhi recently told the agents that SSLC (secondary school leaving certificate) will now only be attested at the mission in Mumbai.
How do these services companies know that the degrees and certificates are genuine?
"It's experience," says Kanakam. "We know the signatures of officials and the type of paper used." Still, some of the certificates sent by this agency have been rejected.
"We ask the people if the degree is genuine," she says. But most of the time the courier does not ask that question. Even if the degree is rejected, the service agencies bill for courier charges.
Apparently, neither the Indian ministries nor the Human Resources Department press charges against the perpetrator of the fraud who is trying to pass off a fake degree.
Raj Mohan, manager of Al Haya Guidance, in the busy Deira area of Dubai, notes that the certificates have to be endorsed by two Indian ministries: education and external affairs. And then they have to be attested by the UAE mission in Delhi or Mumbai.
If you are a teacher or have a job in a bank, Etisalat, or any UAE government department, your certificate has to be endorsed in Delhi and you will have to wait 20 days. If you are a private sector employee, then your certificate is endorsed in Mumbai and you get it back within seven days.
Mohan was holding three other calls while speaking to Gulf News. "It's a busy time," he said. He says it takes more time in Delhi, because the UAE mission allows submission of only two certificates from each agent.
Index handles 2,500 degrees and certificates a month. Mohan preferred not to divulge figures, but said there are various types of certificates. It also handles marriage certificates, which have to be notarised.
The main focus of these businesses are geared towards India. Some handle paperwork in the UK and the US. They charge Dh1,300 for degree endorsement in the US. For India it is Dh250. The attestation at the missions costs another Dh50.
Then there are video libraries which need the attestation of a notary in Mumbai when they record video tapes of Bollywood movies. The stamp paper for this costs a whopping Dh1,000.
The rules regarding minimum educational qualifications has opened up the Pakistan market for these service companies. There are others who offer services to even Nepal.
Gulf News
