UAE citizenship for expats: Residents will rethink immigration

Residents looking to migrate to destinations like Canada and Australia will now rethink following the UAE’s citizenship law, immigration consultancies said.

Abbas Mosvi, senior immigration consultant, Stratix Consultants, felt the new law was a “huge opportunity” for the select categories of eligible people, who otherwise would have opted for migration visas and resettlement to countries like Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

“People who are matching the criteria being asked for, they will just jump for this. This is a huge opportunity,” Mosvi said.

“There are a lot of people working here in the UAE, who apply for Canada or Australia immigration visas. When we first meet those people, their first concern is that they don’t wish to leave the UAE. They are very happy here. The only reason they are looking for immigration visas is because they fear losing their jobs here. In that case, they will have to eventually leave. But if there is an option like this (Emirati citizenship), then they will never plan about immigrating to any other country because they will then be happy and secured here,” Mosvi added.

Nirbhay Kataria, founder and CEO, Giant Migration, said the UAE citizenship is an additional option for residents.

“This is something favourable to all immigrants. This is an additional support. This is an additional product for us to sell and provide the services to people regarding this particular product. At the end of the day, we maintain the UAE is a great place to live and work in,” Kataria said.

Giant Migration provides services for skilled immigration, student visas, investor visa for Australia, Canada and New Zealand and citizenship by investment for all Caribbean countries. “This (UAE citizenship) is not something, which is making us worried. This is not something that is against us,” Kataria added.