Sponsoring teenagers

Sponsoring teenagers
By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter GULF NEWS

Dubai: The residency laws of the UAE allows expatriate parents to sponsor their sons as long as they are less than 18 years old.

The laws are different for a daughter and the parents can sponsor her beyond 18 years of age. The parents can sponsor her if she is a divorcee or if she becomes a widow. Her residency visa will be valid for three years.

The situation is different if it is a son and if he reaches 18, the parents cannot sponsor him anymore.

The residency laws give the parents only one option in order to keep their 18-year-old son with them here.

According to the law the parents of the teenager can keep him here if he is studying at a local educational institution, a university or a college in the UAE.

The teenager can be sponsored either by the educational institution or by either one of the parents after submitting a document at the residency department that he is continuing his studies here in the UAE.

A deposit of Dh5,000 must be made at the naturalisation and residency department if he is studying in the UAE at an educational institution which is not an accredited institution or one which is not approved by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. There is no need for a deposit if the educational institution or the university where the son is studying is an accredited one.

Similarly, if the sponsored son who is less than 18 and is studying abroad, the parents must deposit Dh5,000, which is refundable, to retain the residency visa.

The residency visa for the 18-year-old son is valid only for one year and should be renewed every year. In order to obtain a residency visa the son should submit to the residency department a letter from the educational institution which states that he is studying there.