Gulf News, May 26, 2013
Illegal Dubai residents to pay overstay fines monthly
Maysara system will help illegal residents to settle outstanding fines in
instalments
By Bassma Al Jandaly, Senior
Reporter
Published: 21:30 May 25, 2013
Dubai: Illegal residents who cannot pay their overstaying fines are being
urged by authorities to take part in a system that allows them to pay their
fines in monthly instalments.
Residency prosecution officials with the General Directorate for Residency
and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFA) started Maysara programme in 2011 to
allow those found guilty by the Residency Court of Misdemeanours to pay
fines in instalments.
Maysara, an Arabic word which means making things easier, allows illegals
who are penalised by the Residency Court of Misdemeanours to make payments
on their fines within up to two years.
“Maysara has come to make the life of those, convicted by the court and
fined, easier. Hundreds of the requests of convicts to install their fines
have been approved by the court in the past two years. Their total sum of
fines reached several millions of dirhams,” a senior official from the
General Directorate for Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFA)
told Gulf News.
“Convicts, who are fined more than Dh50,000 by the Residency Court of
Misdemeanours can pay their fines through Maysara system,” the official
said.
He said convicted persons who received hefty fines for violating the
residency law by hiring illegal workers or absconded can make use of this
service.
The official said Maysara was introduced to make the process of collecting
the fines easier, especially convicts who cannot afford paying their fines
in full amounts.
The official said that Maysara also helped in reducing the number of
detainees who are fined by to remain in custody until the pay the fines in
full.
“For convicts to benefit from Maysara, they themselves, their relatives,
well-wishers, or legal representatives can lodge a request at Dubai Public
Prosection website to have their fines installed.”
It is required to pay part of the fine as decided by the Residency Public
Prosecution.
“The request will be approved by the head of Residency Prosecution or the
Attorney General or his representative. The conditions for a convict to
benefit from Maysara are that the ruling should be irrevocable and that the
convict is financially incapable of paying the fine in full.
“The convict will be asked to sign an undertaking to commit to the
instalments. The convicts should also make available a guarantor who will
commit to paying the fines in case the convict failed to do so.”
The official said any application submitted to make use of Maysara must be
written in Arabic.
“Applications written in any other language rather than Arabic will be
rejected,” the official said.