ECR for Indian Maid....Help!!! | ExpatWoman.com
 

ECR for Indian Maid....Help!!!

4
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 February 2016 - 12:25

Sorry to create a new post, as this subject has been posted a few years ago albeit with no responses!

In a nutshell, we got our maid here on visit visa, converted to Resident visa bypassing the Indian Embassy (we're British, so the UAE immigration seemed quite flexible).

It's been almost a year now, so need to start thinking about taking her with us on our next vacation.....but with the damn ECR stamp in her passport just cant afford to risk having her stopped at Indian immigration not allowed to leave! She's not eligible for ECNR under any other criteria. Tearing our hair out trying to find answers.....Would appreciate insights from anyone in the know.

:confused:

4
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 04 September 2016 - 12:43
Hi all, thought I'd share a quick on update on this matter. So since my last post, as you would have it, the maid's estranged husband supposedly had an accident so we were asked by her family to send her home for a few days. Heart in our mouths we went ahead and sent her, and thankfully she came back 10 days later no issues with immigration or being homesick...yippee! Based on this, we were confident enough to take her with us for the summer holidays and guess what. Travelling back home with us, she gets held at immigration and DH gets questioned on what kind of visa she came in originally, given the lecture that lots of people are circumventing the Indian Government's rules on maids coming in on visit visas, maids are being exploited blah blah, being warned that the officer was well within her rights to offload the maid. I guess it was looking at our tiny 1 year old, she decided to let her board. So we live to tell the tale, but its now seriously given us the jitters. DH is on the verge of quitting his job, and this means cancelling all our visas and re-applying. Given our last experience, it seems it would make sense to do the whole Indian Embassy thing when applying for her fresh visa. But would we be able to do this when she is still in the country after cancellation? Would the Indian officials accuse us of bringing her in against proper procedure and give us grief. After a few months of being completely relaxed, its time to start tearing our hair out again! I know its a long shot, but anyone with any ideas on this one :(
33
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 February 2016 - 15:38
No worries. Its not as complicated as you think. Once you have the residence visa on the passport, everything is OK. We have been through the same issue. unfortunately there is no defined process, but trust me, this is not an issue to break your head with.
4
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 February 2016 - 15:23
Thanks for your reply. It's pretty much what I was told by a Travel Agent, but guess you cant afford to take any risks especially with a happy and well settled maid who our kids also like....our previous one lasted a whole month and completely put us off wanting to have a maid for almost 5 years!
33
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 February 2016 - 13:24
If she has a UAE resident visa stamped on her passport, ECR stamp is not required. She can just show the visa and cross immigration. ECR stamp is only required for first timers who cross immigration.
 
 

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