Kerala first Indian state to set up mechanism to issue ‘good conduct certificate’ for UAE visa
- Applicants to pay Rs1,000 fee for certificate from district police chiefs
Abu Dhabi: The southern state of Kerala has become the first Indian state to put in place a mechanism to issue ‘good conduct certificate’ mandated by the UAE for issuing a work visa to job aspirants.
Job seekers from the state can get a ‘police clearance certificate’ from district police chiefs and submit it in the UAE for a work visa, a senior UAE official told Gulf News on Tuesday.
“We received official letters today [Tuesday] from the [Kerala] government and [Kerala] Police headquarters [in this regard],” Jamal Hussain Al Za’abi, Consul General at the UAE Consulate General in Thiruvananthapuram, said on phone.
He said the letters said the ‘police clearance certificate’ [for the purpose of ‘good conduct certificate’ in the UAE] would be issued by district police chiefs in an expeditious procedure.
Al Za’abi said four other south Indian state governments are also expected to follow the same procedure. “This is my understanding … from my informal interactions with the officials of the other states. However, we have to wait for official announcements from them,” he said.
The Consulate General in Thiruvananthapuram covers five south Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the UAE’s top diplomat in India confirmed that the police clearance certificate would meet the requirement for a UAE visa.
“Prospective job seekers from countries such as India, where there is no existing procedure to obtain a federal good conduct certificate, can get the nearest equivalent document,” Dr Ahmad Al Banna, the UAE Ambassador to India, told Gulf News in New Delhi on Tuesday.
“For UAE job seekers from India, you can obtain the police clearance certificate — it would be similar to a good conduct certificate required to get a job in the UAE,” he said in New Delhi.
The office of the Director General of Police (DGP) of Kerala confirmed to Gulf News on Tuesday that a directive in this regard was issued to all district police chiefs in the state on February 1. The system is in place and people can start submitting their applications now, he said.
“The job seekers can submit their applications at the office of the district police chief [Superintendent of Police (SP) in rural districts and City Police Commissioner in the cities], along with Rs1,000 [Dh57] fee,” the official said. The same office will issue the certificates after due inquiries about the applicant.
He said applicants with a clean record could get the certificate within a few days. “This won’t be a problem for a person who is not involved in a criminal case. If the database of the district police chief does not show any criminal case against the applicant, the certificate will be issued without any delay. However, if there is any criminal record, the matter will be referred to the special branch [the intelligence wing of the state police] and respective police stations, which have to give the clearance in this regard. This may take a few days more,” the official explained.
He said the state police would make an official announcement in this regard on Wednesday.
The UAE rule on good conduct certificate came into force on February 4.
