The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai on Friday announced that it will be closed on Sunday, September 15, on the birthday of Prophet Muhammad.
GDRFA urged those wishing to regularise their status or exiting the country to take advantage of the available period before the deadline.
The authority said that services will resume after the official holiday on Monday, September 16, at the Status Regularisation Centre in Al Awir, from 8am to 8pm throughout the week, except on Fridays from 8am to 12pm and from 4pm to 8pm, and at 86 Amer Centres in Dubai according to their working hours.
A call centre representative for Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) also confirmed to Khaleej Times that ICP centres will remain closed on Sunday. Service centres are usually closed on the weekends (Saturday and Sunday) and operate from Monday to Friday with extended hours from 7am to 10pm, where biometric fingerprinting will be recorded.
The UAE visa amnesty scheme began on September 1 and thousands of illegal expats have either regularised their status or exited the country.
Day one of the two-month scheme saw jobs being offered on the spot to skilled expats, fines worth thousands of dirhams waived and families getting identities after living without documents for years.