An urgent question for the Legal Clinic. I have been working for a contracting company for the past 5 years and my residence is due to expire in some days. I have come to know that due to some internal problems the company is getting a temporary residence of 3 months (Article 14, I guess) for the employees and then later getting a permanent residence for them.

My doubt here is that I have a son as a dependent on my sponsorship, holding a valid residence till March 2017.

As schools have shut down, will it be a problem for him to travel out and back into the country accompanied by his mother (she is on a work visa).

Name withheld Answer: You could face problems once your residence expires because the duration of the dependents residence these days is linked to the residence of the sponsor i.e. the parent.

You were lucky to have done your dependents residence before the linking of the decision to link the residence of the dependents with that of the sponsor was implemented at the start of the year.

Although your son’s residence is valid until next year, the Immigration Department could easily cancel that residence once your’s expires and at the same time sanction a temporary residence for your son if you so request.

There are two things you could do to get out of this situation.

The first is to ensure that your son doesn’t travel out of the country so he doesn’t run into problems.

The second, although a little difficult, would be to apply to the Director of the Immigration Department of your area to transfer your son’s residence to your wife’s sponsorship on a temporary basis until your residence issues are settled.

If the regional director rejects your request, you can approach the Director General of Immigration – who sits in the Directorate General of Immigration in Dajeej.

Both the above officials have the authority to sanction your request. If your request is accepted, then your son would not have any problems in travelling in and out of the country.

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