No Objections!
You’re queuing in the airport for a couple of hours. On your right is, as usual, a horde of Japanese tourists taking photos of everything as though they just unraveled an entirely new species of human beings and lost civilizations. A woman, two people ahead of you, is holding a wailing baby you’re praying not to end up together.
It’s your turn now. You hand over your ticket and your passport, proudly saying you don’t need a visa to the country you’re visiting. They reconfirm this on their system and check your passport information. Then they throw you off guard and ask “can you hand over the No Objection letter please?”
The WHAT now?!
That’s exactly what happened to my sister.
She was travelling today to see her friend in another country and they were looking forward to it and planning it for a long while now. But they overlooked a small little thing – they had to get that letter.
If you’re in Dubai you probably are nauseating at this moment. See, basically, when you arrive to this place to live the “Dubai Dream” you sign up for indirect (and often, direct) ways of slavery. The cursed letter is, basically, a green light from your company/sponsor to do what you ought to be doing without and restraints. I am sure it is present in other countries, but seriously come on now!
A couple of years ago when I bought my car, the salesman at the showroom asked me for the letter. Yes. I had to get my sponsor’s approval to buy a car.
In fact you need this damned letter for almost everything, and what’s worse is that the sponsor has the right not to grant it. When I asked for it to get the car, they initially refused, until I talked to my super boss who gave them an earful till they blessed me with Right of Purchase.
So yeah, my sis is on her way back home right now. I dare not imagine the scene at the airport. Oh the blood!
Moral of the story, if you’re a resident here, make sure you have the goddamn letter with you, even if you had to go take a shit. And pray real hard no one you know dies abroad on a weekend.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
