Visa Run

So last night I had a new experience. I went on a visa run.

Originally, when we were planning our move here we talked with Jared's firm about providing me with a visa, and that was the plan when we got here (US citizens get an automatic 30 day visit visa upon arrival in the UAE). But when we got here and I was able to get a job so easily, we discussed the options and decided that it was a better idea for my visa sponsorship to be through my own job so that if (heaven forbid) something happened with Jared's job we wouldn't both lose our visas. So I talked to my boss and he's currently working on getting my visa paperwork in order, but, as with everything else bureaucratic here, it's taking a long time (plus my boss has had a recent death in the family and other issues with sickness in the office, so I'm sure my visa has taken a bit of a backseat to other more pressing daily issues). So to get to the point, my thirty days of visit visa status were about to end, today actually, (I had some extra time on visit visa status from when we went to Muscat in September) and something needed to be done.

If you overstay a visit visa you begin getting fined AED 100 (approximately $30 USD) a day. We obviously wanted to avoid this, so my boss suggested I do a 'visa run'. Apparently pretty much everyone who lives here has done one in order to accommodate the UAE immigration laws while their residency visa is pending. The actual act of a visa run is to leave the country (temporarily) so that you get a UAE exit stamp, and then to re-enter after visiting another country (for even as little as 15 minutes like I did).

I had been discussing this issue with my boss for the last week or so, knowing my visit visa was about to expire. So he began looking into options and last night at about 5:55pm he pulled me aside before my 6pm lesson was about to begin and told me he had booked me on a 10:25pm flight from Dubai to Muscat, Oman, which would arrive at 11:40pm (literally only 20 minutes in the air) and then on a return flight to Dubai at 1:10am, arriving in Dubai at 2:15am.

So he told me to teach my 6:00pm lesson and then that he'd cover my 7:00 one so that I could get home and to the airport (I needed to drive home, change my clothes, and take a taxi because I am not comfortable enough yet with the driving here to drive to the airport and Jared still doesn't have his license).

So, after my 6:00pm lesson I hustled home, Jared and I grabbed some quick Indian take-out from the Dubai Mall and I inhaled my food while waiting for a taxi. Going to the airport with literally just a small handbag with my wallet, keys, phone, book, and (most importantly) my passport, but no other luggage was the weirdest feeling in the world. Almost liberating to travel that lightly.

I checked in without a problem, breezed through customs (who don't ask any questions when you're leaving) and headed to my gate. When I got to the gate I realized just who it is that takes 10:25pm Tuesday night flights from Dubai to Muscat: Omani men. As I walked into the gate area every eye was on me as the only woman, and only westerner at the gate. Now, I have gotten used to stares from Middle Eastern men (not perverse stares either, just curiosity) at a blond western woman, but this was a little different. How weird to be the only woman on a flight, I thought, and doesn't that break the Sharia law about men and women being alone together? Well, the stares continued as I sat down and got settled. Since this happens so often I actually find it to be a fun game to stare right back at them into their eyes and kind of have a stare down. Undoubtedly they only last about 1 second with me staring them down before they turn away with an embarrassed look. Fortunately, I didn't have to find out what it's like to be the only woman on a flight because when we were boarding two other women appeared out of no where and boarded as well... Curiously, we were all seated in the same row.

The flight to Muscat was uneventful and I actually was fed. I couldn't believe I was given an actual meal on a flight that was shorter than my daily commute to work (which is about 30 minutes). It wasn't much, but I got a tuna sandwich, mango juice, water, and candy bar. Can't complain for a 20 minute flight, when I've been on 6 hour domestic flights in the US and been given nothing but a drink and maybe some stale pretzels (if I'm lucky).

When I arrived in Muscat I had to purchase a visit visa for 6 Omani Rials (or AED 60, or approximately $18 USD) and then go to customs. This customs official was chatty and wanted to know where I'd come from and my purpose in Oman. I replied, "Holiday. You have a beautiful country." I figured this was a safe answer given the fact that upon inspecting my passport he would see this was my third trip there. Then he asked me how long I was staying and I told him 1 day. "Beautiful country, eh?" He retorted at my only staying such a short time. I got a little nervous, but he stamped my passport and sent me on my way. I then immediately proceeded to the Oman Air ticket counter and checked in for my return flight and headed back through customs. This customs officer only asked if I was there on holiday and when I said yes, gave me an Oman exit stamp and sent me on my way.

My flight back to Dubai was equally uneventful and I was served that same tuna sandwich/candy bar/mango juice meal. I drank the juice, pocketed the candy bar, and decided there was no way I needed a second tuna sandwich that night at 1:30am. I was a little anxious to go through the Dubai customs because I knew it would be very obvious I had been on a visa run and had been rehearsing a speech in my head. I needn't have worried though, because the Dubai customs officer said nothing to me other than my name and stamped my passport with another thirty days visit visa from October 21st. I was legally back in the country.

I breathed as sigh of relief as I headed into Duty Free to buy a case of beer and bottle of liquor (Jared still doesn't have his liquor license here, another bureaucratic inconvenience, so we make a point of stocking up every time we're at the airport). I caught a taxi home and was snuggled into my bed by 3am, only 5 hours after my visa run began. Oh the joys of the bureaucracy in the UAE!