Coronavirus: UAE resident who returned urges others to not lose faith

Linda Middleton-Jennings, 35, did not give up when her applications to return from the UK with her young son were repeatedly rejected after borders closed in March

Nearly 400,000 Indians have left the UAE for India since repatriation flights started in May. AFP

An immigration official checks documents of passenger at Dubai Airport. Wam

Passengers at Dubai International Airport wait for their flight to Calicut in Kerala. Courtesy: Indian Consulate

An Indian woman carries a child as she waits at the Dubai International Airport before leaving the country on a flight home on May 7. Karim Sahib / AFP

Health workers check passengers who arrived on an Emirates Airlines flight from London at Dubai International Airport amid the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. AFP

Health workers check passengers who arrived on an Emirates Airlines flight from London at Dubai International Airport amid the coronavirus pandemic. AFP

Passengers of an Emirates airlines flight, departing to the Australian city of Sydney, wear protective gear at Dubai International Airport on May 22. Karim Sahib / AFP

Passengers of an Emirates airlines flight line up to be checked by health workers at the Dubai International Airport. Karim Sahib / AFP

Travellers walk through Dubai International Airport to board a repatriation flight. Karim Sahib / AFP

A passenger of an Emirates airlines flight checks in at Dubai International Airport. Karim Sahib / AFP

A woman who returned to the UAE after being stuck abroad for three months has urged others still in that position not lose faith.

Linda Middleton-Jennings, 35, said she experienced some “very difficult days” and had all but lost hope when her approval came through last Thursday.

She left Aberdeenshire, where she had been since March, on the first available flight to London and finally arrived back in Dubai in the early hours of Sunday.

In total, she applied to return seven times and received repeated rejections.

“Last Thursday, I had just been saying how hopeless it seemed and then received the two approval emails (for herself and son) and 12 hours later we were on our way home,” she said.

Ms Middleton-Jennings, who is from Scotland and has lived in Dubai for eight years, was one of thousands of people who became stuck outside the country in March.

Faced with climbing Covid-19 cases in the country, and the risk of importing thousands more, the UAE took the unprecedented step of closing its borders to stem the spread of the virus.

Last week, the UAE launched an initiative to bring back the 200,000 residents stuck abroad.  To obtain approval to return to the Emirates, valid residence visa holders must apply via the website smartservices.ica.gov.ae. Applicants can book their flight tickets after receiving approval from authorities.

Ms Middleton-Jennings had travelled back with her son, Lochlan, who will be nine months on June 12, to attend her uncle’s funeral. She was supposed to be there less than a week.

“I applied five times with the ICA system, twice with the ministry system,” said the business support manager, who works for an international law firm. She was still on maternity leave when she left for her trip.

“We emailed every government entity address we could find. Steve, my husband, drive to ICA and MoFAIC head offices in Abu Dhabi and was turned away from both.

“We called the helpline almost daily. I don’t want to patronise anyone still waiting but I think you can only keep applying.”

She was on all of the groups for residents stuck abroad, so returning was as she expected.

“At the gate I only saw around 10 other passengers. A man tried to board and was refused, he said he was transiting through Dubai but had booked on his phone and didn’t have a boarding pass.

“He was told he didn’t have clearance to travel and his bags had to be offloaded,” she said.

Once on board, she was handed a hygiene kit with two sets of gloves, two masks and lots of steriliser gel and wipes, as is standard on Emirates.

The crew, who were wearing full personal protection equipment, were very helpful with her son, who was not required to wear a mask, she said.

“I was worried the cabin crew wouldn’t be able to help with Lochlan while I folded the pushchair and so on, but they were just as helpful as normal, more so actually as they have so few passengers.”

After they landed, they were met by a team of eight ground crew staff, who were also wearing PPE. They asked whether she wanted to stay in a hotel or quarantine at home. She chose home, and was given a set of forms, including a medical questionnaire, home quarantine declaration and some information on the Al Hosn tracking app that she was asked to download.

An airport staff worker helped her with her suitcases and explained that she would have to speak to members of the police's criminal investigation department before she could go any further.

“When the first guy became available he asked if we were home quarantining, asked if Lochlan’s dad would be there. I said yes to both. He told me the app would track me and we must not leave our villa for 14 days or we would be fined Dh50,000.

“I said we wouldn’t. I asked what would happen if Lochlan needed medical help and he said I could go out for that purpose. He was very nice. The whole experience upon landing was very efficient. He asked if I wanted a car to take me home and said it would be free. I said Steve was collecting us.”

She was helped with her bags and taken to where her husband was waiting for them.

“It was so emotional seeing him. We left the airport around 1am and were in our villa by 1.30am. It’s amazing but surreal to be home exactly 12 weeks to the day since we left for what should have been less than a week.

“Lochlan was wearing the same tracksuit but two sizes bigger.”