Travel to Rameswaram

Rameswaram, The word is derived from Eswar installed by SriRama, hence its Rameswaram. A small island with many surprises and myths. Sometime its hard to believe but on the other hand you tend to believe. I took a train from Chennai(Tambaram) to rameswaram, its approximately 16-18 hrs journey. The island is connected through Train, Road and Sea. If you are travelling by train or bus one can have a excellent view of the PAMBAN bridge which connects the Mandabam and the Island. Its a view to watch. one side of the train you will see PALK Bay and on the other side you will see Gulf of Mannar. Truely a engineering masterpiece. Once you are in the island you can settle down in any Dharamsala(hotel for charity) or in some good hotels. Its not very expensive. For Pilgrimage- Devotees are escorted by local priest and thier apprentice to various theerthams(ponds/well) for taking holy dip. First i started with Lakshmana Theertham and then to ram theertham and then to agni theertham... after this three dips you have to enter the temple(ramanathaswamy), inside the temple you have 22 Theerthams for different purposes.. It cost 17rupees per person. A guy will take you to the well , fetch the holy water from the well and pour on your head. So that makes it 25 baths. After taking bath one cannot enter the temple with wet cloths hence go back to hotel, dres yourself and visit the temple. Now coming on inside the temple. The idol is of Lord Shiva, as per ramayana, SriSita devi herself installed the lingam made out of sand for Srirama to worship Lord Shiva to get rid of Brahamahati Dosham coz of killing ravana . and you have two more idols which was bought by Sri Hanuman from Lord shiva himself from kailasa... so as per the records one should see the Lingam installed by Hanuman first and then that of Sri Sita.

Next i will come to Tirupullani, a temple where dasharata worshipped lord vishu for having childrens.. Hence four vedas are born to the king as Four sons. Thats the place where Srirama did penace to Samudraraja(sea god) to give him way to construct the bridge.

Then is the place called Devipeetam, Thats a place which will make you think again and again. The story goes: Srirama wanted to install navagraha(nine Planets) to worship -made of sand, lord comes and tell him that nine planet will come on thier own(SWAYAMBU). One can see nine stone 50 meters from the shore. As Srirama was worshipping there Samudraraja was instructed not to disturb srirama, hence anyone who visits that place can see that there is no tide/waves in the shore. Its a sea and one cant see any land from that shore... How come its against the nature.?

Then there is a place called Danushkoti.. Its a tip of rameswaram, it would be around 30 kms away... only 4 wheel drive can take you inside the sand and to the tip of the place. You can see ruins of 1964 cyclon which stuck the town and from there one can see two oceans joining at one end... people say that from there srilanka is only 14kms.You will get jeeps and will cost you only 700 rupees per jeep which can accomodate 5 + 1

Then coming back you will be seeing KOTHANDA RAMAR temple. thats the place where Vibhishana(ravana’s Brother) was crowned as King of srilanka by Srirama.

There is one more place called Sethukarai. Thats the place where the bridge was constructed to srilanka by Srirama and his army. People say bridge is visible if one takes a boat 1 km from the shore inside the sea. Overall, i would say great place to visit.

Attestation Procedures & Documentations

Once you have secured employment offer, the next step is to Attest all the Degree Certificates in your home country before visa is being applied and the procedure as follows-



1) Attestation of Degree Certificate- one must attest the his/her degree certificate in the state which has issued the same. E.g: Anna University Degree must be attested in Tamil Nadu and in Chennai and regional authentication centers have been assigned by ministry of HRD for the same.

a) Original Degree & a copy

b) Copy of Offer letter

c) Copy of Passport

d) Form (given in the counter) & One rupees court stamp



The documents can be submitted in the morning from 10 AM onwards till 1PM and once submitted candidate has to wait the response from centers. normally one must go and check the register after 1-2 weeks of submission.

The certificates are sent to university and upon verification, the same shall be send back to HRD ministry. Once HRD ministry receives the certificate they will put a stamp on backside of the degree. (Do remember to remove the lamination from backside before submission, if you allow them to do, it might get damaged)

2) once the degree certificate are attested in HRD, the next step would be to attest it in Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, this is just 3-4 hours job, and anyone can submit on-behalf of the candidate and no ID proof is required and also there are no charges.
But currently the rules have changed and you can get the MEA attestation in Regional centers like Chennai, where its in "Minisry of External Affairs in the 7th Floor of DPI building in Nungumbakkam "

3) Upon these two attestation, the final attestation must happen in UAE consulate in New Delhi, where you need to employ a agent, the charges for agents varies from 500-800 per certificate, however UAE consulate charges separately 1500 for normal process which takes 3-4 working days and 2200 for express, which is one day.

4) With all these attestation, back side of your degree is full, but don't bother. You need to send this attested certificates to your employer with which he will apply your work visa.

5) Normally in Dubai Free Zone, the work visa is done within 7 days, and in some cases more, if it is outside free zone

6) Actually to get your desired designation in your work visa, the certificate needs to attested again with UAE foreign Affairs in UAE, otherwise whatever visa quote they have, they will get you on that visa, like Data Entry Operator for a Manager

7) UAE visa does not require stamping on the passport while in India or before starting from India, Immigration will send a Visa in A4 paper with all the details mentioned, Your sponsor will scan/fax a copy to you, which is enough to get the tickets. You need to inform your sponsor when you are arriving in UAE, as he would need to submit the original visa he has in the airport.

8) Once landed in the airport, look for Visa collection section. Go there and handover the copy which you received from sponsor, and the officials will get you the original, which is required to cross the immigration.
(some visa does not require and works through bar code, typically with hotel sponsored visas)

9) Once you collect the original (pink color), look for IRIS scan counters, basically they scan your eyes if you are first time visitors to the country, post scanning they will stamp on your visa which you need to take to the immigration counter

10) You need to go to immigration counters, there are plenty of them in Dubai with queues, upon reaching the immigration desk, the immigration officers will check your visa and passport and will put an entry stamp on the passport, then you are done and then-
WELCOME TO UAE.

Employment - First Step

As far as employment is concerned UAE, offers employment opportunities in many field like Construction, Trading, Banking & Finance, Information Technology & Many Service Sectors.

There are popular websites like Naukri Gulf (http://www.naukrigulf.com/) & BAYT (Popular Middle East Job Site http://www.bayt.com/) where one can post their resume and look for prospective employment.
Apart from job sites there are many agents in India who organize employment in this region this is particularly in Semi Skilled Work areas. However one must be very carefull as they will find many fraudulent agents, and fly by night operators. I have seen many cases of cheating not only happens to Asians But also with Europeans.

Once you get a prospective match for employment, there would be rounds of interviews, telephonic & personal to assess and hand over the job offers. Candidates must go through the offers carefully before accepting the same. One must also look at the benefits which are being offered and compare it with offers in home country. Nowadays many Indian companies in India are offering equivalent packages as offered in Gulf, however one plus point is that here there is no such thing called as Income Tax. So you keep whatever you earn.
Normaly offer letter will contain salary, and break up of the same, House Rent is Some cases, Benefits like Air Fare, Medical/ Insurance & Transporation. For familied some employers also offer relocation benefits apart from paying school fees for children, but these are offered by very few companies.
Once you accept the offer, the company which is also known as sponsor should apply for your visa, which would be employment visa, in some cases sponsor bring the candidates on visit visa which would be changed to employment later, however its best advised to arrive here on the employment permit as it would required for everything like opening bank account, renting house, getting your license etc
My next blog will cover about the documents requirements for employment and attestation procedures.

General Information About UAE

Dear Friends,

As you might be aware that UAE stands for United Arab Emirates consisting 7 Emirates which includes Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, Umm Al Qwain & Ras Al Khaimah.
Mostly people are aware about Dubai, as its one of busiest international hub and transit point for Europe & Asia.

In the coming section i shall be covering mostly information related to Dubai, Sharjah & Abu Dhabi and i shall cover rest of the emirates in the separately.

In the last 25 years Dubai has seen exponential growth in terms of economy, shopping, tourism & financial market. The real estate boom which started around 90s has given raise to many tall buildings and notably the tallest building in the world, BURJ DUBAI, which is around 160 floors and yet to inaugurated.
UAE comprises of over 80% of expats working in this region from all over the world, however mostly you would see people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, UK, US & from other countries in Middle East like Lebanon, Iran etc.
Like all other middle east countries UAE experiences extreme climate during winter & summers, and particularly Summers are unbearable
The Local currency in UAE Dhirams and currently trading between 12-13 Indian Ruppees
With best of the living style UAE attracts many work force to the country.
Now, starting with next blog, more information pertaining to employment & living will be posted.

Welcome To All

Dear Friends,
I welcome you all to this Blog, this blog is all about working & living in UAE, from an Indian Perspective.
You will find information starting from your Successfull Interview, Offer, Pre-Departure Plans, Post Arrival, Procedures for Visa & Regulations, Accommodation & General Living.

The Information comes out of the experience i have myself undergone and thought it would be usefull to citizens across the world.

Although i'm not expert in this field, however i will try to give you the best of information possibily available

Regards

UAE NRI