Completing the Exit Process

I know it's been a while since I have posted, but honestly I've been quite busy with the entire exit process and moving. So, let me give you a taste of life in the UAE when you're trying to get multiple signatures and correct forms.

I am going to start by giving all the glory to God because this entire procedure could have gone a lot worse than it actually did. He faithfully lined people up to help me and move me through this process in a short amount of time.

I began the exit process on June 10th and didn't actually finish until July 9th. Almost an entire month. In addition to trying to figure out where I was moving, pack, and move. So it's been a busy month. The first step of the exit process was to get a signature from Ms. Keltham (principal). No problem there. I "interrupted" a meeting and got her signature. I say "interrupted" because really no meetings are ever interrupted here. People continually walk in and talk to anyone they want and get whatever they need. So really no problem there. That is something that I will have to adjust to when I come back to the States for good though. Closed door meetings are really closed door meetings! With her signature on my clearance form I headed to the Al Ain Educational Zone (simply referred to as the Zone) to get a signature from IT saying that I didn't borrow any IT equipment. That took a little as he had to call Abu Dhabi to confirm that I really didn't borrow any IT equipment. After waiting about 10 minutes for the confirmation I got his signature and then headed to payroll to turn in my clearance form so they could calculate my summer pay and bonus. This is where things got a little messy. While waiting I was informed (by fellow LTs) that we needed a school stamp on our clearance form and we needed to include a copy of our acceptance of resignation letter that was emailed to us. Neither of which I had. So that was it for the day. Simple fixes, but something that could have been avoided if I had known. Once home I printed a copy of my acceptance of resignation letter and added that to my file of necessary paperwork for the exit process. The following day I returned to school with my clearance form and got the required stamp to make it official. Ms. Salema (sort of like a secretary) even let me use the stamp myself!! With the stamp on the paper and the acceptance of resignation letter in hand I returned to the Zone to turn my clearance form in to payroll. No problem. She was really kind and told me she would call when I could come and pick it up. Now just waiting.

I got the call on June 17th. Of course I didn't get the call until after work and I didn't want to run up to the Zone so it was going to have to wait until the 18th. Not much else I could do at this point so I began packing and working on selling my furniture.

The next step of the exit process occurred when I had to apply for temporary accommodation. ADEC provides 5 days at a hotel to accommodate those that have to vacate their housing before they can leave the country. So, on the 18th when I went to the Zone to get my clearance form I went to Mr. Adel (housing guy) to apply for temporary accommodation. After waiting for a while in his office I was told that I needed to go accross the hall to Mr. Sultan. He had the form. I went to Mr. Sultan's office and asked for the temporary housing form and he told me that I needed to see Mr. Adel. What?! I politely informed him that I just came from there and he sent me here. Nope. Mr. Adel does the housing so I needed to see him. I told him that Mr. Adel sent me to see him. Mr. Sutlan walked over to Mr. Adel and presumably discussed the housing issue. He came back and rummaged in his closet and found the appropriate paper. I guess even Mr. Sultan didn't know what he was supposed to do. I filled out the form and tried to give it back to Mr. Sultan only to find out that I needed to give it to Mr. Adel. So back accross the hall I went. Simple fix - have a box labeled TEMPORARY HOUSING FORMS placed downstairs at reception. Have another box labeled COMPLETED TEMPORARY HOUSING FORMS placed next to that box. That way no one has to deal with talking to anyone. Just grab the form, fill it out, and put it in another box. Easy. With that done I left the Zone for the day.

More waiting. I needed to turn in my passport, get clearance from Etisalat (Internet), get clearance from AADC (utilities) and get a final inspection of my apartment. This needed to happen as close to July 8th as possible. This is where things got chaotic and stressful. I turned my passport in on July 1, and was told that I would receive a call when my residency visa was cancelled, and began the cancellation process with Etisalat and AADC. Turns out that I needed to inform Etisalat of my intetion to cancel my Internet one month in advance. Who knew? So I had to pay a 600dhs fine for not informing them ahead of time. Don't ask me why they need one month to cancel service, that's just par for living in the UAE. I paid the fine and went to get my clearance form. Nope that would take "time". This was July 4th and I was running out of time. My residency visa would not be cancelled without clearance from Etisalat and AADC and my flight was scheduled for July 14th. I left thinking that I could get the clearance form July 10th. After leaving Etisalat I headed to AADC to figure out what I needed to do to get my power shut off. Turns out this was the easiest process of them all. I just needed to call a toll free number the day before I wanted my electrictity shut off and they would come the following day. Easy. I like that.

I took Thursday July 5th off of work so I could get some stuff done - selling furniture, moving, getting the power shut off, and dealing with Etisalat. I went back to Etisalat and nicely asked if there was anyway my clearance form could be ready before July 10th as I needed to turn in all my paperwork so my residency visa could get cancelled prior to my July 14th flight. He looked for my form and told me that I could pick it up on Sunday. I wanted to take everything on the 5th, but Sunday would have to work. I headed back to my apartment so I would be there when they came to shut off the power. No problems at all. The power was shut off, I got the text message telling me to go to the main office on Khalifa Street to finish the process and collect my clearance letter. See AADC can do it in one day, why can't Etisalat? I went to the office got my form and refund and then left.

Back to Hili to finalize the move. I went to the office to get my final inspection but was told that they couldn't do that until all the furniture was out. Problem was that the movers weren't coming until 3:00 and the office closes at 3:30. He was kind enough to stay until 4:00 for me. The movers arrived and loaded up the truck while I went to get the final inspection. One of the maintenance guys walked in, briefly looked around before locking up. I should mention that prior to the final inspection I had received a paper that said "No damages from tenant" and it was signed by the owner. Nice of him to do that before the inspection, but then why did I have to wait for the apartment to be completely empty?

We took the stuff over to my new apartment and I got some unpacking done before it was time for me to head to Dubai for some much needed rest. I spent the weekend in Dubai praying that I would have my passport back so I could leave July 14th. I ended up staying an extra day in Dubai because my hotel stay didn't start until July 8th. So I got up early and drove to work from Dubai.

After work on Sunday I went to Etisalat to collect my clearance letter. This was only an issue because of lack of organization. He didn't know where my form was, but once he found it there wasn't a problem. I had to pay 10dhs for my landline phone (that I never use) but other than that nothing. I got my form and headed to the Zone to turn everything in and check on the status of my passport. I went to Mr. Adel to turn in everything housing related (clearance letters from AADC and Etisalat as well as the keys to the apartment). After waiting in Mr. Adel's office I was told that I needed to go across the hall to Mr. Ibrahaim. Unfortunately he wasn't there. I think I waited for an hour and he never showed up. While waiting I did find out that I needed to go and collect my passport and not wait for a phone call. Nice. I am glad there were helpful people there to answer my questions while I was waiting to turn everything in. Since Mr. Ibrahaim wasn't there I went to get my passport and while I was waiting for that I found out that I should go talk to Mr. Adel and get his signature since he is the housing guy. Nice again. Why all this guessing and checking is beyond me, but thanking God for placing people there to help and direct me. With passport in hand I went to Mr. Adel and asked him to please sign my paper since Mr. Ibrahaim wasn't in the office and I had been waiting for quite some time. He looked at everything and signed the paper!! All forms turned in, just one more signature to get. I went downstairs to turn in my medical card and get their signature. Another easy step. After getting all signatures I had to turn in my original clearance form to payroll so they could release the money. Back upstairs to the kind lady to who helped me when I began this process. As I turned in my completed form she told me that it would take more than 5 days to get the money. OK no problem since I'm coming back the money can stay there and I'd send it home when I returned. Yeah it would be nice to have it before leaving, but if not no problem. I walked out of the Zone, with my passport, for what I thought was going to be the last time.

Time to go do some unpacking at my new apartment before checking in at the Rotana. I spent about 2 hours and got quite a few things unpacked before I had enough and was ready to collapse. To the Rotana. No problem with check in. Although while I was getting settled a message came on the TV that I needed my original temporary housing form with stamp and signature from Mr. Sultan. I didn't have that. I went to the desk to tell them that I never got a copy and they told me that I could get one and bring it the following day. Oh yeah. Back to the Zone I go.

One more trip to the Zone. Hopefully quick, but knowing that since it was housing it wouldn't be quick. I went to Mr. Sultan's office, which was full of LTs, and waited. He had me look for my form in a binder while he was dealing with someone else. Nope, not there. He looked and couldn't find it. He asked me why I didn't just go to the hotel since I knew where I was staying. I told him that I went and they needed the form. "OK no problem, you just fill out form again and I sign and stamp." Easy enough and it actually didn't take all that long. I got his signature and a stamp and went to make a copy before leaving the Zone for the final time.

Back to the apartment to do some more unpacking and then to the Rotana to enjoy the pool. Unfortunately due to a sand storm I couldn't enjoy the pool, but at least I got to relax and watch some TV. And that was pretty much how the rest of my week went. I found out that I got paid on July 10th so I wired home most of it with plans of returning later in the week to get the rest.

I am all unpacked in my new apartment, but the AC in the bedroom isn't working. I called the maintenace guy and he came as I was on my way to Dubai. He doesn't have a key so he can't get in so it will have to wait until I return in Aug. That means I will most likely stay at a hotel on Aug. 10th when I get back in Al Ain. It's just too hot to stay without AC and the furniture in the living room is not good enough to sleep on after a 16 hour flight.

I am now in Dubai at Craig and Cindy's empty villa waiting to go to the airport at around 9pm. I leave at 12:10 am and arrive at 9:42 am. I will be spending Saturday catching up with family. Check in later for updates as to how I spent my summer!