THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A lack of clarity is still prevailing among the job aspirants to UAE regarding the procedure to get a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC). Many candidates are still thronging the regional passport office to get the PCC even as the UAE consulate officials maintained that the certificate had to be obtained from respective district police chiefs or city police commissioner. According to sources at the Thiruvananthapuram regional passport office, many candidates were still applying for PCC through the Passport Seva Kendras.
“Owing to the rush of PCC applicants, tokens at the passport seva kendras till almost this month end have already been booked. We are advising candidates that the UAE authorities seem to be insisting on PCC issued by the police and not the one issued by regional passport office,” said an official at the regional passport office. PCCs for emigrants to many foreign countries like UK, USA, Australia and even Kuwait, which is in the Gulf Cooperation Council, has been accepting the PCC issued by regional passport offices. The passport office authorities issue the PCC on the basis of a report from the police.
Meanwhile, NORKA-Roots officials said that they will be offering attestation services from embassies and consulates at affordable rates and hence candidates should not fall in the trap of private agencies that charge higher rates.
This newspaper had reported on Thursday that candidates who approach the UAE consulate for clearance certificates were being directed to approach a private agency nearby which was demanding a service charge of around Rs 6,400 to process papers.
Sources in the emigration sector said that the mandate given to the private agency might be to check the veracity of the Police Clearance Certificate being submitted by candidates. Candidates of all South-Indian states need to get the clearance certificate from the UAE consulate here. Though DC on Thursday sought clarification from the UAE consulate on the service charges of the private agency, no response was received so far.
