Russkiy wrote:My wife is from a muslim background but not a muslim herself. She is from one of the former soviet republics. We are intending to travel to mid east and I was wondering if there may be a problem.
Neither her passport nor mine specify religion of the holder. She has a passport of her country which is now part of the OIC and has nonvisa regime with most islamic countries (the holders of this passport dont need a visa to travel to Malaysia and many other islamic countries). About 60 % of the population in this country is of Muslim background - not practicing though.
Her name is common amongst Muslim women but not exclusive to the islamic world. Her surname does not have arabic root but turkik with Russian ending of "ova".
I would like to ask if any of you know of the procedure to determine who is muslim and who is not in the arab countries. I mean if travel to Dubai for example and stay in the hotel, would we be arrested and accused of illegal cohabitation because somehow they manage to figure out that she is muslim and I am not, therefore our marriage is ellegal.
Thanks for your feedback
To obtain a resident permit in Dubai, you need a sponsor in that country to sponsor you. This sponsor can either be an individual or a group of people (company)
Once you obtain the visa, apply for a visa for your wife. Your wife usually comes under your sponsorship. In order to obtain such a visa for your wife, you will have to submit a marriage certificate attested by your government.
Now the visas for both of you is obtained. Travel and enjoy your stay in Dubai. Your marriage is attested by the concerned authorities of your original country. Authorities in Gulf countries can not raise any objections to it.