Are your papers in order?

So the emiratis are pretty serious about making sure you have a good reason to be in their country. Basically, you either have to be spending money or making it, otherwise they would like you to kindly go elsewhere, like perhaps Saudi Arabia or Detroit.

Part of the "congratulations, you get to stay!" process is a seemingly endless hurricane of paperwork and officialdom. Want a bank account? You need copies of your passport and work visa. Want a cell phone? You need copies of your passport and work visa. Want to get fingerprinted (And the answer is yes. Because it's required of all resident aliens.)? You get the idea.

Happy India Doyle (right), meet sketchy passport office Doyle (left).

The result is that I have about 10 copies of each document. I keep the ones I'm not using in a safe in my hotel room. And I like to pretend that I'm in a John LeCarre novel. The Spy Who Walked Outside in the Heat, maybe.