DUBAI, 29 November 2007 — The Saudi Consulate in Dubai is working on processing official documents of a Saudi citizen who had been living illegally in the UAE for the past 30 years.

Faraj Abdullah Mubarak, from Dareen Island in the Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia, left the country when his youngest daughter was in the fourth grade. He had gone on a diving trip and ended up staying in the UAE without any identification papers.

Faraj’s two daughters had been searching for him for years before they were reunited with him a few days ago. The daughters had launched an appeal in a local newspaper and some people who recognized him called them to inform him of his whereabouts.

Faraj, who is being treated at Rashid Hospital, had been living on odd jobs in the UAE for the last 30 years.

Speaking to Arab News, Homoud bin Nader, Saudi consul general in Dubai, said Faraj had not approached the Saudi mission to seek identification papers. Bin Nader, who was in a meeting with Faraj’s two daughters, said that issuing a passport for him would take time. “Faraj has no identification papers and at the moment we are working with the Ministry of Interior to issue him a passport so that he can go back home,” he said.

Faraj told them that he had sometimes worked as a cook in restaurants and also worked for some families.

“Faraj’s mother had been in contact with him and used to visit him in the UAE until her death eight years ago,” he said.

Faraj, who had divorced his wife before he left the Kingdom, never remarried and does not have a family in the UAE.

His youngest daughter, Khadija, 41, expressed her joy at finding her father after years searching for him.

“I came to the UAE several times to look for my father, but was unlucky as many of the people we came into contact with had lost touch with him. Alhamdu Lillah, a few days ago a lady called us and informed us that he had been admitted to Rashid Hospital. It was the answer to my prayers and now we want him to move back with us,” she said.

Faraj said that he wants to spend his last days in his home country near his two daughters.