Linking value of foreign driver's license to the country of origin

I wrote this note in May 2009. This note was published in 2 local Dubai / UAE newspapers. The newspapers ofcourse took the liberty of editing the note. The links to the newspapers where you can find this note are as follows:

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090426/OPINION/704259920 (between 3rd and 4th letter)

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?section=weekend&xfile=data/weekend/2009/may/weekend_may33.xml (3rd letter)

This note is regarding the Road & Transport Authority’s system of linking the value of a foreign driver’s license to the country of origin. The RTA sensibly assigns preferences to those holding driver’s licenses from certain countries (e.g. USA, UK, etc) over other countries (India, Pakistan, etc.). The preferences include being allowed to convert with reasonable ease the preferred DL to a UAE DL. I believe this is appropriate since the RTA has correctly judged that the driving culture in some countries is more appropriate than others.

My concern is with the RTA then requiring the preferred DL holder who seeks to avail of these preferences to also be a citizen of the country issuing that DL. So for example a Sri Lankan citizen with an American DL is denied the right to avail of these preferences.

I feel this specific restriction is inappropriate since a candidate’s driving ability should be judged based on where they secured their DL but not on what passport they hold. Especially since these preferred countries in question are themselves not imposing any special hardships on non citizens applying for their DL’s as compared to their own citizens.

For example I first obtained my American Driver’s license in 2001 and then renewed the same in 2007. I have driven across the USA for now 7+ years. However I am not an American citizen. I am now in the process of moving back to Dubai (I grew up here) and am thus securing the various permits required to live smoothly in Dubai. I stumbled into the above set of rules and was wondering if I am the only one who finds the restriction unfair. On speaking with others who I thought would be in the same boat as me I gathered there are others also who feel this system of linking the preferred DL to nationality needs to be eliminated.