Swedish lady in UAE caught in vicious cycle of love, divorce and debt

A 63-year-old lady changed her tourist visa 20 times to remain as a legal resident in the UAE.

The jewllery designer and horse rider who has spent nearly 28 years in the UAE is currently trying to go back to her home town in Sweden after her plans to revive a closed jewllery business did not succeed.

However, she is caught in a vicious circle of mounting bills both in the UAE and back home.

Brigitha Hallstrom Husleboom is a familiar name in the Sharjah Heritage market where she used to run a jewllery and antiques shop.

Her unrealized dream to rebuild her lost business and hopes of going back to Sweden to lead a peaceful retired life is marred by a number of reasons, including her divorce to a man who she alleges married her to migrate to Sweden and get a Swedish passport.

So now, while her estranged husband is living in Sweden is getting all the benefits as a citizen, she is stranded here unable to go back.

Brigitha Hallstrom Husleboom, who used to drive a Mercedez Benz and ride horses for several years, had to deposit her passport with the Sharjah Police after she failed to pay for a rented car that she took to go to Oman boarder to change her tourist visa that expired almost three years ago.

But she kept changing her tourist visa every 40 days.

 “I have gone to Oman more than 20 times since April 2011 and in three-and-half years to change my tourist visa. It cost me a lot of money and I  had rented a car just to drive to the Oman UAE boarder, take a new tourist visa for 40 days and return to the UAE. Sometimes I used to go with my friends and now I cannot go to change my tourist visa because my passport is pledged with the Sharjah police for non paying the car rental firm,” she said.

“I kept borrowing money to continue living here and I could not pay Dh6,000 to the car rental company. My passport is with the Sharjah Police now.”

She  did not break any law and tried to remain here legally by changing her visa more than 20 times.

 “I could not resume my jewllery business in the Sharjah Heritage area because I cannot afford to pay the huge key money that people are asking,” she said. “I have been borrowing from friends to pay the bills and live here. I am not hiding from my problems and the Sharjah Charity send me to newspapers,” she said.

Fearing that her family members or others in Swedish community are not helpful, she approached Emirates 24|7 with a plea to help her return home.

She has been surviving thanks to the generosity of an Asian family in Ajman.

“We know her for more than 15 years and she has been suffering a lot here, especially after her second marriage broke down. When we found that she is having problems, we gave her a free room and food and for the last three-and-half-years, she is living without paying anything. She is a good jewllery designer, but when her mind is not peaceful, she cannot do things. She is a very good lady and we are proud to help her in this hour of need. When she was doing well in life, she helped me and many others,” said Ameen Ummrahman, a Pakistani businessman in Sharjah.

She is scared to go back to Sweden, because if she reaches there she may lose her dream house, for non payment of many unpaid bills for electricity, water and fines accumulated by her estranged Pakistani husband.

She said her pets, numbering many cats and dogs, are let out of the house and she has to pay huge fine for neglecting the pets.

As long as the owner of a house is outside the country, the Swedish authorities will not take over the house for non-payment of utility bills and other fines.

The lady seems to be caught in a catch 22 situation as she fears physical harm from her divorced Pakistani husband, who has set her house on fire.

She fears that her divorced husband may harm her physically when she returns to her own country, after overcoming all the problems here. 

Emirates 24|7 could not contact her Pakistani husband who resides in Sweden, but a source close to him said: “It is a very complicated case and the couple keep blaming each other."

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