Dear friend explorer101,
While I appreciate your opinion, I would still like to maintain that what I wrote earlier is absolutely right.
All UAE residents (categorised as nationals and expatriates) are issued an Emirates ID. This process started since 2008-2009 and many are still in process. Citizens other than the UAE Nationals, i.e. the Expatriates are legal residents irrespective of the countries they belong to. An Emirates ID is a highly sophisticated micro chipped Card with all possible details, including embedded fingerprints, photos signature, history, PP details, etc. etc.
Here, in UAE, citizens is a broad term used to described all residents and is not synonymous at all with the word 'citizen' as used in other countries like USA, Australia, Canada, & India etc. I, of Indian nationality, am a resident expat in UAE, and have spent a total of 20 long years and I know what I am writing about.
Cheers and Best Wishes!
Bestpal