Lifting Travel Ban in the UAE and Cases of Its Lifting

A travel ban in the United Arab Emirates is an exceptional precautionary measure that temporarily restricts freedom of movement in order to secure a right or safeguard the proper course of justice, and it may only be imposed by order of the competent judicial authority. In civil claims the order is issued by the competent judge or the head of the circuit upon the creditor's application, provided serious grounds exist to fear that the debtor will abscond and that the debt is not less than ten thousand dirhams unless it concerns an awarded maintenance. Lifting the ban follows routes the law has set out exhaustively: extinction of the debtor's obligation for any reason, the creditor's written consent to discharge the order, the debtor's provision of a sufficient bank guarantee or a solvent surety accepted by the judge, deposit with the court treasury of a sum equal to the debt and costs, or the creditor's failure to produce evidence that the debt claim was filed within eight days of the order. In criminal matters the ban is tied to the investigating authority or the court and ceases once its cause ceases.

What is a travel ban and what is its legal nature?

A travel ban is not a penalty. It is a temporary precautionary measure whose purpose is to preserve an existing legal position pending resolution of the dispute or satisfaction of the adjudicated right. Because it is an exception to the principle of freedom of movement, it may not be applied expansively nor used as a means of pressure, and it remains subject to judicial supervision from the moment it is issued until it lapses.

Authorities empowered to issue a travel ban

The legal basis of a travel ban differs according to the nature of the dispute, and identifying the issuing authority is the first practical step, because the route to lifting it varies accordingly.

Conditions for barring a debtor from travel in civil claims

The legislator has allowed a creditor to apply for an order barring the debtor from travel even before the substantive action is filed, but has confined this to precise conditions that must all be satisfied; the absence of any one of them exposes the order to lapse.

The judge's powers when issuing the order

The judge's role is not confined to granting or refusing the application; the law has vested him with further powers that ensure the measure is both serious and effective.

Travel bans in criminal proceedings

Save where temporary release is mandatory, release may be made conditional upon the provision of a personal or financial guarantee or upon barring the accused from travelling. The purpose is to secure his attendance at any step of the investigation and the proceedings, to prevent him from evading enforcement of the judgment, and to ensure that he discharges all other duties imposed upon him.

Where the personal or financial guarantee cannot be provided, the member of the Public Prosecution may vary, substitute or cancel the guarantee condition, or order that the accused be remanded in custody or that his remand continue if he is already in custody. It follows that a criminal travel ban stands or falls with the reason for which it was taken and ceases once that reason ceases.

Travel bans in family disputes

Within personal status matters a travel ban attaches to the travel of a child in custody outside the State, since such travel is subject to controls that weigh the best interests of the child against the guardian's right of supervision and follow-up. Applications to bar or to permit travel are therefore heard before the competent Personal Status Court, and the assessment of interest is the governing criterion.

Grounds on which a travel ban lapses and is lifted

As a matter of principle the travel ban order remains in force until the debtor's obligation towards the creditor who obtained it is extinguished, for any reason whatsoever. Nevertheless, the competent judge shall order the lapse of the order in the following cases:

Challenging a travel ban order

A person against whom the order has been issued may challenge it by the procedures prescribed for challenging orders on petition. The challenge is brought independently or as an incident to the principal action, and is determined by upholding, varying or setting aside the order. This is the principal practical route for confronting an order issued without its conditions being satisfied, particularly where the application failed to set out the serious grounds relied upon.

Further measures where evasion is attempted

Where a debtor subject to a travel ban refuses without justification to surrender his passport, or it appears to the judge that he has disposed of or spirited away his assets, or that he is preparing to flee the State notwithstanding the measures taken, the judge may order that he be brought before him and compelled to furnish a guarantee of payment or a guarantee of attendance, or to deposit the sum claimed with the court treasury. Should he fail to comply, the judge may order that he be provisionally detained pending execution of the order, and that decision is open to appeal within seven days from the date it is made.

How to verify whether a travel ban has been issued against you

Enquiries are made through the competent judicial authority in the emirate that issued the order, or through a legal representative acting under a formal power of attorney who examines the basis of the order, the file number and the applicant. Identifying the basis of the ban, whether civil, criminal or family, is the key, because each basis carries a different route to lifting it and different time limits.

Time limits and statutory thresholds

Practical guidance

Legal references

Frequently asked questions