Q: Dear Respected Lawyers, I am on management visa from Sharjah whose passport was denied by the employer after completing 13 months of service. They told me passport can't be given until my client in Iraq settles a business transaction dues the company did. Feeling insulted, I resigned on June 20th 2018 and stopped going to the office waiting for my Iraqi client to visit the UAE. Finally, the client came to Dubai on August 23rd and showed my employer his account where the client lost more than USD 700,000 because of the mismanagement of the project by the employer. The employer left the meeting room saying I will never get my passport or visa cancelled. He told if ever I report it to the Labor Department, I will be put into trouble through his contacts with senior police officials. Finally, I filed my labour complaint today for my Visa cancellation. Kindly advise whom should I approach at Sharjah Court to file a petition for getting back my Passport on an urgent basis. Humbly requesting your valued positive advice and assistance.

Q: Dear Respected Lawyers, I am on management visa from Sharjah whose passport was denied by the employer after completing 13 months of service. They told me passport can't be given until my client in Iraq settles a business transaction dues the company did. Feeling insulted, I resigned on June 20th 2018 and stopped going to the office waiting for my Iraqi client to visit the UAE. Finally, the client came to Dubai on August 23rd and showed my employer his account where the client lost more than USD 700,000 because of the mismanagement of the project by the employer. The employer left the meeting room saying I will never get my passport or visa cancelled. He told if ever I report it to the Labor Department, I will be put into trouble through his contacts with senior police officials. Finally, I filed my labour complaint today for my visa cancellation. Kindly advise whom should I approach at Sharjah Court to file a petition for getting back my passport on an urgent basis. Humbly requesting your valued positive advice and assistance.

Q: Dear Sir, I need to exchange my wife's passport with mine at the police station. I had been arrested for house rent bounced cheque in Sharjah. By then, my passport had been taken for visa stamping thus her passport was kept in custody for my release. I still have a balance to pay and her visa is due for renewal. I being her sponsor, would kindly need to get her passport for visa renewal and replace it with mine as I still sought to clear the balance. Please advise how can I go about this. Thank you. Yours faithfully M.

Q: Hi. Can I request an arrest warrant against my employer if he didn’t come to the court even after receiving a legal notice from the court? He seized my passport for no reason and after knowing that I filed a case on him, he is forcing me to come to his office and take the passport as he doesn’t want to go to the court. Should I go to him directly or tell him to come to the court to handover everything? Please answer.

Q: Hi, Basically, I have signed an employment contract and it includes a "Passport Handover Agreement". Is this policy even legal in Dubai? Or does it simply mean that, once I have signed, I have no longer to contact/seek any legal authority to claim my passport back?

Q: Dear sir/madam, What can I do if my employer is not giving me my passport? I submitted my resignation and gave the 1 month's notice without salary. My employer is asking for 1000 AED for my cancellation to give my passport. I paid 1000 AED, but the employer did not give me my passport. He has given only the cancellation papers. What will I do?

س: السلام عليكم، حصلت على عرض عمل براتب أكبر من الحالي وأرسلته للكفيل بالواتس وأحضرته معي بالشركة والكاميرات سجلت كل شيء. رفض توقيعه بالقبول أو الرفض وأخبرني أنه يريد نصف تكاليف الإقامة التي دفعها من قبل حيث دفعت أنا نصف تكاليف الإقامة فقط وهو دفع النصف الآخر. يحاول الآن إرضائي كي لا أتركه برفع راتبي الحالي، وقد أظهر لي سماحة في التعامل حتى فاتني عرض العمل الذي حصلت عليه. بعد أيام طلب مني الاحتفاظ بجواز السفر معه، فهل يستطيع إلحاق الضرر بي حين يكون معه جواز السفر الخاص بي أو يستطيع التعميم علي في أي وقت؟ الزملاء بالشركة يؤكدون أنه غدر بأكثر من شخص كان يعمل معهم عندما شعر منهم بالرغبة في ترك العمل والذهاب لغيره.

An interview-format article covering the topic of an employer demanding to hold an employees passport. This is from the legal podcast of lawyer Ludmila Yamalova, the founder of LAWGICAL with LYLAW.

The UAE has adopted a major reform in its legislative system that brought about 40 new laws and amendments to the company law, criminal law, personal status, among others. The amendments aim to develop the legislative structure in various sectors, the labor law being one of these, was the most recent. We try in this article to shed light on the changes introduced with the new labor law and their significance on both, the employer and employee.

The provisions of this Law, known as "UAE Labour Law", govern the relationship between employers and employees and other labour matters in the United Arab Emirates. There are special labour related regulations applicable in some of the free zones in the UAE.

The law promulgates UAE Criminal Procedural Law (Penal Procedures Law) which governs criminal procedures in the UAE. This law applies to the procedures relating to offences whose punishments are not specified, dogma and punitive offences, and blood money, if they do not violate the Sharia rules.

The provisions of this Decree-Law, known as "New UAE Labor Law", govern labour relations in the private sector of the United Arab Emirates. The New Labor Law repeals the previous UAE Labor Law (Federal Law No. (8) of 1980).