In Dubai, Can the hotel seize your passport and documents for being unable to pay your bill fully?
In Dubai, Can the hotel seize your passport and documents for being unable to pay your bill fully? I have a friend currently in dubai and ran out of money and the hotel seized her passport and other documents. She has a money voucher but their bank said they can't cash it due to their economy and not being able to cash that much of a voucher. What is she able to do?
Best Answer
No. Not legally.
Passport retention is against the law in UAE. Your passport is usually the property of the government that issued it (as mentioned in the small print in your passport, which usually contains words to that effect), and each passport holder is responsible for its safekeeping.
(I'm aware that the source's page title refers to employers, but the quoted text states unequivocally that it is illegal to retain passports in the UAE.)
Pictures about "In Dubai, Can the hotel seize your passport and documents for being unable to pay your bill fully?"
Can a hotel withhold your passport?
They have no legal right to hold your passport as a means of ensuring payment-----highly illegal if they do. They should take a credit card imprint or a deposit but passports no. A copy is a good idea and also as another poster said use the copy when you leave the hotels and go out and about.Why do Dubai hotels take your passport?
Hotels and serviced apartments in the Gulf usually keep the passports of their guests as a security to ensure the settlement of bills. This is a general practice in the Gulf and has been going on ever since the hotels started operations in the region.Why do hotels scan passport?
With passports or other government IDs, hotels can always track down visitors, so they can collect payment on outstanding charges. They may want to run background checks to prohibit certain people from staying with them.Do they keep your passport in Dubai?
According to a decree issued by the UAE Ministry of Interior, the passport is a personal document for the owner to keep and show when required by government authorities. Unless a passport is detained with a judicial order and according to the law, keeping someone else's passport is considered an illegal action.How forged passports are caught in UAE
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Tara Winstead, Tara Winstead, Tara Winstead, Tara Winstead