The problem of passport reservation requires more legislation and legal follow-up to regulate the relationship between the two parties more accurately than it is now. And then they escape after a period not exceeding three months.
The “Ministry of Interior” issued a decision that considers the passport as a personal document, and the law obliges its owner to keep it, and to show it to government authorities if they request it, and no party may withhold the passport except by the responsible authorities, and this behavior entails a prison sentence and a fine of up to 20 thousand dirhams. . It is legally prohibited to seize the worker’s passport except in the cases stipulated by the law or by judicial rulings, and there are decisions issued by the “Ministry of Interior” that prevent the sponsor from seizing the worker’s passport except by a court ruling.
Some believe that the passport is a means to seize the foreign worker or put pressure on him, as they are keen to detain him upon his arrival from his country, thinking that the presence of documents with the employer, whether the family or the institution, is the guarantee that the worker will not escape. On the other hand, the worker believes that keeping the passport is a legitimate right for him, guaranteed by the state in order to preserve his human rights, as this contradicts the Labor Law, which does not contain any articles that allow them to do such a procedure, calling on establishments to refrain from seizing passports and returning them to workers immediately, based on the provisions Law.
The financial advisor at the Hellport Assist financial services company in Abu Dhabi, Keren Boubacar, confirmed that the passport belongs to the government that issues it, and this is confirmed by the wording written in small letters in each passport, and accordingly the passports are handed over to the responsible authorities for obtaining entry visas, and not to parties other than authorized to do so, including employers. Boubaker explained that government officials confirmed that the employer had no right to keep the employee’s passport, and the legal department in the “Ministry of Labor” advised that the seizure of workers’ passports is a violation of the “International Labor Organization” agreement to abolish forced labor, which the UAE signed, according to the newspaper. The National".
A number of workers complained that their companies and their sponsors forced them to confiscate their passport, sign that its deposit comes with their full desire, and threaten them to terminate their services if they refuse to do so, which prompts them to agree to the compulsory in order to preserve his livelihood. One of the workers told "Emirates Today" newspaper: "I worked in a company for three years, and after the termination of my work contract, the company refused to hand me my passport to pressure me to waive my end-of-service benefits, to keep me without salary or the ability to work elsewhere."
He added, “I submitted a complaint to the Ministry of Labor to receive my dues, and the company responded to that with a complaint against me for accusing me of deleting data from the company’s electronic system, knowing that the date of the claim is two months after my work was terminated. Their complaint is after the date of my complaint.” For his part, Hussein, who works in a company in Abu Dhabi, suffers from being forced to place his passport with it unjustly, stressing that one of his colleagues submitted a complaint to hand him his passport, so the company terminated his services and returned him to his homeland.
passport It must be a precautionary measure to be taken by the guarantor, assuming that he has control over the movement of this sponsored or resident.
