# About to move but need advise on restricted items.



## Malayaalam (May 15, 2013)

Hello everyone, new user here. 

My wife and I are moving from New Zealand to Dubai in a couple of weeks, although we are both from Denmark, and we have a few questions we thought this forum might be able to help us with.

We have decided to move all our belongings with us, eventhough we were told furniture and the like is cheap in Dubai, but we just a few things that are of great value to us and taking our stuff makes us feel more at home in our new place.

The problem is that we have been told there are certain items we shouldn't pack. The obvious stuff is guns, alcohol, drugs and such. We have greater difficulty figuring out the not so obvious stuff. For example we were told certain books can be a problem, but we don't know which, is the bible a problem?. We also have a small (20cm tall) bronze statue from Denmark which is sort half-nude. My wife is a painter and have painted abstract nude female forms, will they be a problem?

We have tried contact the Embassy but they just refer us to a list that lists generic things, like drugs, alcohol and such. We are looking for advice from people who have taken their personal belongings, how strict are they with regards to them, is there a more thorough list somewhere we can go by?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Mikkel & Christina


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## Snarplett (Apr 20, 2013)

I have the same issue .... our move is in a few weeks as well. I have the same issue with movies. I have a few media servers with hundreds of movies on them. There's nothing pornographic, but will it be a problem for shows that contain nudity, violence, and language?


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## Moe78 (Oct 29, 2010)

Art that contains nudity may be a problem, nudity meaning they show breasts and the pelvic region. You are better off shipping these to Denmark or wherever you have a home in or buying a storage unit and keeping them there. 

As for movies, they rarely check and I brought in several hard drives with movies and TV eps. They did take all my DVDs that I shipped, they were copied but they don't usually do that. 200 must have been too much hah!


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## Snarplett (Apr 20, 2013)

Hi Moe. They took all of your DVDs? You never got them back? I have close to 100 but they're originals....


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## Moe78 (Oct 29, 2010)

Originals and none are x-rated? Should be ok. They actually told me I could get some back but did not have the time/chance to get them.


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## Snarplett (Apr 20, 2013)

Ah ok. So it's not like Singapore where they'll fine the crap out of you for having a copied movie. Makes sense. Nope, most are either on a server or are originals on DVD... nothing scandalous. I'm more worried about them prying into the IT hardware than anything though ...


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## Calisthenia (May 4, 2013)

Anything with religious connotations other than Islam and anything with nudity, even abstract, is better to ship to Denmark.


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## ccr (Jun 20, 2010)

I have shipped over 1000 DVD's (original and copied) out of UAE, then back 3 years later in my container without any problem. They were labelled clearly on the box as well as the manifest as DVD.

Any"personal" items should be placed in the clothing-lable boxes...


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## Snarplett (Apr 20, 2013)

So.. the inflatable get thrown in with the socks box lol


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## Bobskiii (May 19, 2013)

Calisthenia said:


> Anything with religious connotations other than Islam and anything with nudity, even abstract, is better to ship to Denmark.


Hi There! 
That is not true, I mean I have a couple of naked Greek and African statues that I purchased from the Global Village here in Dubai, so I beg to differ, as long as it is artistic then fine, plus a friend of mine has a painting of a naked Adam and Eve that her purchased from here. As long as it is decent and nothing sexual is meant by it then it is good to go. 
As for the DVDs, as long as it is original and doesnt contain x-rated ones. Plus you dont need to get ur DVDs, wherever you live in Dubai, ull find Chinese sellers that come by your apartment and offer you as much DVDs as you want. 
People here respect all religons, I mean you can get the Holy Bible, or whatever religious book you believe in. I even got a Hindu God statue from India and it wasnt a problem at all.
Hope you settle in well, and please dont hesitate to contact me for any further details.


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## ccr (Jun 20, 2010)

Calisthenia said:


> Anything with religious connotations other than Islam and anything with nudity, even abstract, is better to ship to Denmark.


We have shipped bibles, crosses and religious statues in/out/back in UAE in the past 10 years without any issue.

There are many churches in UAE, for God's sake...


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## norampin (Dec 8, 2012)

we are in the process of shipping stuff to the UAE.

Clearly stated in the shipping material- Any items with with religious associations are banned.

In addition any "rated" movies are also banned. So basically any nudity etc.


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## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

norampin said:


> we are in the process of shipping stuff to the UAE.
> 
> Clearly stated in the shipping material- Any items with with religious associations are banned.
> 
> In addition any "rated" movies are also banned. So basically any nudity etc.


Regarding the religious material bit, I would go back to your shipping company and ask them if they are not applying a 'one size fits all' policy ... given the fact that there are churches and even a Hindu temple in Dubai, along with all the accompaniments that go with them, the advice given to you seems inaccurate ....


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## norampin (Dec 8, 2012)

saraswat said:


> Regarding the religious material bit, I would go back to your shipping company and ask them if they are not applying a 'one size fits all' policy ... given the fact that there are churches and even a Hindu temple in Dubai, along with all the accompaniments that go with them, the advice given to you seems inaccurate ....


Hi,
Its the same with all four quotes we received


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## Jumeirah Jim (Jan 24, 2011)

norampin said:


> Hi,
> Its the same with all four quotes we received


They are just covering their backs. 

They probably have standard wording for the ME so adopt Saudi or wherever is most restrictive standard to save work for themselves. 

TBH they sound brainless and not the type of people you'd want to trust with handling your move. If the others are just as brainless suppose you have no option 

Just follow the advice here and ignore the fools you are paying to advise you


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## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

Basically when it all arrives - send the wife to clear it! They poked around a couple of my boxes but didn't look at anything closely.

So long as you are 'sensible' you won't have any issues.


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## Ozysanj (Feb 3, 2013)

What about the sex toys then,you know,the vibrating ones..? Lol
Are they allowed?


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## Calisthenia (May 4, 2013)

Bobskiii said:


> Hi There!
> That is not true, I mean I have a couple of naked Greek and African statues that I purchased from the Global Village here in Dubai, so I beg to differ, as long as it is artistic then fine, plus a friend of mine has a painting of a naked Adam and Eve that her purchased from here. As long as it is decent and nothing sexual is meant by it then it is good to go.
> As for the DVDs, as long as it is original and doesnt contain x-rated ones. Plus you dont need to get ur DVDs, wherever you live in Dubai, ull find Chinese sellers that come by your apartment and offer you as much DVDs as you want.
> People here respect all religons, I mean you can get the Holy Bible, or whatever religious book you believe in. I even got a Hindu God statue from India and it wasnt a problem at all.
> Hope you settle in well, and please dont hesitate to contact me for any further details.





ccr said:


> We have shipped bibles, crosses and religious statues in/out/back in UAE in the past 10 years without any issue.
> 
> There are many churches in UAE, for God's sake...


It did say somewhere in my shipping documents that one could not bring religious items, however I checked the government website now and it specifically says "non Islamic religious pamphlets for missionary activities" and "...nd any objects, sculptures, paintings, books or magazines which do not adhere to the religious and moral values of the UAE". I think the shipping companies are just covering their backs and most people would be fine, but I have read about instances where people were not allowed to bring in certain books and paintings. Maybe it was a while ago.  Here is the link to the gov website: Avoid bringing banned items into the UAE. 

Good luck on the move, sounds like you would be alright, but in this region you never know who you end up dealing with and some of them can make your life miserable. If you are really worried I would still ship to Denmark.


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## Malayaalam (May 15, 2013)

Thanks for all the advice!

It seems like we will be okay if we ship the items we might think is a little vulgar back to Denmark.

I guess you just sort of become a little "nervous" when you talk to the moving company, but as was mentioned they are probably just trying to cover their butts.

Are there any obvious books we need to be aware of not to take?

Thanks again for all the help and advice.


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## Calisthenia (May 4, 2013)

Malayaalam said:


> Thanks for all the advice!
> 
> It seems like we will be okay if we ship the items we might think is a little vulgar back to Denmark.
> 
> ...


Kama sutra? 

A book I would recommend reading though is "Don´t they know it´s Friday" by Jeremy Williams.


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## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

Ozysanj said:


> What about the sex toys then,you know,the vibrating ones..? Lol
> Are they allowed?


NO!


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## Bobskiii (May 19, 2013)

Well they sell 50 shades of grey here and its actually one of the best sellers, so I dont think any books would be banned.
Have a safe trip


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## readmetwice (Jul 24, 2011)

Add to the list bullets and gambling chip sets. About the bullets, seems like an obvious item but heard a horrible story from a friend that deals with employees relations for a large multinational company where a guy forgot to remove the bullets and went to jail for a few months. His wife was frantic the entire time not knowing when he would be released. For bullets in a sock!


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