# Citizen Rights In Dubai



## jd2222245 (May 1, 2011)

I will be moving to Dubai very soon and I had a strange thought regarding my rights. Okay, as a person with a resident visa living in Dubai does the government or police have a right to search my residence? Can they search my residence when I'm not home or when I'm home? Do they need a warrant to do this search? This must be the American in me coming-out; sorry!


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## rtenhave34 (May 27, 2011)

jd2222245 said:


> I will be moving to Dubai very soon and I had a strange thought regarding my rights. Okay, as a person with a resident visa living in Dubai does the government or police have a right to search my residence? Can they search my residence when I'm not home or when I'm home? Do they need a warrant to do this search? This must be the American in me coming-out; sorry!


Uhm... I think it is a strange question, yes..... And honestly.. I don't have the answer to this one, but let me give you a piece of advice:

Try to NEVER give the police any reason to search you or your premises. The reason for that, apart from the painstakingly obvious, is that IF you should ever get convicted of ANY crime in Dubai, you will automatically loose your residency permit! Assuming that you're in Dubai to enhance your living standard/make some money (or hopefully both), it hardly seems worth the trouble, doesn't it? 

Richard


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## Andy Capp (Oct 5, 2008)

rtenhave34 said:


> Uhm... I think it is a strange question, yes..... And honestly.. I don't have the answer to this one, but let me give you a piece of advice:
> 
> Try to NEVER give the police any reason to search you or your premises. The reason for that, apart from the painstakingly obvious, is that IF you should ever get* convicted of ANY crime in Dubai, you will automatically loose your residency permit!* Assuming that you're in Dubai to enhance your living standard/make some money (or hopefully both), it hardly seems worth the trouble, doesn't it?
> 
> Richard


Bollocks, don't give advice when you don't know the facts, residency has (weirdly enough) nothing to do with criminal convictions. Providing you're not deported there's no problem.

Also, in answer to the OP's question, unless the police have a warrant or YOU INVITE THEM IN, they cannot go into your (private, ie not shop/business) premises, if they have a warrant however, they can do what they want. 

These are the facts, I just wish people knew them.


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## jd2222245 (May 1, 2011)

Andy Capp said:


> Bollocks, don't give advice when you don't know the facts, residency has (weirdly enough) nothing to do with criminal convictions. Providing you're not deported there's no problem.
> 
> Also, in answer to the OP's question, unless the police have a warrant or YOU INVITE THEM IN, they cannot go into your (private, ie not shop/business) premises, if they have a warrant however, they can do what they want.
> 
> These are the facts, I just wish people knew them.


So in other words, they can search a residence without a warrant if they choose to?


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## rtenhave34 (May 27, 2011)

Andy Capp said:


> Bollocks, don't give advice when you don't know the facts, residency has (weirdly enough) nothing to do with criminal convictions. Providing you're not deported there's no problem.
> 
> Also, in answer to the OP's question, unless the police have a warrant or YOU INVITE THEM IN, they cannot go into your (private, ie not shop/business) premises, if they have a warrant however, they can do what they want.
> 
> These are the facts, I just wish people knew them.


In which case I stand corrected and apologize for any (unintentional) misinformation!

Richard


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## pamela0810 (Apr 5, 2010)

You're not a "citizen" when you're in Dubai so you won't have any citizen rights to begin with. Also, while it may be necessary for the police to have a warrant to search your home, I highly doubt they would go through the hassle of getting one before ringing your doorbell. 

Beneath all that flash and dash, Dubai has a murky underbelly too.


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## Felixtoo2 (Jan 16, 2009)

The best way to think of it is as if you have no rights and try not to upset the guys in uniform. If police or CID want you to do something they have many more ways of forcing you to see things their way than you can imagine, unfortunately I found this out simply for exchanging text messages with someone on their hit list.


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