Abu Dhabi: The updated executive regulations of the law on the entry and residence of expats in the UAE specify six cases of deportation.
These include four cases by order of the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP), and two cases of administrative deportation, even if the individual has a residence permit.
The regulations clarify that deportation is legally possible, among other cases, for every foreigner caught on board a ship trying to enter the country illegally. This applies if he or she does not have an entry visa or residence permit, or if the entry or residence permit has expired and he or she did not take the initiative to renew it within the prescribed period, or if the entry visa or residence permit is cancelled and he or she did not take the initiative to leave the UAE within the prescribed period.
Types of deportation
The executive regulations of the law add that there are two types of deportation: Judicial deportation and administrative deportation.
The foreigner will be deported from the UAE if a judicial deportation ruling is issued against him. The foreigner may be administratively deported from the country even if he has a residence permit in the following cases: If he has no apparent means of livelihood, and if the security authorities deem that his deportation is required by the public interest, public security or public morals.
The regulations stipulate that the ICP may include the order to deport family members of the violator. The authority shall implement the removal order in coordination with the Ministry of Interior and the General Command of the Police, and the expenses of deporting the foreigner shall be at his or her own expense or at the expense of the guarantor or employer.
If the foreigner, whose expulsion order has been issued, has interests in the UAE that require liquidation, the authority will grant him a period to liquidate them after he provides an acceptable guarantee, such that this period does not exceed three months.
Regarding the family of deported foreigners, the articles of the regulations stipulate that the deportation order of a foreigner may include members of his family (who are not UAE citizens) who he is in charge of supporting.
Also, the foreigner whose deportation order has been issued shall be detained in penal and correctional institutions for a period not exceeding one month, whenever such detention is necessary to implement the deportation order, after the approval of the Federal Public Prosecutor. The expenses of deporting the foreigner and his family shall be at the expense of the violator, or at the expense of the person who employed him in violation of the law. Otherwise, the authority shall bear the expenses of the deportation.
The articles of the regulation indicate that a foreigner who was previously deported from the UAE may not return, except after obtaining approval from the head of the ICP.
Judicial and administrative deportations differentiated
Judicial deportation is issued pursuant to a judicial ruling against a foreigner who has been sentenced to a freedom-restricting penalty for a felony or misdemeanor, in accordance with the text of Article 121 of Federal Law No. 3 of 1987 promulgating the Penal Code, amended by Federal Law No. 34/2005, amended by a federal decree law. No. 7/2016, which stipulates that if a foreigner is sentenced for a felony with a freedom-restricting penalty or for crimes against honour, he must be deported from the state. In other misdemeanor cases, the court may order, in its ruling, his deportation from the state, or a deportation ruling instead of sentencing him to a freedom-restricting penalty.
Administrative deportation is issued by the ICP against a foreigner, for what is required by the public interest, public security, or public morals. This type may be removed by a petition submitted to the General Administration of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in the relevant emirate.
In accordance with Ministerial Resolution No. 360 of 1997, issuing the executive regulations of Federal Law No. 6 of 1973 regarding the entry and residence of foreigners, amended by Federal Decree Law No. 17 of 2017, the Federal Attorney General or his authorised representative from other entities, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ICP or whoever he delegates from among the directors general of the authority may order the deportation of the foreigner, even if he has an entry permit, entry visa, or residence permit, if such deportation is required by the public interest, public security, public morals, or public health, or if he has no apparent means of subsistence.
Can a deported person return to the UAE?
A foreigner who has previously been administratively deported from the country based on Article 23 of the Law on Entry and Residence of Foreigners may not return except after obtaining special permission from the Director General of the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship in accordance with Article 28 of the same law.
The application to obtain the special permission shall be submitted to the Department of Entry and Residence Permits at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in each emirate, provided that the application includes all data related to residence or previous residences in the country, the reasons for deportation, and the circumstances that arose after it and that may justify a licence to enter the country again. All necessary supporting documents in this regard shall be attached to the application.
Anyone against whom a judicial ruling has been issued deporting him from the state may submit a request to the Public Prosecution to consider cancelling the deportation ruling, stating the reasons and documents supporting his request, and the request shall be presented to the competent committee to decide on it.
