Hello all, is it legal for my employer to take my passport?

I have read a lot about the law in the UAE. I have found out that in some ceratin jobs such as tellers in banks, you need to hand in your passport. So you can ask that depending on your job.

hi.i think what ur company doing is legal.u nid to give them ur passportcoz ur working with them at the sametime they will give the labor card that whatever happen you nid to bring it with you.its look like resident card.correct me if im wrong.but dont worry its normal here that the employer they will get the passport of there employee.dont be afraid its legal.tke care.

I am not sure if it is legal or not, but depending on your nationality the companies or hospitals might keep your passport as a security.. but it makes you really helpless if you dont have your passport in hand,,

my company took my passport also in exchange of my labor card for the reason of company security. i think most of the company do that and im not sure also if its legal or not.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMM ... no it s not legal at all ....

..

No.  It is not legal.  In fact, with most passports,there are clauses that say the state owns the document and should not be passed to any unauthorised person.

you can have possession of both your labour card and passport.

if this is not legal,why do our employers collect our passports,it beats my mind

It isnt legal , but My company is holding my Passport as well . So cant do anything about it .

Just Spend your time and look for a new job with a nice boss .

The practice of retaining one's passport is a violation of International Law and UAE law, in the UAE it is subject up to a 3 year jail sentence and to a fine of AED 20,000.

On the 25th of December 2002, a decree was issued by the Ministry of Interior regarding the Retention of Passports. The decree ( tranlated to English) states:

“As the passport is a personal document that and as the law obliges its owner to keep and show when required by the governmental authorities, it is not allowed for any party to detain the passport except by the official parties with a judicial order and according to the law. Consequently it will be considered as an illegal action to detain the passport in UAE except by the governmental parties. So please announce this to all of your parties. In case of retaining passports there will be a suitable punishment by the law of UAE”

I just want to comment that you are all posting on a old topic but apparently a important one.
Thanks William for sorting this out!

Even before this information I can tell you its illegal to hold on to your passport. It belongs to you and to nobody else. As a matter of fact: you can use this document but officially it belongs to the government of your country.
The only thing what your company can do is to make a photo copy of it.