Leaving the UAE with debt: what happens and what to do first

Leaving the UAE does not cancel a loan or card debt. A lender can report a “Left Country” status to the Etihad Credit Bureau (AECB), take the debt to the UAE courts, ask for enforcement such as a travel ban, and sell the debt to a third party. Since 2 January 2022, a cheque that bounces for lack of funds is a crime only in cases of bad faith.

Key takeaways

• Leaving does not cancel a loan or card debt, and a lender can report a "Left Country" status to the credit bureau even when nothing is overdue.
• Lenders can pursue the debt through the UAE courts, where enforcement can include seizing accounts or property, a salary deduction and a travel ban.
• Since 2 January 2022, a cheque returned for insufficient funds is a crime only in cases of bad faith, such as closing or emptying the account it is drawn on.
• Before you go: get your credit report, settle or agree a written plan, recover security cheques, start card closures early and collect clearance letters.
• Clearing a personal loan from end-of-service benefits costs at most 1% in settlement fees, capped at AED 10,000 before VAT.

This guide is about departure: what lenders can do once you have gone, and the order in which to close things down if you are planning to leave. If you are still in the UAE and behind on payments, start with what happens after missed payments. The rest of our Debt help guides cover collections, cheques and complaints.

What happens to your debt when you leave

The debt stays, and so do the lender’s options. The table shows who can do what after you leave, and where each rule comes from.

The debt does not disappear

Your loan or card agreement does not end because you move abroad. Once an account has been in arrears for more than 60 calendar days, Central Bank rules require the lender to send you a written notice that sets out the consequences of continued non-payment. The list in the rules includes:

• interest charges and related fees that keep building up;
• a demand for payment from any guarantor or co-signer;
• the sale of collateral and security;
• setting off the debt against other accounts you hold with the same lender, where the agreed terms allow it;
• sharing the arrears with the credit bureau;
• legal proceedings.

The rules allow the notice to go to any guarantor as well. If someone stood as guarantor for your loan, the lender can ask them to pay.

The “Left Country” flag

A lender can tell the credit bureau it believes you have left the UAE, and the status can appear even when nothing is overdue.

Status a lender can report

'Left Country' flag

A lender or other information provider can report a 'Left Country' status if it believes the person has left the UAE, whether or not anything is overdue.

The flag sits on your credit report, the record UAE lenders check when you apply for credit. If it is wrong, for example because you have not left, the bureau can raise a data correction request with the lender that reported it. You can check your AECB report to see what each lender has reported.

Court claims and enforcement

A lender can file a claim for the debt in the UAE courts. Once it has an enforceable judgment, it opens an enforcement file. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department lists the requests that file can contain: seizure of bank accounts or property, a salary deduction, a travel ban, and contacting an external authority. The debtor can ask the enforcement judge to allow payment in instalments or to postpone enforcement, with supporting evidence.

A cheque is faster still for the holder. A cheque the bank has marked unpaid for insufficient or no balance is an executive document: the holder can ask the execution court to enforce it, in whole or in part, without filing a lawsuit first.

Can a judgment follow you abroad? The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department says an enforcement file can be transferred to another emirate or outside the UAE through judicial assistance channels between courts, depending on the nature of the case and where enforcement is to take place. It does not name countries or conditions, and this guide does not cover how courts abroad treat UAE judgments.

Sale of the debt to a third party

Your lender can sell or transfer the debt, but it must warn you in writing first.

Notice before your debt is sold

60 days

If a lender sells or transfers a consumer's credit product to a third party, it must tell the consumer in writing 60 calendar days in advance and name the third party.

While the lender or its authorised collection agent is collecting, Central Bank conduct rules apply. They may not visit your home or workplace about arrears without your express consent or a court order, and may not share your information with anyone other than the credit bureau or an authorised collection agent, unless the law requires it or you agree. Approved contact methods are email, registered mail, courier, SMS, phone calls, or another method you agree to. If the lender has assigned an external collection agent, the written arrears notice must give the agent’s name and contact details, and every call or message about the debt must name the lender and its collection department or authorised agent. That lets you check who is contacting you before you share anything. Our guide to collection rules and your rights covers the full set.

Is unpaid debt a criminal matter?

For bounced cheques, mostly not since 2022. From 2 January 2022, criminal liability for a cheque returned for insufficient funds was limited to cases of bad faith and other cheque crimes. Before that, issuing a cheque without funds was a crime under the Penal Code. Fraud and forgery remain crimes.

Cheque reform in force

2 Jan 2022

From 2 January 2022, Federal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2020 narrowed criminal liability for cheques returned for insufficient funds to cases of bad faith and other cheque crimes, and made partial payment of cheques mandatory.

The rules now sit in the Commercial Transactions Law issued by Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022. Its Article 675 lists these acts by the person who wrote a cheque as crimes:

• telling the bank not to pay a cheque you issued, in cases the law does not allow;
• closing the account, withdrawing all of its balance or deliberately getting it frozen, or knowing it was closed before the cheque was issued or presented;
• writing or signing a cheque on purpose so that it cannot be cashed.

Penalty for bad-faith cheque offences

6 months to 2 years

Telling the bank not to pay your own cheque in cases the law does not allow, closing or emptying the account, deliberately getting it frozen, or writing a cheque so it cannot be cashed remains a crime: 6 months to 2 years in prison and/or a fine of at least 10% of the cheque value (minimum AED 5,000) up to double the value.

Partial payment is now mandatory. If your account holds less than the cheque amount, the bank must pay what is there unless the holder refuses, note the payment on the cheque and give the holder the original cheque with a certificate of the payment. The holder can then claim the rest using that cheque. In these cases the bank must also report the account holder’s details to the Central Bank.

The two routes can run side by side. The law says a criminal case over a cheque does not stop the holder from enforcing the cheque through the court or claiming compensation.

These rules deal with cheques. Our guide to bounced cheques after the 2022 reforms covers them in more depth.

Travel bans: when they can stop you leaving

A debt does not stop you at the airport by itself. In a debt case, a travel ban comes from a court order. A creditor can ask a judge for one as an urgent interim order in a debt case, or as a request in the enforcement file once it has a judgment, and the UAE Government portal says a pending legal case can mean a ban. In Abu Dhabi courts, the judge decides an urgent request by the next business day, and the person banned can object, usually within 7 days of being notified.

Court fee to register a travel ban

AED 400

Abu Dhabi Judicial Department lists a court fee of AED 400 to register a travel ban as an interim order.

The glossary explains the term travel ban. This section covers what a ban means for leaving; how bans are lifted, and every official way to check one, are in our guide to travel bans for debt.

Checking for a ban before you travel

The UAE Government portal advises checking before you plan travel. Its suggested channels:

• the Dubai Police app, from the App Store or Google Play;
• a smart police station;
• an enquiry about cases through the UAE’s Public Prosecution.

The portal also links to an Abu Dhabi Judicial Department enquiry service, and suggests a lawyer or the nearest immigration office or police station if you need help.

When a debt ban lapses

A travel ban over a debt does not last forever if the creditor does nothing. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department sets two deadlines.

When a debt travel ban lapses

8 / 30 days

A travel ban obtained over a debt lapses automatically if the creditor does not show the judge a filed claim for the debt within 8 days of the order, or does not start enforcing the final judgment within 30 days of it becoming final.

In both cases the ban lapses automatically: the debtor does not need to apply and no separate judgment is needed. A lapse does not stop the creditor from filing a new request, paying the court fee again.

Before you leave: a checklist

Start as early as you can. A credit card can take up to 45 calendar days to close, so begin at least that far ahead of your flight. Work through the steps in this order, because some depend on others.

1. Buy your credit report. It shows the loans, cards and other facilities lenders have reported in your name. The Etihad Credit Bureau sells it for AED 84 including VAT through its app, and the DubaiNow and TAMM apps show it after a UAE PASS login. See how to check your AECB report.
2. List every debt. Include loans, cards, overdrafts, buy now pay later plans, any loan where you are the guarantor for someone else, and every cheque a lender holds from you. Ask each lender for a written settlement figure.
3. Settle, or agree a plan in writing. If you cannot clear a debt before you go, agree the amount, the payment method and how the lender will contact you, in writing.
4. Work out what your end-of-service benefits can clear. The fee for settling a personal loan this way is capped (see the next section).
5. Get your security cheques back. Ask in writing once a debt is settled, and do this before you close the account the cheques are drawn on.
6. Close cards and other accounts. Ask for card closures first, because they take longest.
7. Collect clearance letters. Get a clearance or no-liability letter for every loan, card and account you close.
8. Check for a travel ban. Use the channels above before you book.
9. Keep copies and stay reachable. Save every settlement confirmation and letter, and keep an email address the lenders have on file.

Time to close a credit card

45 days

A bank must close a credit card account within 45 calendar days of the request and confirm it in writing, unless a balance is still outstanding; the card should be frozen once closure is requested.

Time to close other accounts

7 business days

Apart from credit card, payment and investment accounts, a licensed institution must close a consumer's account within 7 complete business days of the request and, by the 8th business day, provide the clearance and liability letters needed for the closure and written confirmation that the account is closed.

Our guide to closing cards and clearance letters covers the card steps in detail, including what a no-liability letter should say.

Settling with your end-of-service benefits

If you clear a personal loan in full from your end-of-service benefits or another source, the lender’s fee for that final settlement is capped at 1%, with a maximum of AED 10,000, before VAT. The steps are in early settlement of a personal loan.

Fee cap for final settlement of a personal loan

1%, max AED 10,000

For consumer (personal) loans, the fee table caps early settlement from other bank loans, final settlement from other sources such as end-of-service benefits, and partial payment at 1% each, with a maximum of AED 10,000.

The Central Bank’s fee table sets similar caps for other loans you might clear before you leave:

All three caps are stated before VAT, and they are maximums, so a lender can charge less.

Worked example

Clearing a AED 60,000 personal loan from end-of-service benefits

The balance is an illustration. The fee table does not say what the 1% is charged on; this example applies it to the outstanding balance, as the table’s home loan rows do.

1. Outstanding balance on the settlement date: AED 60,000.
2. Fee cap: 1% × AED 60,000 = AED 600.
3. Ceiling check: AED 600 is below the AED 10,000 maximum, so the 1% figure applies.
4. Balance plus the largest fee the cap allows, before VAT on the fee: AED 60,000 + AED 600 = AED 60,600.
5. For comparison, the AED 10,000 ceiling only matters above AED 1,000,000 outstanding, because 1% × AED 1,000,000 = AED 10,000.

This borrower pays at most AED 600 in settlement fees, plus VAT on that fee.

Ask the lender for the settlement figure in writing before you transfer the money, and check that the fee on it is within the cap. Whether a bank can take your gratuity or an unemployment insurance payout directly is a separate question, which a planned guide on gratuity, ILOE payouts and loans will answer.

If you have already left

Contact each lender in writing, agree a plan you can keep, and keep records. Central Bank rules require a lender to approach you about arrears and discuss options that help resolve them. At your request and with your express consent, it must also deal with an authorised representative acting for you, which helps if you are abroad.

• Ask for the numbers in writing. Get the current balance, fees and interest, and any settlement offer, by email so you have a record.
• Agree any plan in writing. Include the amounts, dates and how you will pay from abroad.
• Correct a wrong record. If the “Left Country” flag or another entry is inaccurate, ask the bureau to raise a data correction request with the lender that reported it.
• Watch for a sale notice. If the lender sells or transfers the debt, you should get 60 calendar days’ written notice naming the third party.
• Complain if the lender does not respond. Start with the lender’s complaints process, then escalate. Our guide explains how to complain to the bank and Sanadak.

Coming back to the UAE later

You can plan a return, but your record and any open case may still be there. Negative entries stay on your credit report for years, and a court case or enforcement file may include a travel ban.

How long negative records stay

Up to 5 years

Defaults, missed payments and bounced cheques stay on the credit report for up to 5 years, even after the amount is settled.

• Check for a ban before you travel. A ban would stop you leaving the UAE again, so use the channels above before you book.
• Close the case properly. In Abu Dhabi courts, an enforcement file can be closed at the creditor’s request, once enforcement is complete, or on the basis of a notarised settlement agreement. Keep the settlement and the closure confirmation.
• Check your credit report first. Before you apply for credit again, make sure settled debts show as settled and the “Left Country” status is accurate.