UAE has modified its entry requirements for visitors from other countries with effect from November 21. Airlines operating in India, such as Air India and IndiGo, have released comments warning passengers of the modification.
Any passport bearer with a single name will not be permitted to enter the United Arab Emirates, according to a circular issued on Air India’s website. The statement read, “Any passport holder with a single name (word), either in a surname or given name, will not be accepted by UAE immigration and the passenger will be considered as INAD (inadmissible).”
According to the airline, if a passenger’s first or last name appears on their passport, they will not be granted a visa, and if a visa has already been granted to them, the immigration department will not let them board the aircraft.
The current holders of the UAE resident cards are exempt from this new restriction, which only applies to travellers with a visit, employment, temporary, or visa-on-arrival documents.
Additionally, IndiGo has released a statement stating that travellers having a single name on their passports who are travelling on a tourist, visit, or any other sort of visa will not be permitted to travel to or from the UAE.
The statement read, “As per instructions from the UAE Authorities, effective 21st November 2022, passengers with a single name on their passports travelling on tourist, visit or any other type of visa shall not be allowed to travel to/from the UAE”.
However, the low-cost carrier stated that passengers having a single name on their passports and who are in possession of a work permit or a visa for temporary residency may travel as long as the same name is updated in both the “first name” and “surname” columns.
The Consulate General of India (CGI) in Dubai on Thursday also tweeted that “visa issued with more than one name, a passenger has father’s/family name mentioned on the second page is accepted.” It added that a passenger eligible for a visa on arrival with the “father’s/family name mentioned on the second page is accepted.”
Following the public disclosure of this new regulation, affected travellers who had reserved tickets to travel to the UAE in the upcoming days contacted airlines via Twitter on Thursday with a number of concerns. Such laws do not apply to those who use a single name in other nations.
For instance, the US merely writes FNU — first name unknown — on the visas of such individuals. According to the official website for applying for US visas, if you have only one name or if your name only appears in one line in your passport, then on the visa, your complete name will only be printed in the surname field and ‘first name unknown’ or ‘FNU,’ will be printed in the given name field.
