Expat teachers are unaware of passport rights

ABU DHABI — A majority of the expatriate teachers in the UAE are unaware of their rights to retain their own passports, Khaleej Times has learnt.

By Anjana Sankar

Published: Wed 16 Mar 2005, 9:06 AM

Last updated: Tue 28 Feb 2023, 3:40 PM

They surrender their passports to the school management under the impression that it is mandatory to do so. They are kept in the dark by their employers who foresee potential danger of the teachers switching jobs for better prospects.

As per some social workers and diplomats, it is a tendency prevalent only in the Gulf countries to impound the passports of the workers by the sponsors.

As per international labour regulations, it is a violation of the law to withhold the travel documents of the expatriate workforce.

A number of private school teachers whom Khaleej Times spoke to said that they have no idea about their rights to keep their own passports.

And those who know about it expressed their disillusionment that the law is not being enforced strictly in the country.

"My passport is with my school. When I joined the school two years back, I was asked to submit my passport to the administration like all other colleagues. I did so under the impression that as an expat worker, my sponsor has the right to withhold my passport as long as I am working for him," said Michael, a teacher from the Philippines.

Michael is not the only one to think that way. More than a dozen school teachers from India whom this reporter spoke to expressed bewilderment that it is equally illegal to hand over their passports as it is to withhold anybody else's.

"In that case, almost all the teachers in the UAE are breaking the law, so are the schools. But when they demand the passport, we cannot say 'no' as the job is more important," said Haseena, a Pakistani teacher. (name changed on request.)

But her colleague, who did not give her name opined that passport is more secure with the sponsor.

"I don't want to keep it with me for fear of theft, fire or any such unforeseen incidents. If my sponsor gives me the passport whenever I have to go home, what is the problem," she asked.

But it is not just that easy, vows many others.

"They make big fuss to release our passports. It is as if we are begging for a favour," complained Rowla, a Lebanese teacher.

The deputy director of an upscale school who requested anonymity said that they keep the employees' passport for ministry records.

"During inspections, the ministry officials ask us to produce either the passport or the labour card of our teachers," he said.

According to the principal of a British-run school, by withholding the passports, the schools are forcing their staff to break the law of their land since the passport rightly belongs to the country that issued it.

"I feel that the countries that send their citizens abroad and the respective embassies should take initiative to enforce the law," he opined.

A diplomatic source told this scribe that there is no law in the UAE, or for that matter in any country, that gives the employer the right to keep the workers' passports. According to him, the authorities should enforce the law and slap stringent penalties on those who impound their workers' passports.