The United Arab Emirates (UAE) National Advance Information Center has issued a new guideline for travelers entering the Gulf country, forcing them to put their full names on their passports. According to the rule that came into force on Monday, November 21, passengers with a visit visa or a visa on arrival must clearly declare their first and last name in their passport. The rule, however, does not apply to UAE resident card holders.
What is the new UAE passport rule for travellers?
Any passport holder with a one-word name – either in the “first name” or “surname” column of their passport – will be considered an “inadmissible passenger” (INAD) and will not be permitted entry. the country by immigration officials. .
For example, a traveler can no longer enter a single name, such as “Arun”, in the “first name” or “last name” columns of their passport. It will be considered invalid.
A name such as “Arun Kumar”, however, will be acceptable. “Arun Kumar” can be entered as the first name, as the last name, or with “Arun” as the first name and “Kumar” as the last name. These formats will be accepted.
According to a report by Khaleej timesseveral Indian citizens with only one name on their passports have already been banned from flying out of the country.
However, a passenger whose passport has both first and middle names written in either the first name column or the middle name column will qualify, as this will be considered a clerical error.
Also, a passenger with only one name on the passport, but whose visa mentions the father’s name or the surname on the second page, will be allowed.
Who is affected by the new UAE passport rule for travelers?
The rule only applies to people with visit visas, visas on arrival, work visas and temporary visas.
Indian citizens holding a UAE resident card are exempt from the rule.
How have airlines reacted to the new UAE passport rule?
Air India issued a notification stating that “as per the National Advanced Information Center – UAE…any passport holder with single name (word) either in surname or single name will not be accepted by UAE immigration and the passenger will be considered INAD. “These passengers will not be issued a visa, and in cases where the visa has been issued previously, it will be inadmissible by immigration authorities, the airline added.
Circular issued by Air India Express to all travel agents.
Indigo, meanwhile, said: “As instructed by the UAE authorities, effective November 21, 2022, passengers with only one name on their passport traveling on a tourist, visit or any other type of visa will not be permitted to travel to/from the United Arab Emirates. ”
Circular sent by IndiGo airlines to travel agents on November 21, 2022.
Although the new rules take effect immediately, travel agents are asking people to wait for further information before applying for a visa or making changes to their existing documents.
What the International Civil Aviation Organization said about passport names
To implement the new rule, the UAE government relied on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Part 3.4 spelling convention.
According to ICAO, “the name of the holder is generally represented in two parts; the primary identifier and the secondary identifier. The issuing state or organization establishes which part of the name is the primary identifier. This can be family name, maiden or married name, principal name, surname, and in some cases full name when the holder’s name cannot be divided into two parts. This must be entered in the primary identifier field in the VIZ. It is recommended to use uppercase characters, except in the case of a prefix, for example “von”, “Mc” or “de la”, in which case a mixture of upper and lower case is appropriate. ”
ICAO recommends the use of uppercase characters throughout.
It also indicates that if only one field is used for the name, the secondary identifier should be separated from the primary identifier by a single comma (,). A comma is not necessary if multiple fields are used.
The International Civil Aviation Organization is an agency of the United Nations which coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, in order to ensure the safety and growth of international air transport.
What goes into choosing a name?
Even though the most common naming convention is to have two parts to a name, this varies from country to country around the world. For example, according to a research report entitled “Law Enforcement Guide to International names”, Hispanic names contain both the paternal surnames of their father and their mother, and traditional Arabic names are composed of at least four elements and may include five or more generations of ancestry and/or other components such as religious title, place of family origin and name of an honored ancestor, etc.
India, however, has no standard naming convention and is influenced by castes and religious complexities. While many people use family or caste names as surnames, others adopt regions or take initials that represent one of their relatives and/or their surname. While some resort to the region they come from, others simply choose to skip the baggage and stick with their first name.