Is it a crime to be a Blackman or woman?Racism against black people must stop and ll surely ll stop.
Racism everywhere esp against black people.

Hi there

I'm afraid my experience (2nd hand) of Dubai Immigration officials is horrendous. My fiance (a Kenyan national) was on his way to the UK - yes with a legitimate UK visa & no he's not a drug smuggler. He had to change airlines in Dubai so had to go out through Immigration, collect his luggage, & then check back in & go back through Immigration.

He tried to get back through Immigration for FOUR DAYS. Each time the officials would hold him for up to 7 hours at a time, ask the same questions over and over & then tell him he had been 'cleared to travel' & give back his passport...however, he couldn't proceed to the departure gate as his plane was long gone. So he had to go back to the check-in desk & start all over again. In the end, the airline duty manager accompanied my fiance to Immigration several times & tried to speak to the officials but it made no difference.

My fiance finally gave up & returned to Nairobi.

We intend to lodge a formal complaint.

Sorry but this IS an example of blatant discrimination in Dubai possibly coupled with incompetent officialdom...a lethal combination.

^^
Your fiance should fly direct to the UK from Nairobi.
For black Africans in particular, when you take those convoluted travel routes and change airlines in the manner you described, it raises red flags with the security people, and causes grounds for suspicion.

In this post-911 era, airport security and immigration people in most countries generally have carte blanche to hold people in suspicion, if they feel they have grounds to do so. Your fiance should have saved himself the hassle and booked a direct ticket to the UK, or at least flown with one airline so he wouldn't have to clear customs in Dubai. I doubt your complaint will get any airplay beyond a vague apology, if they even bother to respond. But good that you're trying anyway.

AjanleKoko: ^^
Your fiance should fly direct to the UK from Nairobi.
For black Africans in particular, when you take those convoluted travel routes and change airlines in the manner you described, it raises red flags with the security people, and causes grounds for suspicion.

In this post-911 era, airport security and immigration people in most countries generally have carte blanche to hold people in suspicion, if they feel they have grounds to do so. Your fiance should have saved himself the hassle and booked a direct ticket to the UK, or at least flown with one airline so he wouldn't have to clear customs in Dubai. I doubt your complaint will get any airplay beyond a vague apology, if they even bother to respond. But good that you're trying anyway.

Thanks for your reply. My fiance actually did have a direct flight booked from Nairobi to UK with Emirates which meant he would only have been in transit in Dubai - i.e. no need to pass through Immigration. However, he was bumped off the Nairobi to Dubai flight with many other people as it was overbooked and after waiting a couple of days he gave up waiting & jumped on an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Dubai & of course that's where the problem began.

Jwana:

Thanks for your reply. My fiance actually did have a direct flight booked from Nairobi to UK with Emirates which meant he would only have been in transit in Dubai - i.e. no need to pass through Immigration. However, he was bumped off the Nairobi to Dubai flight with many other people as it was overbooked and after waiting a couple of days he gave up waiting & jumped on an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Dubai & of course that's where the problem began.

Okay, now I see the issue.
Just for next time sha. Black Africans from Africa tend to get hassled at airports, especially when your itinerary looks odd.
Not only at Emirates. Generally I avoid long layovers myself, and any scenario where I have to change airlines. Apart from immigration wahala, it's always convenient to have your luggage booked through to the country of final destination.

I think the best thing to do is to learn Arabic........throughout my time at Oman, I've never been subjected to any racial discrimination be it dubai, qatar,kuwait et al

What racism? Some of locals are black. There are many sudanese in there police force. I don't think these guys commenting here have really lived in UAE.

AjanleKoko:

Okay, now I see the issue.
Just for next time sha. Black Africans from Africa tend to get hassled at airports, especially when your itinerary looks odd.
Not only at Emirates. Generally I avoid long layovers myself, and any scenario where I have to change airlines. Apart from immigration wahala, it's always convenient to have your luggage booked through to the country of final destination.

Yes - you're absolutely right & my fiance has now returned to Nairobi. He is now looking at direct flights to the UK or at least flights with one stopover with the same airline that don't require going through Immigration. My only concern about doing this is that when he gets to the UK questions may be asked about what happened in Dubai etc.