Criminal defence
Bail Applications
Someone you know has been detained in Dubai and you are trying to find out where they are, what they are accused of, and how to get them out. That is the position most people are in when they call a bail lawyer in Dubai, and it is usually those three questions in that order.
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The short answer
This page explains what happens after an arrest, when release before trial may be possible, what a guarantee can involve, and what you can do today. It is written for the person on the outside, because that is normally who has to act.
We are a licensed advocate practice in Dubai. Nobody can tell you from a web page whether release will be granted, and be careful of anyone who says otherwise. What we can do is identify the file, tell you what stage it has reached and make the application properly. Call +971 50 747 9570 or email help@lawyerindubai.ae.
What to do first
Find out where the person is being held
Start with the station. If the person managed to call you, ask for the name of the police station and the case or report number before anything else. Those two details make every later step possible, and they are the first thing any lawyer will ask for.
If you do not have them, they can be traced. Enquiries with the police and the Public Prosecution can identify which office holds the file, the case number and the allegation. Families ask us to do this most weeks.
What to have ready before you call anyone
- The person’s full name exactly as it appears on their passport
- Passport number and Emirates ID number
- Nationality and date of birth
- When and where they were last in contact
- Their employer, job title and residence visa status
- The name of the complainant, if you know it
- The case or report number and the station, if you have them
- A short written account of the background, in date order
If several of these are missing, call anyway. A gap in the information is a normal starting point.
What not to do
Do not approach the complainant to argue or to offer money. In some cases a settlement is relevant and in others it changes nothing, and an approach made the wrong way creates a second problem.
Do not post about the case publicly or discuss it in group chats. Do not sign anything on the detained person’s behalf that you have not read. Do not assume the matter will resolve itself if the family stays quiet.
What happens immediately after an arrest
The police stage
A criminal matter in the UAE normally begins with a complaint at a police station or through an official police channel. The police take statements from both sides, gather documents and refer the file onwards. At this point it is an investigation, not a charge. What the detained person says in that first interview goes into the file and stays there, so get advice before it is given if there is any way to do so. Tell them not to sign a document in a language they cannot read.
Referral to the Public Prosecution
The police do not decide whether a case is brought. They refer the file to the Public Prosecution, which decides whether the matter is closed, investigated further, or sent to the criminal court. Where a person is being held, the law sets a period within which that referral has to happen.
How long a person can be held before a decision
Detention before trial is not open ended. It runs in defined periods and has to be renewed by the authority that ordered it, rather than continuing by default. We do not publish those lengths or renewal intervals, because they differ by stage and by allegation, and a wrong figure sends a family to the wrong place on the wrong day.
When release on bail in the UAE may be possible
Who decides
While the matter is under investigation, the decision sits with the Public Prosecution. Once the file has been referred, the criminal court decides. Establishing which of the two holds it comes first, because that determines who the application goes to and what it has to say.
What a guarantee can involve
Release before trial is normally conditional and usually arranged against a guarantee, which can take more than one form. A person may stand as guarantor for the released person’s attendance. A passport may be deposited. A financial guarantee may be set. A combination may be required.
Which form is used, and what is asked for, is decided case by case by the prosecutor or the court. We publish no figures, because a number written on a website would be wrong for most readers and would give a family the wrong idea of what to prepare.
Why release is refused in some cases
The decision takes account of what is alleged, how far the investigation has got, whether release could interfere with it, and what ties the person has to the country. Some allegations are treated more seriously and the room for release narrows accordingly.
A refusal at one stage is not necessarily the final answer. The position can be looked at again as the file develops, particularly once missing documents have gone in. That is not a promise that a later application will succeed, and we will say plainly if we think one has little prospect.
What a guarantor takes on
A guarantor undertakes to produce the person when they are required to attend. It is a real obligation with real consequences, not a formality. Anyone considering it should understand what happens if the released person does not attend, and should read the document in a language they understand before signing it.
Conditions that come with release
Passport retention
Release is commonly conditional on the passport being deposited with the authority handling the file. The person is then out of custody but cannot leave the country while the case is open. Families are often unprepared for this, because they expect release to mean the matter is over.
Travel restriction
A travel restriction may also sit against the person in its own right, separately from any condition of release. A ban can arise from the criminal file, a civil judgment or an enforcement action, and the route to lifting it depends on which. Our page on travel ban removal covers it.
Attendance and contact
Release normally carries an obligation to attend when summoned and to be contactable at a known address. There may also be a reporting requirement, or a prohibition on contacting the complainant or going to a particular place.
What happens if a condition is breached
A breach is treated seriously. Missing an attendance, attempting to travel, or contacting the complainant where that has been prohibited can lead to release being revoked and the person returned to custody, and it can have consequences for the guarantee and for whoever gave it.
If an attendance has been missed for a genuine reason, say so through a lawyer immediately rather than waiting to be contacted. Explaining it at the time is a different thing from explaining it later.
How the position changes once the case reaches court
Once the Public Prosecution refers the file, the criminal court decides on release. An application is made at a hearing, supported by written submissions filed in Arabic. The court works from a completed file rather than an open investigation, which changes the arguments available and the emphasis of the application.
After a first instance judgment the position is different again, and depends on the judgment and on what is being appealed.
What a bail lawyer in Dubai does
Identify which authority holds the file and obtain the case details. Read what is actually alleged, which is frequently not what the family has been told. Advise on whether to apply now or once something specific has gone into the file. Prepare and file it in Arabic with supporting documents, put the guarantee forward in a form the authority will accept, attend, and explain afterwards what was said.
A criminal case lawyer in Dubai does this alongside the defence, because the material that supports an application for release is usually the material that matters to the case itself. Our page for criminal lawyers in Dubai sets out how a file moves through the police, the Public Prosecution and the courts.
If you are abroad, the file can still be dealt with. The usual route is a power of attorney appointing a lawyer to act, signed where you live, then notarised and legalised so it is recognised here, with a legal translation into Arabic. Start that early.
Bail work is charged on the stage and scope of the work, never on the outcome. Our legal fees page sets out how we quote. Be careful of anyone who attaches a price to a result.
Questions families ask us
How quickly can an application be made?
As soon as the file has been identified and we know which authority holds it and what is alleged. How long that takes depends on how much of the information above you already have. We would rather give you a realistic answer once we have seen the file.
Can I visit the person?
What is allowed depends on where they are held and on the stage the file has reached, and it changes.
If the complainant withdraws, does the person come out?
In some categories of case a withdrawal ends the matter and in others the prosecution continues regardless. Find out which category the case falls into before anyone agrees terms or pays anything.
Can the family make the application themselves?
A family member can make enquiries and gather documents, and that part genuinely helps. The application itself is a legal filing in Arabic addressed to the authority holding the file, and it has to address the allegation, the guarantee and the person’s circumstances. That is the part to hand over.
When is a deposited passport returned?
Where a passport was deposited as part of a guarantee, its return follows the resolution of the file rather than the release of the person.
Speak to a bail lawyer in Dubai
If someone in your family is in custody, the useful thing to do today is establish which authority holds the file, what the allegation is and what stage it has reached. Everything else follows from those three facts, and we can start as soon as you call.
Call +971 50 747 9570 or email help@lawyerindubai.ae. Our office is at Empire Height Towers, Marasi Drive, Business Bay, Dubai, and you can also use the form on our contact page.
Related pages: criminal lawyers in Dubai, travel ban removal, legal fees.
What this costs
The first ten minutes are free. After that a standard fee applies and you are told what it is, in writing, before any work starts. Court and government fees are set by the court and are separate from ours.
Tell us what happened
Ten minutes, no charge, and a straight answer about whether you need a lawyer for this.