Passport Return Request Letter
Ask your employer in writing to return your passport or other official documents by a date, citing Article 13(2) of the Labour Law, as PDF or DOCX. Nothing you enter here is remembered.
This tool writes the letter an employee sends to ask the employer to return a passport, an Emirates ID card or another official document the employer is holding. It names the documents, the date they were taken if you know it, and a date to return them by, cites the Labour Law, and states that you may file a complaint with MOHRE if they are not returned. You sign it yourself; there is no company letterhead.
What Article 13(2) says
Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, Article 13 lists the employer’s obligations. Its clause 2: “Not withholding the official documents of the worker or forcing him to leave the State at the end of the employment relationship”.
The letter restates this in one sentence, asks for the documents by the date you choose, and says you will sign a receipt when you collect them.
Keeping a record
Keep a copy of the letter and proof that you delivered it, such as an email with the letter attached or a copy signed as received. The labour complaint page lists a written request to return the passport, and the reply, among the documents that support a complaint to MOHRE (Article 54).
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a UAE employer keep an employee’s passport?
Article 13(2) of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 requires the employer not to withhold the worker’s official documents.
What if the employer does not return the passport?
You may file a complaint with MOHRE (Article 54). Keep a copy of this letter and proof that you delivered it.
Is the information I enter stored?
No. Generating sends your entries to our document service, which returns the finished file and stores none of it. The full field-level data flow is published in the Privacy Notice.