Bangladesh Included in UAE 2025 Visa Ban, Affecting Travel and Jobs

(UNITED ARAB EMIRATES) The United Arab Emirates has halted new tourist and work visas for citizens of Bangladesh, Somalia, Cameroon, Afghanistan, Uganda, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Lebanon in 2025, creating immediate complications for travel and hiring across the Gulf hub. The suspension, described as temporary and effective immediately from late September 2025, applies only to new applications. Existing visa holders from these countries are not affected and may continue to travel or remain in the country on valid permits.

No official public statement has been issued by the UAE naming the countries or outlining the terms, and no end date has been announced. But recruitment agents, applicants, and government officials in several affected nations say applications for new UAE entry permits are being rejected or not processed. Uganda’s foreign minister, Henry Oryem Okello, said the measures are in place but not absolute.

“It is not a blanket prohibition. Some people will still go, but it will be based on the risk of a person overstaying their visa or failing to respect the laws and culture of the UAE,” said Okello, responding to reports that visa requests had been blocked.

The move—widely referred to across agencies and news outlets as a UAE visa ban—has prompted confusion and conflicting messages, particularly for Bangladesh, one of the UAE’s largest sources of migrant labor. The Bangladesh Embassy in the UAE denies there is a formal policy. It called reports of a ban “incorrect” and “inauthentic.” Tareq Ahmed, Bangladesh’s Ambassador to the UAE, said: “UAE authorities have not issued any new directives regarding the ban.” Yet, in practice, recruitment companies and applicants report halted files and returned passports, and immigration circulars circulated to labor brokers in multiple countries warn that new submissions are not being accepted.

The impact has been immediate in cities that depend on Gulf-bound departures. Recruitment agencies in Kampala, Khartoum, and Mogadishu describe suspended contracts and applicants being turned away at the first step of the process. Agents say clients who were weeks away from start dates in construction, domestic service, and retail have been told their visas will not be issued in 2025 unless they already held valid approvals. Employers in the UAE are now facing gaps in sectors that lean heavily on workers from Bangladesh, Somalia, Uganda, and Sudan, making it harder to fill basic service and manual roles quickly.

Officials and analysts attribute the suspension to a mix of security, immigration, and diplomatic concerns. In private guidance shared with agencies, the reasons cited include fraudulent documents, irregular migration, and broader security risks. Diplomats have also pointed to tense bilateral exchanges with some capitals. But without an official public list from Abu Dhabi, enforcement is happening at the application level, case by case, with consular staff in origin countries and corporate HR teams in the UAE relaying the same message: new tourist and work visas for the listed nationalities are not being issued.

Applicants describe a narrow path for those who already hold valid permits. Workers with current residency or employment visas remain able to return after home leave, and tourists with existing multi-entry approvals may transit as planned. That distinction has pushed some travelers to seek alternative routes—flying to Turkey or to neighboring Gulf states in hopes of lodging a UAE application from there—though agencies say these workarounds are being blocked when files reach UAE processing desks. Guidance sent to job seekers now stresses that only those with valid visas should book tickets, and that new applications lodged in 2025 will be turned back without a decision.

The uncertainty is particularly hard for families who depend on money sent home from the Gulf. Remittances from the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states are a financial lifeline in Bangladesh, Uganda, and Sudan, and recruiters in those countries warn that even a temporary halt will mean fewer departures and fewer transfers. In Bangladesh, where tens of thousands move to the Gulf for construction and service jobs each year, agents say clients have already paid for medical tests and training for roles in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, only to be told to wait indefinitely. In Somalia and Sudan, applicants who completed background checks and contract signings have been told that their files are “on hold” with no time frame.

The timeline adds to the frustration. The reports first filtered through late in September 2025, with agencies saying the policy was effective immediately. Weeks later, those accounts have hardened into a new reality for the affected passport holders. As of November 6, 2025, there has been no official reversal or modification, and no date set for when the suspension might be lifted. Some governments have requested clarification from Abu Dhabi, but there is still no public directive that applicants or employers can cite, and no standardized exemptions for specific categories of travel.

The lack of a formal announcement has also sharpened political sensitivities. Bangladesh’s Embassy insists there is no blanket policy, citing its own engagement with UAE counterparts. It has publicly described news of a ban as “incorrect” and “inauthentic,” and Ambassador Tareq Ahmed’s assurance—“UAE authorities have not issued any new directives regarding the ban”—has offered a measure of calm for Bangladeshi citizens with existing status in the Emirates. At the same time, the growing stack of rejections and agency circulars has convinced recruiters that, policy memo or not, the pause is real and being applied widely to new files originating in Bangladesh.

In Uganda, the government has taken a different tone. By acknowledging that high-risk profiles may be filtered out while some travel continues, Henry Oryem Okello has signaled that compliance and prior travel history could matter. His comment that “It is not a blanket prohibition. Some people will still go, but it will be based on the risk of a person overstaying their visa or failing to respect the laws and culture of the UAE” suggests a screening posture rather than a single across-the-board ban. For candidates in Kampala, that has translated into a stop-start process, with interviews and document checks continuing in some cases but no final visas issued.

In Somalia and Sudan, agents report a simpler pattern: files opened after late September have not moved forward. In Mogadishu, firms that typically place workers in retail, restaurants, and hotel support roles say they have canceled deployment dates through the end of the year. In Khartoum, several agencies have told clients to wait until new guidance arrives, noting that their recent submissions were declined without explaining the grounds. Recruiters in both cities say they have paused advertising for UAE roles to avoid collecting fees that might need to be refunded.

The UAE’s stance has ripple effects inside the country as well. Construction sites and service businesses that had queued up new hires from Bangladesh, Somalia, and Uganda are now leaning on overtime and temporary staffing. Domestic worker agencies in Dubai and Abu Dhabi say placements from several countries on the list have frozen at the approval stage, forcing families to switch to candidates from other nationalities or delay hiring. Retail groups that depend on seasonal staff have told recruiters they will shift hiring to markets not affected by the suspension, even if that raises costs or lengthens training timelines.

For applicants, the fine print matters. The current measures apply to new applications for tourist and work visas; they do not cancel or restrict the travel rights of people who already hold valid approvals. There is no published list from the UAE government, so the only visible signs are the rejections and lack of processing on new files. Agencies caution that submitting repeat applications under different categories has not helped, and that cases lodged in third countries have fared no better once they reach UAE systems. Travelers are being urged to check directly with UAE embassies or consulates before making plans or payments, and to confirm the status of any existing approvals before departure.

Amid the uncertainty, employers are recalibrating their recruitment timelines. Some construction firms are shifting to staggered start dates, expecting that the pause will eventually ease. Others are exploring hires from countries not included in the reports. Domestic worker agencies say the clampdown has narrowed supply, particularly for candidates with language skills in demand in Emirati households. Retail and hospitality groups worry that a prolonged pause will complicate staffing ahead of major events and holiday periods, when visitor numbers typically rise.

For Bangladesh, the stakes are high. Workers bound for the UAE often borrow to cover recruitment charges, medicals, and training, counting on steady salaries to repay those debts. When departures stall, families in Dhaka, Chittagong, and villages across the country scramble to cover interest payments. Agencies say they are holding client funds in escrow and promising refunds if files are not processed, but many costs—testing, background checks, skill courses—are not recoverable. In Somalia, where formal employment opportunities are limited, a blocked path to service jobs in the Gulf leaves fewer options at home. In Sudan, where conflict and economic crisis have pushed more people to seek work abroad, recruiters say the pause has cut off one of the few stable destinations for young job seekers.

For now, those caught in the middle are looking for clarity—either an official list and criteria for exemptions or a timeline for resuming processing. The designation of the measure as temporary has raised hopes that the door could reopen in stages, perhaps first for select categories or vetted employers. But without an official notice, agencies and applicants are planning week to week, checking status screens that show files with no movement since late September.

The UAE has encouraged applicants to rely on official channels for visa services, and employers say they are monitoring updates from federal authorities and consulates. Applicants and sponsors typically manage new filings through the UAE ICP visa services portal, but agencies note that the current situation concerns eligibility rather than technical processing, leaving little room to resolve issues once files are flagged based on nationality. Recruiters advise against paying third-party fixers who claim they can bypass the suspension, warning that such attempts often end in loss of funds and could lead to longer-term travel restrictions.

The message filtering through in Kampala, Khartoum, and Mogadishu is blunt: wait. Agencies that normally process dozens of departures a week report empty pipelines for the affected nationalities, while those with candidates from countries not on the list say they remain busy. The fragmented communications have left room for rumors—claims of hidden quotas or quiet releases—but the pattern remains consistent across reports: new visa applications from the listed countries are not being accepted, and there is no official timeline for lifting the measures.

For citizens of Bangladesh and Somalia in particular, the pause cuts into established pathways to the Gulf. Workers already in the UAE continue to send money home, but their friends and relatives slated to join them in 2025 are stuck at the starting line. Employers who built hiring plans around steady inflows from these labor markets are now revising schedules and scouting alternatives. And families banking on new remittances are tightening budgets, waiting for a signal that the window to the Emirates will open again.

Until Abu Dhabi issues a public directive or clarifies exemptions, practical guidance remains simple. New tourist and work visa applications from Bangladesh, Somalia, Cameroon, Afghanistan, Uganda, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Lebanon are being turned back; existing visa holders can travel as normal. Officials cite security, irregular migration, and diplomatic concerns, and some governments are seeking talks, but there has been no change to the on-the-ground reality. With no official end date and no formal list published, the suspension continues to reshape travel plans and hiring in one of the world’s busiest migration corridors, with the economic effects gathering pace as the year wears on.