The Kuwait Towers at dusk in Kuwait City. A reader wants to know if he is at risk of arrest due to unpaid debt in the UAE. Walter Bibikow / Getty Images
The Kuwait Towers at dusk in Kuwait City. A reader wants to know if he is at risk of arrest due to unpaid debt in the UAE. Walter Bibikow / Getty Images
The Kuwait Towers at dusk in Kuwait City. A reader wants to know if he is at risk of arrest due to unpaid debt in the UAE. Walter Bibikow / Getty Images
The Kuwait Towers at dusk in Kuwait City. A reader wants to know if he is at risk of arrest due to unpaid debt in the UAE. Walter Bibikow / Getty Images

Can unpaid UAE bank debt lead to arrest in other GCC countries?


  • English
  • Arabic

Can I be arrested in Kuwait if I left Dubai a year ago with unsettled credit card payments? NM, India

The countries of the GCC have separate legal systems and if a police case has been registered against someone in the UAE, it does not follow that there will be a case registered in the other countries. In fact just having left a credit card debt does not automatically mean that a police case is outstanding, as a bank has to register a case and does not do so in every case. All debts should be repaid to avoid consequences, but NM should contact the bank in the UAE to find out if it has registered a police case as well as agreeing a payment plan.

Keren Bobker is an independent financial adviser with Holborn Assets in Dubai, with more than 20 years’ experience. Contact her at keren@holbornassets.com. Follow her on Twitter at @FinancialUAE

The advice provided in our columns does not constitute legal advice and is provided for information only. Readers are encouraged to seek appropriate independent legal advice

Follow us on Twitter @Ind_Insights

The Bio

Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”

Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”

Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”

Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5