A British man’s dream holiday to Dubai was ruined after he was refused entry because of his tattoos.
Jordan Howman, 34, landed at Dubai International Airport for a week-long getaway with his fiancée Theresa, 38, and daughter Kaic, 16.
Jordan, from Crewe, had forked out £3,000 for his third trip to the United Arab Emirates, his ‘favourite country in the world.’
But on arrival, he was pulled over by customs officers, before being refused entry after a six-hour wait due to his face tattoos.
Jordan got the markings on his face around eight or nine years ago alongside words like ‘blessed’, ‘family’ and ‘crazy life’ and said it has never caused problems during his previous two visits to Dubai.
He said: ‘It has absolutely devastated me. I feel like I’ve been massively discriminated against.
‘My missus has been crying her eyes out.’
‘There’s no law against face tattoos – there’s nothing like that.
The plasterer said the experience had made him feel ‘absolutely rubbish’ and had put him off travelling to Dubai again.
He added: ‘It was my favourite country, but this has absolutely ruined it. Now I’ll never go again. I’ve lost all of my money because of a pattern on my face.’
The UAE has become one of the go-to destinations for wealthy British expats and holidaymakers alike.
But the state’s socially conservative policies can cause problems for visiting foreigners.
Britons have previously faced arrest for public displays of affection, including kissing.
The UAE also has a zero tolerance for drugs, with passengers found with even residual amounts of illegal substances facing a prison sentence.
Jordan’s Emirates airline touched down at Dubai International Airport on Wednesday, June 111, at 7.30am.
‘It was my third trip to Dubai,’ he said.
‘I’d had no problems all the other times. But this time, as we got in, I scanned my passport and was just about to go through security when an airport worker pulled us aside.
‘We were about to put our hand luggage on the conveyor belt when the man said: ‘Follow me’.’
After taking Jordan aside, the man asked if he’d had his passport stamped before taking it from him.
‘Then he snatched my passport out of my hand,’ he said.
‘There had been nowhere to stamp it – we’d used the electronic gates. It was just an excuse to get the passport out of my hand.’
After being held in a waiting room for over four hours, Jordan was transferred to immigration at around 12pm, he said.
By this time, his family had reached the five-star Anantara hotel.
He called his partner and she got a taxi to the airport but he says ‘they wouldn’t let me see her’ and she got a taxi back to the hotel, costing a total of £250.
Jordan said he was not given his passport back for some time which was ‘terrifying’.
‘A woman came and took me upstairs to immigration, where they said: “He’s not coming in because of his face tattoos – you’re not coming in because of the way you look”,’ he said.
‘One of the staff behind the desk said a more senior immigration officer made the decision, saying I was not to enter Dubai and that I must leave the country immediately.’
At 2.30pm, Jordan was put on another Emirates flight heading back to the UK.
‘They sent me on a flight back to Manchester. It was only when I landed that I got my passport back. Friday morning was the first time I got to see my daughter, over Facetime’, he said.
Metro approached Dubai Airports for a comment and an attempt was made to contact the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigh Affairs Dubai.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
