Mohammed Abu Al Samen, Staff Reporter
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has provided Emirati travellers with key travel guidelines and advice for their safety and the safety of their companions.
It called on them to ensure that their passports were valid for at least six months, to fulfil all visa requirements and health conditions before travelling, to ensure the availability of international health insurance that covers the duration of travel and to register in the Twajudi service together with all family members.
It also recommended that Emiratis abroad should keep the emergency number (+97180024), which is available round the clock, follow the alerts issued by the authorities in the destination country, keep electronic copies of the supporting documents and plan the trip with reliable and international travel agencies and car rental companies.
MOFA urged Emiratis to check road and weather conditions before setting out and during their journey, to abide by local traffic laws and regulations in the destination country, to exercise caution while driving and travelling outside the country and to choose air travel whenever possible, as it is safer and more comfortable.
Recently, MOFA received a total of 1,257 requests for a return document from Emiratis during 2025.
The return document is issued electronically to Emiratis within 30 minutes after a request is submitted, while travelling through the country’s representative missions abroad in order to facilitate their return to the country in emergency cases such as loss, damage or expiry of the ordinary passport. Out of these, 366 requests for a return document were for newborn Emiratis outside the country.
A request is submitted to issue an electronic return document for Emirati children born while abroad. According to MOFA statistics, the requests included 734 cases of lost passports, 126 cases of expired passports, 366 requests for return documents for newborns outside the country and 31 cases of damaged passports.
The highest number of return document requests was recorded in December with 204 requests, followed by August with 166, July with 130, January with 119, June with 97, May with 89, April with 88, February with 84, October with 80, September with 74, November with 72 and March with 54.