Relocating to Dubai need advice

[c.rupp]

Hello

We are a German/Afrikaans family with a 6month old baby boy relocating to Dubai from South Africa end of May.

We were told by our moving agents that we can't bring any books as it will slow the process of clearing our furniture container at customs.

We are quite fond of our books and have a great collection and want to know if there is any way to bring them over.

[synthia]

Welcome to the forum. I moved your thread to Dubai, where you should be able to get some more specific help.

[Elphaba]

You can bring books in! Just not anything saucy or considered anti-Islamic.

When I moved here not a single box was opened from my shipment, but there seems to be an element of 'pot luck' and I know of others who have had boxes searched. Even in a worse case I wouldn't have thought that a search would add more than a couple of days.


Just check through your books. Even a racy cover might displease and watch out for art books too. You should also not bring in any religious artifacts, pictures etc.

[hksgp]

Hi, there,

We have been advised by our shipper that the UAE does not allow the importation of any religious books, period. We are concerned because our daughters are homeschooled with a Catholic school and most of the textbooks are Catholic-based.

We researched this on the internet and looked into the Dubai Customs website but it has not been very helpful. It is not clear what the exact application is. Some sites are explicit that nothing religious can be imported but some sites only say that religious books are not allowed if they are deemed to be blasphemious against Islam, which our textbooks obviously are not.

Since it is said that customs inspections are done on almost every shipment, it is all the more important that we find out beforehand lest that our textbooks should be confiscated.

It would be greatly appreciated if someone can share with us their practical experience.

Thank you!

[sgilli3]

I bought all of our school books over (we homeschool- and most of the books are Christian based)

The only books etc that I would deem to be a problem would be any that are morally offensive, religiously offensive (anti Islam) or politically offensive.

There are sooooo many churches here including St Mary's and St Francis of Assisi and Bibles can even be purchsed here.

[hksgp]

Thank you, sgilli3! This is a sigh of relief to us!

Any idea about pictures/statues of Jesus, the saints, and Mary? Either brought as part of our baggage or shipped separately?