Court finds travel permit’s purpose fulfilled after mother returned children to UAE within approved period
The Sharjah Sharia Court of First Instance, Department of Urgent Sharia Matters, rejected an appeal filed by an Asian father against a judicial order allowing the Arab mother of his two children to travel with them to her home country. The court found that the mother had travelled with the children and returned them to the UAE within the permitted period, fulfilling the purpose of the legal guarantees required to ensure their return.
The case began when the court issued an order permitting the mother to travel with her two children to her country, subject to the provision of a guarantor who met the legally required sponsorship conditions. The father appealed the order, stating that he did not object to the children travelling with their mother but was concerned about the guarantees and procedures needed to ensure their return to the UAE.
The father requested that the mother be required to deposit clear copies of the children’s passports in the case file before the travel permission was executed. He also sought disclosure of the legal status of the travel documents, the identity of each passport and its holder, their validity, and the purpose of their use. In addition, he requested that the guarantor and the guarantee be subject to judicial examination before travel.
He further demanded documents proving the guarantor’s identity, place of residence, financial solvency, legal capacity and ability to meet his obligations. He also requested that the children’s passports or identity cards not be handed over, and that the travel permission not be executed, until all conditions and guarantees had been judicially verified.
His requests also included defining the responsibilities of the Social Services Department in supervising implementation of the order and requiring the mother to submit her final travel itinerary, her address in her home country, and details of her planned return to the UAE before the travel permit was executed.
The court heard the appeal in the presence of both parties through their legal representatives and accepted it in form after confirming that all legal procedures had been met.
In its reasoning, the court stated that the Personal Status Law allows a custodial parent to travel with a child for one or more periods not exceeding a total of 60 days a year, provided a court-approved guarantee is submitted to ensure the child’s return.
The court explained that the purpose of requiring a guarantee when granting travel permission is to ensure the children’s return to their place of residence and to prevent the guardian from being deprived of the right to supervise and follow up on their welfare, or the custodian from remaining alone with them outside the country.
The court found that the mother had travelled with the two children and subsequently returned with them to the UAE within the permitted period. The father had been given the children’s passports, while the guarantor’s passport had been returned to him. The court therefore concluded that the purpose of the guarantee specified in the travel order had been fulfilled.
It further noted that the father’s objections related to guarantees and procedures that were no longer relevant after the travel had taken place and the children had returned to the country. The event for which the order had been issued had already occurred, and the purpose of both the travel permission and the associated guarantees had been achieved.
The court ruled to accept the appeal in form but reject it in substance, upholding the travel order and ordering the father to pay the legal expenses.
Source: Emirates 24|7