Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

Am coming to Dubai for 2 years after Christmas from Oz - 2 questions. Can I bring, or have sent over, a collection of CD's and DVD's or will they be confiscated as I've been told? As codeine is banned, what would the be the strongest painkillers available that's readily available?

Pirated = Pot luck. Half the people I know that recently came lost their 'collection'. Funny also that these were the half that bothered to try to reduce the risk of confiscation - seperating things and/or sending through different bundles etc.

What if they're not copies but originals?

I only heard that they confiscate if the material is pornographic or somehow obscene to Muslim sensibilities (whatever that entails )

Why are you worried if they are originals? - unless of course you're bringing in a huge personal p<3n collection.

i think "pot luck" is the best description
i know people whos' art book collections have been censored.. with a black marking pen - purely because they depict the naked body - not in any obsene way either. others have managed to bring thier books and home videos through without any censorship at all. music cd's are not realy a problem.
i think the bottom line is, if its to valuable to risk being damaged or holds some sentimental value rather leave it behind if you feel that it may be mildy sensative. bare in mind that 99.9% of dubai may not find it offensive, but the customs inspector may be in the 0.1%

can't offer much help on the painkillers, codiene is a BIG no-no. Don't even bring any with! There are plenty of alternative prescription (and non prescription) medications available here.

pamby wrote:Am coming to Dubai for 2 years after Christmas from Oz - 2 questions. Can I bring, or have sent over, a collection of CD's and DVD's or will they be confiscated as I've been told? As codeine is banned, what would the be the strongest painkillers available that's readily available?

well if it's hme made DVDs u better mislabel em those officers wont even care. One officer took amny Cds of mine and ask me is that all? I nodded and at the same time hid my "special" DVDs and he returned after 10 mins and returned those cds. I guess he was checking for p<3n Which was on the other. Poor officer can't get to see em cos that DAMN etisalat or same salat blocks em.

Hospitals can prescribe you codeine or equivalent painkillers (but I expect they'll only do it if they really need to).

Getting caught with it in your bags will probably cost you a 4 year jail sentence.

My DVD info here...
http://www.dubaiforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=46027#46027

Lowest risk entry method in my opinion would be to bring them with you in accompanied baggage.

when my husband went to Abu Dhabi he took lots of DVD's (anime, 24, startrek series) in his personal luggage and he had no problems...

I had no problems either and I had boxes of the darn things, but then I think if you're a girl, wait your turn and smile sweelty they often don't even bother checking.

We got rid of some books and movies that we figured would be censored or confiscated when moving to Dubai. We did have some burned CDs and movies in our shipment. Oddly enough, the only thing that got checked when we moved was my box of bras, undies and lingerie. If x-rayed, they would have seen that there was nothing else in there but clothing.

I guess we were lucky - our container wasn't touched, apparently the customs guy took a look at the jammed packed container and took the agent's word for it that it was household items (he looked at the manifest).

Our movers cleared the container through customs as part of the package price... all our DVDs etc were in labelled boxes, as were all the books we have.

Also, none of our baggage was searched when we arrived.. but I guess a young family doesn't raise too many suspicions - but I still think there are hidden subversive messages in Fimbles, Barney and the notorious Teletubbies! (Tinky Winky and his handbag! )

Nothing was touched for me either.... I actually went to the port in Jebel Ali with the transport firm's employee and the customs agent just looked at me asked me if I was Arab and if I was a Muslim. Yes on both counts. Then he asked me to tell him that I had nothing "bad" (whatever that means), I said of course not and he just signed off on me and told me to enjoy my day...

Mine was handled by the agents and my things remained intact.

K, they must have x-rayed urs and wanted to have a peek-a-boo.

Yeah, maybe they were having a boring day so they decided to get a little thrill. Who knows.

I thought cross dressing would be frowned upon?

I re-washed everything, just in case.