A British tourist says he was left devastated after being denied entry into Dubai and deported—apparently due to his facial tattoos.
Jordan Howman, a 34-year-old plasterer from Crewe, England, had spent £3,000 on what was meant to be a relaxing week-long holiday in the United Arab Emirates with his fiancée Theresa, 38, and 16-year-old daughter Kaic.
But just after landing at Dubai International Airport on the morning of June 11, Jordan was stopped by immigration officers, held for several hours, and eventually put on a flight back to the UK, while his family went ahead to check in at their hotel.
Jordan, who has had the tattoos for around eight or nine years, said the markings—including geometric shapes and the words “blessed,” “family,” and “crazy life”—had never caused any problems during his two previous visits to Dubai.
“I feel like I’ve been massively discriminated against,” he said. “It’s absolutely devastated me.”
After scanning his passport at the electronic gates, Jordan was pulled aside by an airport employee who took his passport under the pretext of needing a stamp.
“There had been nowhere to stamp it – we’d used the electronic gates,” Jordan recalled. “It was just an excuse to get the passport out of my hand.”
He was then held in a waiting area for over four hours, before being moved to immigration. At that point, his partner Theresa, who is also tattooed but was not barred from entering, took a taxi to the airport—but was not allowed to see him and had to return to their hotel, spending £250 on transportation alone.
Jordan claims an immigration officer told him he was being refused entry due to his tattoos and that a senior official had made the decision to send him home.
“They said: ‘He’s not coming in because of his face tattoos – you’re not coming in because of the way you look.’”
At 2:30pm, Jordan was escorted onto an Emirates flight back to Manchester. He only received his passport back upon landing in the UK. He finally reunited with his daughter the next day—via FaceTime.
“It was my favourite country, but this has absolutely ruined it. Now I’ll never go again,” Jordan said. “I’ve lost all of my money because of a pattern on my face.”
While facial tattoos are not explicitly banned, conservative social norms in the UAE can lead to unpredictable outcomes for visitors. The country has strict laws regarding public behavior, drug possession, and even public displays of affection.
