Pakistan flights: Passengers with single name on passport not allowed to enter UAE, says airline

Passengers flying from Pakistan to the UAE with a single name on their passports will not be allowed to enter the UAE.

“The UAE government has revised the naming guidelines for allowing entry in the Emirates. As per the guideline update, passengers holding passports with [only] a single name and no other name, including father name/family name will not be accepted,” Pakistan’s Serene Air said.

The South Asian carrier said travellers with a single name, either in the ‘first name’ or the ‘last name’ category on the passport, will not be permitted to enter the UAE.

Please see the example below:

Pakistan-UAE is one of the busiest air routes as South Asian nationals account for the second largest expatriate community in the UAE, totalling around 1.6 million.

On Wednesday, the Australian government also issued an advisory for its citizens, asking Australian passport holders to have at least two words in the name fields.

“If you have only one name in your passport, you will be refused entry,” it said in a statement on its website.

“Indian and Pakistani nationals have either father, husband or family names, too, in the passport. So we don’t’ see much of an issue for them. But some other South Asian nationalities have single names in their passports which could be challenging,” said Adnani.