Job Discussion Forums

[JCMach1]

Honestly, I couldn't think of a good topic heading for this.

In August, my family will be moving to Sharjah to take a position with AUS. Fortunately, the University provides excellent and furnished housing. However, we had some questions about bringing other things into the country.

Can we expect any hassle over bringing in DVD's? What about books?

Also, we have converted our CD collection to MP3's... Will there be any hassle over bringing these in?

[Pat]

As long as it is neither porn nor blasphemous, you can bring it in. Sharjah may be a bit stricter than Dubai, but you shouldn't have concerns.

[well-travelled]

But there is a ritual you have to got through.

You - or your representative - will have to go to the port. Your stuff will be put through an X-ray machine and books etc. will then be inspected manually.

Your books will be passed with no problem - unless, say, you have a book of Art History with numerous paintings of Ruben's plump nudes, for example. Then you may need to argue your case!! (This has actually happened!!)

CDs, DVDs and videos of invisible visual material (i.e. films - music's usually ok) will probably be taken away from you and returned to you a few days later once they've been inspected.

This happened to me when I arrived and I was told that one of my vidoes was unacceptable and would be destroyed. They were not allowed to give the title of the video and to this day I have absolutely no idea what video it was. On the other hand, my DVD of Kubrick's "Clockwork Orange" came through without a hitch........

Welcome to the realm of the absurd.........

well-travelled

[johnslat]

Dear well-travelled,
" . . . one of my vidoes was unacceptable and would be destroyed. "
Destroyed? As you probably already know - that's a laugh. I used to have a student who was the head of Customs in Jeddah. He had one of the most extensive VCR libraries in the Kingdom, and NOT just of X-rated stuff, either
Regards,
John

[Stephen Jones]

Video confiscated? Probably "Lawrence of Arabia"; it's certainly the most banned video in Saudi.

[veiledsentiments]

Everyone in the Middle East has a customs story. A neighbor of mine in Oman was standing out on the tarmac (in the punishing August sun as we all had to do) going through his air freight with the customs man when his Playboy calendar was encountered. The customs man carefully paged through each month studying the pictures. When he got to December, he looked and said 'What is this?' My friend said, 'A calendar.' The customs man said,'Ah...' and put it back in the box.

There were long discussions in the department about why it was not considered porn and confiscated. Perhaps because the woman was alone in the pictures??

[MoggIntellect]

Is it possible to bring a Torah to any of these Arab nations or is that considered blasphemous?

[Cal]

How about my CD copies? I have copies of both music and software, not for mass production or anything, of course. Does anybody happen to know if customs will crack down on that?

Thanks,
Cal

[JCMach1]

or carry some in with our luggage?

I would like to have some of our kid DVD's for our daughters to settle in with the first couple of days.

[shmooj]

I want to resurrect this thread if possible as MoggIntellect asked about a Torah.

What about Bibles or Christian books? I head there could be hassle over these?

Also, do they inspect stuff on your laptop?

While I'm at it, what about net access in UAE and restrictions on that? Could you be in trouble for visiting certain politically/religous/sexually dodgy sites? Do they track this sort of stuff.

Sorry but last time I was in the M.E. the net was in embryo form

[grand fromage]

I've never been checked in Dubai despite carrying books, cds, dvds and laptops. Abu Dhabi is a different story, and it is an airport to avoid for other reasons as well-it's not up to Dubai standards by far, and things can take much longer than you'd like. Religious books should be no problem. After all, you can buy crosses, bible clocks (similar to mosque clocks), pictures of the Virgin Mary, etc. in stores openly. Just don't bring multiple copies of any as it could be taken the wrong way; spreading the word here will get you a jail sentence, unless you're muslim, of course Regarding the net, don't worry-you'll just be blocked from seeing a site, but they don't keep track of you trying to access one.

[JCMach1]

We went straight through customs.