Employers withholding employee passports is illegal

An article to explain and educate the rights of overseas employees to their passports.

It is common practice for overseas jobs to have an employee’s passport be kept by their employers but not a lot of employees know that it is illegal.

It is quite frequent for employers to argue towards their employees that they have the right to keep their employee’s passports due to reasons of “simple safekeeping” or “contractual reasons” But there is actually a percentage of these employers that end up taking advantage of these “passport safe-keeping” methods that endangers the lives or livelihood of employees abroad.

Important Read: 15 Things to Know about Working and Living in the UAE

So if you’re in a position in which you may be asked to surrender your passport to your employer or are forced to do so, this article may help you figure out the answers to commonly asked questions regarding retention of passports and your rights as a passport holder. This article will also discuss the things you need to do to avoid the retention of your passport.

Commonly Asked Questions regarding Passport and Retention:

Question: What is a passport and how can I use it?
Answer: Passports are Identification items that are issued by your country’s government. Your passport is not just your property, it is a government property as well.

This is a crucial travel document, you cannot travel to any other country besides your home country, without your passport.

Passports are also customized according to the country’s choosing (It depends on the country’s National Colour, Animal, Plant, etc.). Your passport is customized to be machine-readable and biometrics capable.

Question: Why do I need to keep my passport safe?
Answer: Again, your passport is your identification card. It is your proof that you are a legal citizen of your home country. Your visas are also stamped in your passport, so if you lose it you won’t be able to give proof to your employers or embassies that you are working/visiting/studying in a particular country.

You need to keep your passport safe as without it, your status, especially if you’re in another country, will be limited. You will be prone to situations that will dangerous to your livelihood (i.e. deportation, fines, jail time, etc.)

If by any chance your passport gets lost, you need to report it to your nearest embassy for assistance.

Question: My employer just asked me to surrender my passport to them for safekeeping, should I do it?
Answer: There’s a simple answer to this question, if you’re currently working as a regular employee that doesn’t need extra supervision when it comes to working overseas, you should say no. 

Employers’ only reason for keeping passports is for security, they do not want their employees to leave without their permission.

Question: What if they force me to surrender my passport because it’s part of the “contract”?
Answer: Employers who insist on keeping your passport without your consent can be reported, as it is ILLEGAL. Your passport is your personal document, it is the identification card of your citizenship. In any country’s Law, it cannot be forced to be surrendered as that will be illegal.

Question: My employer told me that he will keep my passport in a secluded place wherein we both will have access to it.

Answer: The same answer, you should still say no. If you leave your passport in a secluded area, voluntarily for your own safekeeping, that is legal. If your employer insists on keeping it in a secluded place, and it’s not voluntary, it is illegal.

Question: When can it be considered legal to keep an employee’s passport?
A: It is always illegal to withhold an employee’s passport. However, Employers who might hire employees outside of the country to handle their money, investments, stocks, etc. might be obliged to keep their employee’s passports for safekeeping as money matters need extra supervision.

If you don’t work for an employer that will make you handle any money matters, you should not surrender your passport to your employer.

What are your rights as a passport-holder?

When it comes to rights or rules of law regarding passports or identification documents, every country has a different rule. Majority of countries have laws that states;

1. It is not allowed for any party to detain the passport of an individual
   1. Except by the official parties with a judicial order
   2. And if it is according to the law
2. It illegal otherwise.

In countries like the UAE, employers are allowed to keep an employee’s passport if the employee consents. Most countries allow safekeeping of employee’s passports however, no country allows it to be detained against the bearer of the passport.

It’s your responsibility you have every right to say no when it comes to surrendering your identification document such as your passport.

Technically, your Government Owns the Passport

Okay, let’s step back a bit. Technically, the passport is owned by your government. The name on the passport is the bearer and he/she is responsible for taking care of it and should be the one safekeeping it.

In the photo below, it shows the back part of the passport as part of the Important Reminders. It says “This passport is the property of the Republic of the Philippines. It must be surrendered upon demand by an authorized representative of the Philippine Government.”

This basically means that this Philippine passport belongs to the Philippine government. You can actually show this to your employer that to emphasize that they should not keep it.

What can you do to avoid retention of passport by employers?

There are things you can research and acknowledge to provide yourself some closure before accepting any condition by your employers when it comes to your passport, visa, or any other identification document.

BEFORE SIGNING YOUR CONTRACT:

1. Ask your employer about their rules regarding holding passports. If they have a policy that tells you they have the right to retain your passport, you can negotiate against that. If your employer doesn’t want to negotiate, look for other jobs. Do not risk your privacy and security for this job who doesn’t follow the rule of law when it comes to passport holding.
2. If you don’t want to look for another job and you think you can still negotiate with your employer, contact your embassy to get a hold of an official document that states that retention of passports is illegal, so you will have proof that you can say no to that part of any contract.

YOU’RE ALREADY IN A CONTRACT AND YOUR PASSPORT IS BEING HELD?

1. Kindly request your employer to return your passport. If they refrain from doing so, let them know the rule of law that it is illegal to detain passports against the owner.
2. If your employer insists on holding your passport, you can notify your employer that you are willing to take your situation into legal matters. Do not make it a threat-like response, notify them simply that you want to confirm your situation with your embassy or the country’s ministry of labor.
3. If your employer is still holding your passport, consider calling your embassy to help you, consult with them the steps you need to take to get your employer to return your passport. There are certain cases that the embassy will send somebody under their name to defend your rights against detaining your passports.
4. If in worse case scenarios that your embassy doesn’t reply, you can contact the ministry of labor of the country you are currently working in, to report your employer. Do note that your employer will be notified about your complaint. If you are under a certain implication that your employer will do rash decisions against your complaint, contact a lawyer.
5. There are also circumstances that will allow you to deposit your passport to your embassy once you go to another country and sign a contract, this counts as safekeeping, if your employer disagrees and insists that they will personally keep your passport, you can report them to your embassy.

There are certain recurrent cases overseas that lead to dangerous outcomes of retaining not only the passport but also the individual against their rights.

When this happens, approach the nearest police station, do not be afraid of calling for help from the authorities. You are an overseas worker, therefore keeping you detained in any shape or form, even if your document is the only thing detained, is an illegal matter which will be approached by any officer of the law.

THERE ARE SOME EXCEPTIONS YOU NEED TO NOTE:

• There are cases wherein you do agree to have your employer keep your passport, you can have them return it and they should always agree unless an illegal matter of the employee was done.
• There are also certain cases you can ask your employer for a signed document that will give proof that they will return your passport once your visa/contract expires.
• Do not be rash and call your embassy to report your employer right away when they refuse to return your passport, some employers or companies have different procedures when it comes to returning personal documents of employees, so some of those procedures might take longer time than expected. Communicate with your employer and ask them questions so that your employer will not get rushed and you can get the confirmation you need.

To conclude every fact above, always remember to be knowledgeable when it comes to your rights as overseas workers. There are still employers out there that may or may not take advantage of your identification documents. You need to be able to make sure you are secured physically and legally.