Bail in the UAE: How Provisional Release Works
Bail in the UAE is provisional release from custody while a criminal investigation or trial continues: under Articles 108 to 114 of Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2022, the Public Prosecution or the court may release an accused on a personal guarantee, on a bail bond or with a travel ban, and sets the amount of bail.
For the whole procedure from police report to appeal, see the UAE criminal process guide; if someone has just been arrested, what happens in the first hours after an arrest sets out the immediate steps, and how to remove a UAE travel ban covers a ban that outlasts custody.
Release on bail in the UAE is governed by the Criminal Procedures Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2022, which took effect on 1 March 2023 and repealed Federal Law No. 35 of 1992. Its section headed Provisional Release, Articles 108 to 114, lets the Public Prosecution release a detained accused at any time during the investigation, on its own initiative or at the accused’s request, and hands that decision to the court once the case is sent for trial. Outside the instances where the law makes release mandatory, the accused “may be released” on a personal guarantee, on a bail bond or with a travel ban, so release is a decision, not an entitlement. The bail becomes the government’s property if the accused breaks the release obligations without an acceptable excuse, and is refunded in full if a non-suit order ends the case or the accused is acquitted. This guide follows the law’s own text on the federal legislation portal: who decides and when, the detention periods that frame each application, the forms of bail, the money, re-arrest, appeals, electronic monitoring and credit for time in custody. It is general information, not legal advice.
LAST REVIEWED 1 OCTOBER 2026
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Reviewed for legal accuracy by LEXNOVA's team of lawyers. General information only — not legal advice. LEXNOVA is not a law firm.
WHO THIS GUIDE IS FOR
Anyone facing or following a detention in a UAE criminal case: a person questioned and remanded by the Public Prosecution; a relative, friend or employer asked to pay a bail deposit or to stand as guarantor; a person already released who wants to know which obligations the release carries and how the money comes back; and anyone released with a travel ban who needs to understand why being out of custody is not the same as being free to travel. It covers the federal Criminal Procedures Law, which applies across the emirates, with notes on the published bail services of the Dubai and Abu Dhabi prosecutions. Travel bans ordered by the civil courts in debt or family disputes, and cases involving children, are outside its scope.
What Does Provisional Release Mean Under UAE Criminal Procedure?
The Criminal Procedures Law does not treat bail as a free-standing idea. It regulates provisional release: the release of a person held in custody while the investigation or the trial goes on. The rules sit in the section headed Provisional Release, Articles 108 to 114, within the part of the law on investigation by the Public Prosecution. Bail is the security that can be attached to that release. Article 109(1) names three forms: release on a personal guarantee, release on a bail bond, and release with a travel ban.
Release is provisional in two ways. It does not end the case: the investigation or the trial continues, and the bail exists to make sure the accused takes part in it. And it can be reversed: Article 112 allows a new arrest warrant if the evidence becomes stronger, if the accused fails to perform the duties imposed, or if circumstances require it. What release changes is custody itself, which Article 2(2) of the law permits only in the circumstances and on the conditions the law sets out.
Article 110 explains how the amount of bail is provided. It may be paid by the accused or by any third party, by depositing the specified amount with the court treasury. Alternatively, a solvent person may give an undertaking to pay the amount if the accused fails to fulfil the release conditions. That undertaking is recorded in the investigation report or in a report kept in the case file, and the report has the force of a writ of execution, so a person who signs as guarantor takes on an enforceable obligation, not a character reference.
Who Decides on Release, and at What Stage?
The first decision comes quickly. Article 48 requires the judicial police officer, once the accused is arrested and before hearing the accused’s statements, to inform the accused of the charge and of the right to remain silent; if the accused does not furnish evidence of innocence, the accused must be sent to the competent Public Prosecution within 48 hours. The Public Prosecution must question the accused within 24 hours and then order either remand in custody or release.
Where the arrest follows a prosecutor’s arrest warrant, Article 102 requires the prosecutor to question the arrested person immediately; if that does not happen, the person may be held for no more than 24 hours before being sent to the Public Prosecution, which must then question the person immediately or order release.
Custody after questioning is not automatic. Article 103, subject to the law on juvenile delinquents, allows the prosecutor to order that the accused be held in custody only if there is sufficient evidence of the felony or misdemeanour and the offence is punishable by something other than a fine. An offence punishable only by a fine does not meet that condition.
During the investigation, release is in the Public Prosecution’s hands. Article 108(2) allows it to order the provisional release of a person held in custody, for a felony or a misdemeanour, at any time, either on its own initiative or on the accused’s motion. The accused, or a lawyer acting for the accused, can therefore ask for release at any point in the prosecution stage, not only when a detention order is about to expire.
Once the case is sent to court, the decision moves with it. Under Articles 108(2) and 113(1), the court to which the accused is sent decides whether to release a detained accused, detain one who was released, place the accused under provisional electronic monitoring, or overturn any of those decisions. If a court rules that it lacks jurisdiction, Article 113(2) leaves the release question with that court until the case reaches the competent court. At trial, Article 198 allows the criminal court, in all cases, to order the defendant’s arrest or remand and to release a remand prisoner with or without a personal guarantee or a bail bond.
Sending the case to court can itself end custody: Article 126 requires an accused held in custody to be released if the order transferring the case to the competent court does not state that the accused remains in custody. Article 114, for its part, keeps the victim and the plaintiff in the related civil action out of the question: a request by either of them to detain the accused is not admitted, and neither is heard in the discussions on the accused’s release.
How Long Can the Public Prosecution Keep Someone in Custody?
Article 107 sets the periods that frame every release application. A detention order issued by the Public Prosecution is made after the accused has been questioned and is valid for 7 days, renewable for a further period not exceeding 14 days.
If the interest of the investigation requires the accused to stay in pretrial detention after those periods, the Public Prosecution must submit the case file to a judge of the competent criminal court. After reviewing the file and hearing the accused, the judge orders either that detention be extended for a renewable period not exceeding 30 days, or that the accused be released with or without bail. Every extension beyond the prosecution’s own periods therefore passes before a judge who has release as one of the two options.
An extension ordered in the accused’s absence can be challenged. Under Article 107(3), the accused may submit a grievance to the chief justice of the court within 3 days of being notified of the order or becoming aware of it. A judge’s decision extending custody is also open to the short appeal in Article 133, described below.
The federal legislation portal lists the law as amended once, with its last update recorded on 28 September 2023; the periods above come from the consolidated English text published there. The portal also states that the Arabic text prevails if the two versions conflict.
What Forms Can Bail Take, and Who Can Pay It?
Article 109(1) lets the accused be released, outside the instances where release is mandatory, on a personal guarantee, on a bail bond or with a travel ban. The Public Prosecution or the judge, as the case may be, determines the amount of bail. No article in the provisional-release section sets a scale of amounts or a formula, so the figure is fixed by whoever orders the release.
The same article explains what the amount is for. It is allocated as an adequate penalty if the accused fails to appear at any step of the investigation or the trial, and to ensure that the accused does not evade enforcement of the judgment and performs all the other duties the law prescribes. Those duties are what the bail secures, and breaching them is what puts the money at risk.
Anyone may put up the money. Article 110 allows the amount to be paid by the accused or by any third party, by depositing it with the court treasury, so a relative, a friend or an employer can pay it. Instead of a deposit, a solvent person may undertake to pay the amount if the accused fails to fulfil the release conditions, with the undertaking recorded in a report that has the force of a writ of execution.
Release with a travel ban leaves the accused free from custody but not free to leave the country. It is different from the travel-ban order that the prosecutor may issue as a separate measure under Article 99, which is circulated to all ports of the State. Either can be in place while the case continues.
If the accused cannot provide the guarantee or the bail bond, Article 109(2) allows the prosecutor to change, replace or overturn the bail condition, and to order that the accused be held, or kept, in custody from the date the release order was issued. A release order that cannot be met therefore does not simply lapse: the condition can be revisited, in either direction.
Are Some Charges Treated More Strictly?
Yes. Under Article 108(1), a person held in custody for a crime punishable by the death penalty or a life sentence may only be released with the approval of the Attorney General or his deputy. That rule sits in the provisional-release section of the part of the law on the Public Prosecution’s investigation; once the case has been sent for trial, Articles 108(2) and 113(1) give the release decision to the court. The same charges are excluded from provisional electronic monitoring by Article 391, together with offences affecting the internal or external security of the State and offences for which the law prescribes banishment from the State.
The seriousness of the charge also affects representation. Article 4(1) requires every accused charged with a felony punishable by death or life imprisonment to have a lawyer at the trial stage, appointed by the court at the State’s expense if the accused does not appoint one. Under Article 4(2), an accused charged with a felony punishable by a fixed prison term may ask the court to appoint a lawyer if the court is satisfied that the accused cannot afford one.
At the other end of the scale, Article 103 permits a custody order only for offences punishable by something other than a fine, so a fine-only offence cannot support a custody order under that article. Article 100 still allows the prosecutor to issue an arrest warrant, even for an incident in which the accused may not be held in custody, where the accused fails to appear after a notice without an acceptable excuse, is likely to escape or has no known place of residence, or was caught in the act.
What Happens to the Bail Money?
If the accused fails, without an acceptable excuse, to fulfil any of the obligations imposed under Article 109, the bail becomes the property of the government, and Article 111(1) states that no court judgment is needed for that to happen. Missing an investigation session or a hearing is the obvious way to trigger it.
Article 111(2) requires the amount to be refunded in full if a non-suit order is issued on the criminal action, meaning the case is not taken forward, or if the accused is found innocent.
Between those two outcomes, the court has discretion. Under Article 111(3), the court may in all instances decide that all or part of the bail be refunded, or that the guarantor be relieved of the undertaking. A conviction does not by itself settle what happens to the deposit, so it is worth raising the refund with the court rather than assuming the money is lost.
Bail can also continue after a first-instance judgment. Article 234(3) provides that if the convicted person was released on bail, the Court of Appeal may release that person on an undertaking or any other security it determines until the appeal is decided; under Article 234(1), the appeal is filed within 15 days of a judgment pronounced in the presence of the parties.
Keep every receipt. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, for example, advises keeping the official payment receipt for a bail deposit as proof that the bail decision was carried out.
Can Someone Be Taken Back Into Custody After Release?
Yes. Article 112(1) states that a release order does not prevent the prosecutor from issuing a new arrest warrant against the same accused whenever the evidence becomes stronger, if the accused fails to perform the duties imposed, or if there are circumstances that require it. If the release was ordered by a court, Article 112(2) requires the new arrest warrant to be issued by that same court on the Public Prosecution’s motion.
Breaking the terms of release therefore has two separate consequences in the law: the bail becomes the government’s property under Article 111(1), and the breach is one of the grounds for a new arrest under Article 112(1). Where the guarantee or the deposit was never provided at all, Article 109(2) lets the prosecutor change or overturn the condition and order custody.
Once the case is before a court, Article 113(1) gives that court the power to detain an accused who was released, and Article 198 lets the criminal court order the defendant’s arrest or remand in all cases.
Can a Decision on Release or Detention Be Appealed?
The law provides a fast appeal against a judge’s decisions on release and custody during the investigation stage. Under Article 133(1), the Public Prosecution may appeal a judge’s decision to release a detained accused, and the release may only be carried out after the time for appeal has expired. Under Article 133(2), the accused may appeal a judge’s decision extending custody.
The time limits are short. Article 135(1) requires the appeal to be filed by a statement deposited with the criminal court’s clerk office within 24 hours, and Article 135(2) runs that time from the date of the decision for the Public Prosecution and from the date of service for the other parties. Article 136 requires the hearing date, fixed in the statement of appeal, to fall within 3 days, and Article 137 has the Court of Appeal examine these appeals in chambers.
Article 139 sets what the Court of Appeal can do. On the Public Prosecution’s appeal against a release, it may extend custody; if it has not decided within 3 days of the appeal being filed, the release order is carried out immediately. On the accused’s appeal against an extension, it may order release with or without bail. Its decisions on these appeals cannot be challenged.
These articles deal with decisions taken by a judge. During the Public Prosecution’s own 7- and 14-day periods, the law’s own text offers the accused a request for release under Article 108(2), which the prosecution may grant at any time on the accused’s motion. Under Article 395, decisions imposing provisional electronic monitoring follow the same appeal rules and time limits as pretrial detention.
Is Electronic Monitoring an Alternative to Bail?
It is an alternative to detention rather than a form of bail. Article 383 describes electronic monitoring as a measure under which the person may not be away, outside set times, from home or another place named in the order, enforced by an electronic device the person must carry throughout the monitoring period.
Under Article 389, the prosecutor may order provisional electronic monitoring instead of pretrial detention, with the accused’s approval or at the accused’s request, under the same conditions Article 103 sets for custody. The order names the place of residence, the places the accused may and may not go, and the times. Article 392 makes the order valid for 30 days after questioning, renewable once for the same period with the accused’s consent; after that, a judge of the criminal court may extend it, with the accused’s consent, for renewable periods of up to 30 days, or cancel it and remand the accused, or release the accused with or without bail.
Monitoring can be withdrawn. Article 393 lets the Public Prosecution revoke its order and issue an arrest warrant if there is cogent evidence against the accused, if the accused breaches the obligations in the order, if the accused asks for it, or if circumstances require it, and Article 108(2) lets the prosecution revoke a monitoring order at any time. Article 391 excludes the gravest charges, and Article 396 credits time spent under provisional monitoring against a later sentence in the same way as pretrial detention.
Does Time in Custody Count if There Is a Sentence?
Yes. Article 294 provides that a custodial sentence runs from the arrest of the convicted person under an enforceable judgment and is reduced in proportion to the period of pretrial detention. Where the accused is exonerated of the offence for which the detention was served, or a dismissal with prejudice order is issued for it, Article 295 subtracts that detention from any sentence imposed for another offence committed during or before the detention.
Fines are credited too. If a person who was held in pretrial detention or under provisional electronic monitoring is sentenced only to a fine, Article 312(1) subtracts AED 100 from the fine for each day of detention or monitoring. Where the judgment imposes both imprisonment and a fine and the time served exceeds the prison term, Article 312(2) subtracts the same amount for each extra day.
Some judgments end custody at once. Under Article 277, a remand prisoner must be released immediately, or have provisional electronic monitoring cancelled, if the judgment acquits, imposes a non-custodial penalty or one that does not involve imprisonment, orders a stay of execution of the sentence, or if the time already spent in pretrial detention or monitoring covers the sentence.
Does Release on Bail Lift a Travel Ban?
Not by itself. Release ends custody; it does not close the case, and the bail exists to secure the accused’s appearance at every step of the investigation and trial and to ensure that the accused does not evade enforcement of the judgment (Article 109(1)). A travel ban can be part of the release decision itself, as one of the three forms in Article 109(1), or a separate order of the prosecutor under Article 99, which is circulated to all ports of the State. In either case, a person who has been released should not assume that leaving the UAE is allowed.
The government portal u.ae advises that you may have a travel ban if you have a pending legal case in the UAE. Its travel-ban section links to online checks for a travel ban or a claim that prohibits travel, mentions the Dubai Police app and smart police stations, and notes that cases can be enquired about through the UAE Public Prosecution. It recommends checking before planning travel and, if necessary, seeking a lawyer’s help or contacting the nearest immigration office or police station.
How a criminal travel ban is lifted is a separate question from release on bail; the travel-ban guide linked at the top of this page explains the different types of ban.
How Do the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Prosecutions Handle Bail in Practice?
The federal law is applied by both federal and local judicial authorities: Article 3 of the decree that issued the Criminal Procedures Law requires the heads of the federal and local judicial authorities and the Federal Attorney General to issue the resolutions needed to implement it. The published services of two prosecutions show what that looks like in practice.
In Dubai, the Public Prosecution’s online service catalogue, published in Arabic, includes a request for the bail of a detained accused. It describes the service as open to the parties to the criminal case or their representatives, as the route by which the accused can be released on any guarantee the Public Prosecution or the court decides during investigation or trial. The page lists no fee and a completion time of 5 days, asks for proof of the applicant’s identity, and states that the passport holder who will stand as guarantor must attend to sign the bail bond once the request is approved.
Recovering a deposit is a separate Dubai request, for the payment out of the bail security deposited in the case. The page lists no fee and a completion time of 5 days, and requires the request to be made by the person named on the bail-deposit receipt or by that person’s agent, through the Public Prosecution’s website, self-service kiosks or smart devices.
The same catalogue lists a grievance against a decision refusing bail, among the case-related grievances against Public Prosecution decisions. It shows no fee and a completion time of 7 days, and asks the applicant to show identity on attendance, to provide a power of attorney where an agent files it, and to state the grounds or attach a memorandum; besides the customer service centre and the website, prisoners can file it at the penal and correctional institutions. It is addressed to the Public Prosecution about its own decision, which makes it different from the court appeals in Articles 133, 135 to 137 and 139 against a judge’s decisions on release or custody.
In Abu Dhabi, the Judicial Department’s published answers say that when the Public Prosecution or the criminal court asks for a deposit in exchange for release on bail, the amount is paid through one of the department’s approved methods — its deposit service on the website or smart application, or a bank account — and the official receipt should be kept as proof that the bail decision was carried out. They also advise following up after payment to make sure the release procedure is completed.
For the other emirates and for cases before the federal courts, check the current procedure with the prosecution handling the case; this guide describes only services it could verify on an official page.
- Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2022, Article 3 of the promulgating decree and Articles 133, 135–137 and 139 (UAE Legislation) ↗
- Dubai Public Prosecution — request: bail of a detained accused (Arabic) ↗
- Dubai Public Prosecution — request: refund of a bail deposit (Arabic) ↗
- Dubai Public Prosecution — request: grievance against a decision refusing bail (Arabic) ↗
- Abu Dhabi Judicial Department — FAQs: Public Prosecution ↗
What Can a Lawyer Do on a Release Application?
The law gives the defence a place in the investigation. Article 98 permits the accused’s lawyer to attend the investigation with the accused and to review the investigation papers, unless the prosecutor decides otherwise in the interest of the investigation, and Article 106 preserves the accused’s right to contact the lawyer in private at all times, even when the prosecutor orders that the accused have no other contact.
The articles above show what a release decision turns on: whether there is sufficient evidence and whether the offence carries more than a fine (Article 103); whether the investigation still needs the accused in custody (Article 107(2)); whether the charge requires the Attorney General’s approval (Article 108(1)); and what guarantee, amount or travel ban would secure the accused’s attendance (Articles 109 and 110). A lawyer can put those points to the prosecutor or the judge, ask the prosecutor to use the power in Article 109(2) to change or replace a condition that cannot be met, and file the 24-hour appeal where a judge’s decision allows one.
LEXNOVA Legal Connect is a lawyer-matching service, not a law firm. It can help you describe the situation and be matched with independent criminal-defence lawyers in the UAE; it does not apply for release, pay or collect bail, or act in any case, and nothing on this page is legal advice.
Sources & legal basis
- Federal Decree-Law No. 38 of 2022 Promulgating the Criminal Procedures Law (UAE Legislation) ↗
- u.ae — Preliminary checks: check if you have a travel ban ↗
- Abu Dhabi Judicial Department — FAQs: Public Prosecution ↗
- Dubai Public Prosecution — request: bail of a detained accused (Arabic) ↗
- Dubai Public Prosecution — request: refund of a bail deposit (Arabic) ↗
- Dubai Public Prosecution — request: grievance against a decision refusing bail (Arabic) ↗
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