There's an Interpol Red Notice or Extradition Request Against Me

Three situations hide behind the same words: you have been stopped or detained in the UAE on another country's notice or diffusion; you are outside the UAE, facing a notice the UAE requested over a case here; or no one has stopped you yet, but you suspect a notice exists. The route, the urgency and the lawyers you need differ in each.

A Red Notice: Interpol describes it as a request to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action, published at a member country's request. It is not an arrest warrant; Interpol cannot compel any country to arrest the person, and each country decides what legal value to give it. A diffusion: Interpol's Rules on the Processing of Data define it as a request or alert sent directly by a National Central Bureau to others and recorded in a police database (Art. 1(14)).

A UAE warrant or travel ban — not the same thing: a UAE travel ban stops you leaving the country; a notice concerns being located and held for another process. You can have either without the other. Extradition is also not deportation: see our pages on checking a travel ban and on being told you will be deported.

If someone has just been detained, act now. LEXNOVA is not a law firm, but LEXNOVA Legal Connect can help you describe the notice or request and introduce potentially suitable criminal-defence and cross-border lawyers, including lawyers who take instructions from abroad; the lawyer decides the strategy.

You generally cannot confirm a notice by searching Interpol's public website. The formal route is an access request to the CCF, which any person may make, directly or through a duly authorised representative, free of charge (CCF Statute, Arts. 29 and 30). Since 26 March 2026, all CCF requests must go through Interpol's dedicated online portal, with only limited exceptions; start from Interpol's 'How to submit a request' page, whose portal guide is available in Arabic.

An access request may not reveal everything. Interpol's General Secretariat must tell the CCF within 45 days whether data about you are processed (Art. 33(2)), but what you are told can be restricted, for example to protect an investigation or the rights of others (Art. 35(3)). The CCF must decide within four months of declaring the request admissible, extendable for a reasonable period with reasons (Art. 40).

If you suspect the UAE is behind it, check the UAE side too. The official self-checks confirmed for this page are limited: Dubai Police's 'Circulars and travel bans' service, which lets individuals check for financial-case and travel-ban circulars issued against them, and the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department's Estafser service, which lets people check, using their unified number or Emirates ID, whether any active criminal cases are recorded against them. There is no confirmed nationwide check for criminal cases, so a UAE lawyer checking the file is often the only complete answer. Check before you travel.

How a notice is flagged at a passport check is not publicly documented. What Federal Law No. 39 of 2006 sets out is what can follow: the Attorney General may order a person sought to be held for a limited period set by law, on the strength of an arrest warrant issued by a foreign judicial authority, while the requesting country sends its formal extradition request. The person may be released with guarantees in that period and re-arrested when the request arrives.

Two points are often misstated. The law speaks of a foreign judicial arrest warrant and does not mention Interpol notices, so whether a notice alone is enough to hold someone is a question for your lawyer. And the law does not make release automatic if the formal request is late; it says the person may be released. A lawyer first establishes what the detention rests on, which country asked, for what offence and when the file is due.

If you are in transit and never cleared immigration: whether a transit passenger can be held on a notice has not been confirmed, so do not assume staying airside keeps you out of reach. If you are the family member or employer: you can instruct a UAE lawyer immediately and from abroad. General arrest rights are covered on our page on being arrested in the UAE; a consulate can help with welfare but cannot represent anyone.

LEXNOVA Legal Connect can help you describe the notice or request, for yourself or for someone detained, and introduce potentially suitable criminal-defence and cross-border lawyers. LEXNOVA is not a law firm; it cannot check Interpol's files, remove a notice or stop an extradition.

The UAE cooperates in criminal matters under the international conventions it is party to or, otherwise, on the basis of reciprocity. The Ministry of Justice's guide, published in 2020, recorded 31 bilateral conventions on surrender, judicial assistance and transfer of sentenced persons; whether one covers the requesting country today is for a lawyer to check. The conduct must be a crime in both countries and meet a minimum-penalty threshold. The law has been amended once (the official portal shows a September 2023 update), so a lawyer confirms the current text.

The competent Court of Appeal hears the request in closed session, with the Public Prosecution, the person sought and their lawyer present, and decides whether surrender is legally possible. The Attorney General and the person sought can challenge that decision before a higher court within a short, fixed period, and surrender is carried out only with the Minister of Justice's approval. Surrender by written consent is also possible; consent must be voluntary and informed, so never consent before taking legal advice.

The law lists cases in which extradition is not permitted: the person is a UAE citizen; UAE courts have jurisdiction over the offence; the offence is political (with listed exceptions such as terrorism) or military; the request aims at persecution on grounds of race, religion, nationality or political opinion; the person is being prosecuted in the UAE for the same offence, or has been tried and acquitted, or convicted and served the sentence; a final UAE judgment exists; the case or penalty is time-barred; or there is a risk of torture or inhuman treatment, or minimum fair-trial guarantees were lacking.

A UAE-requested notice rests on a criminal case in the emirate where it sits, commonly, by all reports, a complaint left open when someone left the country. The case is usually the starting point, but no primary source reviewed for this page says the authorities will withdraw a notice once a case is closed or settled; a lawyer pursues that with the authorities and, if needed, the CCF. Returning with an open case can mean arrest or a travel ban, so establish the case's status first; if it is still at complaint stage, see our page on a police complaint filed against you.

Cheque and debt-related cases: whether, and how far, a cheque case is still criminal, and how an older case is affected, is for a UAE lawyer to check; see our page on bounced cheques. Separately, Interpol's list of offences for which Red Notices may not be issued, updated on 28 January 2022, names 'unfunded cheques' among offences deriving from private disputes, unless the conduct facilitates a serious crime or is suspected of links to organised crime. That is a ground to raise with the CCF, not a promise of deletion.

Fraud, breach-of-trust and embezzlement cases: a complainant's waiver ends a UAE criminal case before final judgment, and stops the penalty afterwards, only for a defined list of complaint-only offences; fraud and breach of trust are on it only where the victim is the accused's spouse, ascendant or descendant (Criminal Procedures Law, Arts. 11 and 17). Otherwise, whether repayment or settlement helps is for a UAE lawyer. Time-bars, which depend on the offence's seriousness, and challenges to judgments given in a person's absence also need a lawyer to check the file.

The CCF is independent in the performance of its functions (CCF Statute, Art. 4) and decides requests for access to, and correction or deletion of, data held about a person in Interpol's information system. Interpol's Constitution strictly forbids any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character (Art. 3), and its Rules on the Processing of Data require an arrest warrant or equivalent judicial decision and a minimum level of seriousness before a Red Notice is issued.

The access request: this usually comes first (Step 2). The deletion request: it must give reasons, and the CCF must decide it within nine months of declaring it admissible, not of filing; the Requests Chamber may extend that where circumstances warrant, if the extension is reasonable, promptly communicated and explained (Art. 40). It may also decide on provisional measures at any time (Art. 37(1)).

What the CCF will and will not look at: arguments rest on Interpol's own rules, such as the political-character bar, the legal-basis and seriousness requirements, and the list of offences for which Red Notices may not be issued, which covers private disputes such as unfunded cheques and defamation, and matters such as drug possession for personal use, subject to its exceptions. Decisions are final and binding on Interpol and the applicant (Art. 38(1)); revision is possible only on newly discovered facts, within six months of discovery (Art. 42). Be wary of anyone promising removal within a set time.

Travelling through third countries while a notice or diffusion is live is a risk to weigh with a lawyer, not a question with a general rule, because each country decides what value to give a notice. Before relying on a pending CCF request, ask whether provisional measures have been sought or ordered.

Keep the two systems apart. A CCF decision binds Interpol and the applicant; it does not close a UAE case, lift a UAE travel ban or withdraw an extradition request made between states, and closing a UAE case does not by itself remove Interpol data. After a cancellation, Interpol asks member countries to delete the information nationally.

The usual team is a UAE criminal lawyer, a lawyer in the requesting country or where you live, and, where needed, a lawyer experienced with the CCF, working together so that a step in one forum does not damage another. Instructing from abroad usually means a power of attorney, which may need attestation (see our guide on the document attestation chain); for a UAE ban, see our guide on removing a travel ban.