In a separate case, a British mum is stuck in Turkey after breaking a hotel shower during a celebration involving her boyfriend’s new veneers. She’s now trying to raise funds to get back home to her daughter.
Jordan had traveled with his fiancée Theresa, who is 38, and his 16-year-old daughter Kaic, excited to visit what he describes as his favorite country. But the family’s plans quickly fell apart when he was detained by airport officials for six hours. His passport was taken away, and he was eventually put on a plane back to Manchester.
Jordan, who works as a plasterer, has several tattoos inked across his face. Among them are the words “blessed” and “crazy life.” But despite the message, he wasn’t feeling very blessed when their entire holiday unraveled in a matter of hours.
“There’s no law against face tattoos – there’s nothing like that.”
“I’m a lovely lad, I get on with anyone. It’s made me feel absolutely rubbish. I’m not allowed in a country because of the way I look. It’s properly, massively affected me.”
After making it through passport control at the airport in Dubai, Jordan says he was stopped and questioned about whether an official had stamped his passport during entry.
He went on to claim: “He snatched my passport out of my hand. There had been nowhere to stamp it – we’d used the electronic gates. It was just an excuse to get the passport out of my hand.”
He claimed: “A woman came and took me upstairs to immigration, where they said: ‘He’s not coming in because of his face tattoos – you’re not coming in because of the way you look.'”
“One of the staff behind the desk said a more senior immigration officer made the decision, saying I was not to enter Dubai and that I must leave the country immediately.”
Dubai is known as a top destination for travelers from around the world. But while the UAE is admired for its luxury and safety, it also has strict rules that can catch visitors off guard. That said, there’s currently no official law banning face tattoos.