What Happens if You are Caught Using a VPN in the UAE?

First, a disclaimer: We’re not legal experts, and what you read here are simply personal takes and interpretations of legal issues that a UAE resident might face as regards the internet and VPNs, not professional legal advice. So we advise you to take legal counsel from legal experts to be sure.

Being aware of a country’s legal boundaries is essential if you are there. This is especially true if it’s some issue that might seem straightforward like the internet.

Especially in the UAE, you have to be cognizant of the relevant legal repercussions so you can choose your bypassing method against restrictions with more care and resolve. It’s a VPN that you’re most likely to choose as your method, and in the UAE, to have a VPN in UAE is a must not a nice-to-have. Here’s why every UAE resident needs a VPN. Read also our previous blog on the topic:

Can you get caught using a VPN in UAE?

Internet in UAE

It would seem odd only to a few nowadays that in certain countries the government limits their citizens’ access to the internet.

Countries like the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have taken similar measures to restrict internet access in their own countries as well. They’re not alone in this. It’s common practice throughout the whole MENA region, Iran, Russia, and China, to name just a few.

This is basically because the government in these countries tends to politicize and ultimately regulate the Internet by restricting their residents’ access to certain materials and services.

You may wonder why governments impose these constraints on the normal flow of data on the internet. In the case of some countries, it’s mainly political, in others political and religious, but in the UAE it’s both of them with the addition of another component, the commercial side of affairs, which as we mentioned, is reflected in their total ban on the VoIP services.

The Legality of VPN Use in UAE

Now whether exactly is using a VPN legal in UAE or not, from a general point of view, we can’t say, since the laws aren’t that clear about it. Nevertheless, we need to answer What are the legal implications of using a VPN in the UAE what you need to know.

On one hand, there aren’t many specific cases mentioned in which it is clarified that it’s illegal to use a VPN in the UAE, except for hiding your online identity by “Using a VPN to commit a crime or facilitate a crime”. There was news stating that the use of a VPN by itself does not constitute illegal activity in the UAE if used following the guidelines of the UAE government and the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA). To learn more you can take a look at these articles as well:

Is it illegal to use VPN in UAE?

And for those of you in Dubai, is using VPN in Dubai illegal , and more.

So at first glimpse, there don’t appear to be any legal issues for a UAE resident using a VPN to call a friend or a loved one, since no one would really consider that a crime.

The trouble is, it is not clear whether this all means banning the use of VPNs altogether or not, and due to the high stakes at play (the possibility of a VPN fine in UAE ), one gets particularly anxious to find out more, and know what to avoid. It seems to us that after posting politically sensitive material, trying to access pornography might be the most frowned-upon of contents on the web to the UAE authorities.

Why A VPN Is Needed In UAE Anyway

For the reasons we just said (anti-VPN laws, the risks, and fines), you might lose heart and find it not too safe to use a VPN, and it may seem that the UAE authorities are playing a hard offense concerning VPN legally, but despite all of that VPN users haven’t diminished in numbers at all. In fact, the number keeps rising amazingly to new records day after day. Seems like not many people take the harsher laws seriously, and also it is a fact that enforcing them would prove mighty difficult, and make legal cases based on them even more so, and we’re not doing anything harmful to anyone, are we, when we use a VPN? We just want to call a friend or a family member via WhatsApp and not use Telecomm services like BOTIM, and be charged enormously, or just watch a series we like, do some streaming in UAE, or play a game on a platform like Roblox in UAE. It’s neither common sense nor worth the trouble for the law-enforcement to go after someone for trying to call their mom. Another very important thing is that a VPN is almost untraceable. Your ISP(internet service provider) might notice that you’ve changed your IP but your live online activity is totally encrypted, and if you have purchased a reliable VPN, you have nothing else to worry about, that is, privacy-wise.

So more than anything one should worry about finding the right VPN for the UAE.

MenaVPN, the Right VPN for the UAE Resident

As we said already, this whole discussion of legal issues doesn’t change the incontrovertible fact that you have to get a VPN in UAE. Here we present to you the top VPN for use in UAE. Our brand, MenaVPN, is provided by a company based in the Netherlands, hence, it follows EU privacy policies 100%. It won’t collect, store, or share your data in any way, so your online surfing can’t be watched by any third-party organization. No personal information is asked for to purchase MenaVPN, except for an email, and in the case of iOS devices, by using AppStore in-app purchases you can even avoid that and remain completely anonymous. If you need to contact us for any reason, MenaVPN gives you many ways to ask for support. You can simply send us an email using the address [email protected] or leave us a message on WhatsApp. Also, you can send us a message just by using our in-app support chat section. This way MenaVPN ensures your anonymity to any degree that you prefer. So despite all the possible risks from the UAE government that you might worry about, we provide you with safety and privacy on all levels. Download MenaVPN and let the product speak for itself. It has a 7-day trial and it’s money-back guaranteed.