US Army vet trapped in Dubai for five years over $100K debt he says is ‘fabricated’ pleads for help
A US Army veteran and father has been stranded in the United Arab Emirates, unable to leave the country, for five years over a “fabricated claim” he owes his former employer money, according to an organization working to secure his release.
Robert Dobbs, 55, is stuck in Dubai, where he has repeatedly been detained — and even beaten by local law enforcement — over claims he owes $100,000 to the Providence English Private School, Detained in Dubai said.
“The PTSD sufferer has been separated from his family for five years, over a fabricated claim that he owed his former employer money where, in fact, he was owed end-of-service benefits,” a statement from the London-based organization reads.
But the father of five says he is unable to pay off the debt because the school will not renew his work visa — or let him leave the country and work somewhere else.
“It’s like Groundhog Day. Every day I am worried it will be the day I am taken to jail while the false debt is unpaid,” Dobb said in the statement released by Detained in Dubai.
“It can never be paid because I don’t have the money. I am also legally forbidden to get a work visa while the case is open.”
Dobbs, who served in the US Army for eight years, moved with his wife and their blended family to Sharjah, a suburb of Dubai, in 2013 to teach because “the economy was a little bit slow in the United States,” he told UK broadcaster LBC.
The Milwaukee native worked for one year at a different school before taking a job at the Providence English Private School.
Over his four years at the private school, Dobbs became the head of his department, according to LBC.
But when his contract ended in 2018, the school refused to pay out his end-of-service benefit — a bonus for employees who complete a term of employment in the country — and wouldn’t release him from his visa, Insider reported.
In order to leave the UAE, a person’s visa must be canceled by the sponsor, according to the UAE government website.
The US State Department also warns on its website that the country “maintains tight exit controls.”
“Travelers may be denied entry to, or not permitted to depart, the UAE if previous visas have not been properly cancelled,” it says.
Dobbs sued the Providence English Private School over the unpaid benefits and won, with a UAE judge ordering the school to pay up, according to court documents obtained by Insider.
However, the school then hit back with a civil suit against Dobbs, claiming he owed $100,000 in tuition for his four children who attended the school while he worked there, according to Detained in Dubai.
The Army vet maintains the tuition fees were included in his contract as part of his employment — and that the civil suit against him is unfounded and retaliatory.
“She told me to my face that she took the case for revenge because I took the labor case to get my EOSB,” Dobbs said in the statement released by Detained in Dubai.
“The system here can be manipulated very easily by people.”
The UAE also barrs anyone from leaving the country if there are any criminal or civil legal cases against them, according to the State Department website.
Meanwhile, Dobbs never got a chance to argue his case in court because his hearing was scheduled to take place just as the COVID pandemic was shutting everything down — and he was never informed of a new court date, according to Detained in Dubai.
Dobbs tried to appeal the matter to local officials, but told LBC any attempts to speak with Sharjah officials were like “speaking to a brick wall.”
“Robert has no legal avenue to appeal or to show evidence to the court that he does not owe the money,” Radha Stirling, the CEO of Detained in Dubai, said in a statement.
“He was not even told there was a court date and was unable to defend himself.”
She is now urging US diplomats to secure his release, claiming, “If diplomatic efforts are not made, the veteran will likely die in Dubai.”
Stirling noted Dobbs has already been in contact with Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s office (D-WI) and has reached out to the State Department.
“Senator Baldwin has confirmed she will make enquiries with the US State Department and with [her] support, we hope Robert will be reunited with his family” who were able to return to the US in 2020, Stirling said.
It remains unclear, however, what — if any — actions have been taken to secure Dobbs’ release.
In a statement to The Post, the State Department said: “We are aware Mr. Dobbs is unable to depart the UAE, and we are providing him with all appropriate consular assistance.”
The Post has reached Baldwin’s office for comment.
Stirling said that because the UAE legal system is easy to abuse, cases like Dobbs’ “are all too common.”
“We have seen people die in Dubai because they were not allowed to leave, nor were they allowed to work for themselves because the open police/civil case prevents them from getting a visa,” she said in a statement.
“These people are left relying on charity, often succumbing to malnutrition, or as they get older, lack of medical treatment.”
Dobbs fears he will die in the country.
“It is no exaggeration to say I will probably die here because of this,” he said in the statement released by Detained in Dubai, noting that his friend Robin Berlyn died trying to escape “the same circumstances 18 months ago.”
His family has blasted the lack of intervention from the US government.
“My stepdad has reached out to a lot of people who are in power. They have let him down as well,” one of his stepdaughters, who was not identified, told Insider.
“He was a veteran, so he served for his own country and the country’s not helping him out to come back to his own country.”
Dobbs also noted that at his family’s last visit, he noticed a local police officer following him.
“I’m looking over my shoulder all the time,” he said. “That’s one thing I think that really gets you – after a point is that hypervigilance.”
He told LBC he is now relying on his military training to keep him going.
“I’m back to my old military days,” he said. “I have a will to survive, a mental strength to survive.”
