Cross-border recovery
International debt collection in the UAE
For foreign creditors owed money by a UAE debtor, and for UAE businesses owed money abroad. You do not need a presence in the country to instruct us, and you do not pay unless money is recovered.
Two directions, two different problems
You are outside the UAE and your debtor is here
This is the larger part of our cross-border work. A supplier in Europe, Asia or the Americas has shipped goods to a UAE buyer on credit, the account has gone quiet, and pursuing it from six time zones away with no local standing has proved impossible.
What changes when a local agency takes it on is not legal — it is practical. Contact happens in the debtor's own time zone and, where it helps, in Arabic. The debtor's registration and trading status can actually be verified. And a demand from a UAE-based party reads very differently to a debtor who has been comfortably ignoring emails from abroad.
You are in the UAE and your debtor is abroad
Handled through partner agencies in the debtor's own jurisdiction, because recovery almost always has to happen where the debtor and their assets actually are. We manage the file and the relationship; the local partner makes the contact.
The two questions that decide a cross-border claim
| Question | Why it decides the outcome |
|---|---|
| Is the debt documented well enough to be enforceable somewhere? | Cross-border trade frequently runs on purchase orders, emails and long-standing practice rather than signed contracts. That works until it doesn't. Where there is a contract, what it says about governing law and forum matters enormously. |
| Could a judgment in one country be recognised in the other? | A judgment that cannot be enforced where the debtor's assets sit is an expensive piece of paper. This is worth establishing before spending on proceedings, not after — and it is a question for advocates, which is why it forms part of the assessment rather than an assumption. |
The cost and complexity of cross-border enforcement is exactly why a negotiated settlement is usually the better commercial outcome. A debtor who knows enforcement would be difficult also knows it would be expensive for you — which is an argument for settling at a realistic figure, and an argument we can make credibly.
What to send with a cross-border claim
- The contract or supply agreement, including any governing law and jurisdiction clause.
- Purchase orders, invoices and shipping or delivery documentation.
- The debtor's full legal name and, if you have it, their trade licence or registration number. On UAE debtors this is the single most useful thing you can provide.
- Any correspondence acknowledging the debt.
- Details of any part payment, and in which currency.
Currency, remittance and reporting
Claims can be denominated in any major currency. Recovered funds are remitted to you, and commission is charged on what is actually recovered — currency conversion does not become a quiet source of additional margin. You will be told before instruction how remittance will work for your file.
Cross-border FAQs
Questions from creditors outside the UAE
Do we need a UAE entity or local partner to pursue a debt here?
No. You can instruct us directly from anywhere. What matters is the strength of your documentation, not where you are registered.
Our contract says disputes go to the courts of our own country. Does that stop you?
Not for amicable recovery — a demand and a negotiated settlement are unaffected by a jurisdiction clause. It becomes relevant only if the matter has to escalate, and at that point it is one of the first things our associate advocates would look at.
The debtor's company appears to have closed. Is that the end of it?
Not necessarily, but it narrows the options considerably. Whether anything is recoverable depends on how the entity was wound up, whether a successor entity is trading, and whether any personal undertaking or cheque was given. Verifying that is part of the assessment.
How do you communicate with us across time zones?
Email and WhatsApp, with calls scheduled to suit you. You will hear from us when the position changes rather than on a fixed reporting cycle that reports nothing.