Travel Ban in Bangladesh: Court Orders, ACC, Tax Clearance and How to Challenge Them in 2026

Travel ban in Bangladesh: where restrictions come from in 2026

A travel ban in Bangladesh rarely announces itself in advance. For most people it arrives at the immigration counter at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, when an officer says there is an "instruction" against the passport and the boarding pass becomes worthless. Behind that instruction may sit a court order obtained by the Anti-Corruption Commission, a bail condition, a passport action, a direction under the Foreigners Act 1946, an unpaid tax liability, a wilful-defaulter listing or simply a police request that no court has ever approved. Each has a different author, a different legal test and a different remedy.

This guide is written for the people who carry the commercial cost of that moment: foreign directors, expatriate engineers, consultants and project staff, and the Bangladeshi executives who sit on the same boards. It explains where departure restrictions come from, what the Supreme Court has said about their lawfulness, how the position stands in October 2026 after the lapse of the 2025 anti-corruption ordinance and the reconstitution of the Commission, how to check whether a restriction exists before you travel, and how to challenge one through the court that made it or by writ under Article 102 of the Constitution.

Summary: A departure restriction in Bangladesh is lawful only if a law authorises it. In practice that means an order of a competent court (most often the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge on an ACC application, or a criminal court through a bail condition), a passport action under the Bangladesh Passport Order 1973, an order under section 3 of the Foreigners Act 1946, or the tax-clearance rule in section 243 of the Income Tax Act 2023. The Appellate Division requires any urgent executive restriction to be confirmed by the appropriate court within three working days. A restriction with no legal source can be challenged by writ in the High Court Division.

Key point: Identify the source before choosing the remedy. A court-ordered ban is varied or recalled by that court, or revised above it; an unexplained immigration hold is a candidate for an Article 102 writ; a tax-clearance problem is solved at the tax office. Filing in the wrong forum, or trying to leave by another route, can turn a challengeable restriction into a criminal offence.

At a glance

Swipe or scroll →

Table of Contents

What a travel ban in Bangladesh actually is

There is no single statute governing a travel ban in Bangladesh. The phrase is shorthand for any measure that stops a person from leaving the country, and it covers instruments that differ in kind. Some are judicial orders that bind immigration officers. Some are statutory conditions of departure, such as a tax clearance certificate. Some are executive directions that are lawful only if a statute authorises them. And some are informal holds, entered on an immigration system at the request of an agency, which carry practical force at the airport but no legal force at all.

The first discipline is therefore classification. Before anyone drafts a petition, the person affected and their advisers need to know who asked for the restriction, under what instrument, on what date, for how long and against which passport. That information decides whether the answer lies in a criminal court, a tax office, a passport office, a ministry or the High Court Division.

The constitutional baseline

Article 36 of the Constitution provides that, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the public interest, every citizen has the right to move freely throughout Bangladesh, to reside and settle anywhere in it, and to leave and re-enter the country.[1] Three conditions follow from that wording. A restriction must be imposed by law, not by preference or administrative convenience. It must be reasonable. And it must serve the public interest, which in practice usually means protecting a pending legal process from a person who would otherwise leave to avoid it.

Article 31 adds a wider guarantee: citizens, and every other person for the time being within Bangladesh, are entitled to be treated in accordance with law and only in accordance with law, and no action detrimental to life, liberty, body, reputation or property may be taken except in accordance with law.[1] For a foreign national, Article 31 is often the more natural constitutional anchor.

Why foreign nationals sit on a different footing

Article 36 is framed in terms of citizens. A foreign director cannot simply borrow the reasoning of a citizen's case. Foreigners are also subject to an additional immigration layer: the Government's statutory power to regulate their departure, and the tax-clearance requirement for non-domiciled persons. The protection of law under Article 31 still applies, so an unexplained hold with no legal basis remains open to challenge, but the argument must be built around the foreigner's status, visa, work permission and the specific power relied on.

The legal sources of a travel ban in Bangladesh

Most departure restrictions that affect business people come from one of seven sources. Each is described below, with the decision-maker who controls it and the remedy that follows.

Criminal court orders and bail conditions

Where a person is accused in a criminal case, the court seised of it can protect the proceeding. Bail orders commonly include a condition that the accused will not leave the country without the court's permission, and a court may also direct that a passport be deposited. Article 7(2)(e) of the Bangladesh Passport Order 1973 recognises the link: the passport authority may impound or revoke a passport where a court in Bangladesh has passed an order prohibiting the holder's departure and requiring the authority to act.[2] The remedy for a condition of this kind is an application to the same court to vary it, supported by a credible plan for attendance.

ACC applications before the Special Judge

The Anti-Corruption Commission is the most frequent applicant for travel bans, but it has no statutory power of its own. In the Tafsir Awal case the High Court Division held that the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004 and the ACC Rules 2007 contain no provision empowering the Commission to impose a travel embargo, so an ACC restriction has no legal effect unless a competent court approves it or makes its own order.[8] The Commission therefore applies to the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge, usually citing information that the person is preparing to leave and arguing that departure would hamper the inquiry or investigation.[11] Our ACC guide covers the notices and freezing orders that accompany them.

Passport Order powers

Article 3 of the Bangladesh Passport Order 1973 provides that no person may depart or attempt to depart from Bangladesh without a valid passport or travel document. Article 7(2) allows the passport authority to impound or revoke a passport on listed grounds, including suppression of material facts, security or the public interest, certain convictions, a court order prohibiting departure and breach of passport conditions.[2] Article 11 makes it an offence, punishable with up to six months' imprisonment, to depart without a valid passport, to give false information to obtain one, or to use another person's passport, and Article 12 lets authorised customs, anti-corruption and police officers seize a passport and arrest without warrant on reasonable suspicion of such an offence.[2]

Foreigners Act orders

The Foreigners Act 1946 exists, in the words of its preamble, to give the Government powers over the entry of foreigners, their presence in Bangladesh and their departure from it.[3] Section 3 allows the Government, by order, to prohibit, regulate or restrict a foreigner's departure, including by prescribing the route and port of departure and attaching conditions.[2] An order of this kind is an executive act and must be traceable to the Act. If immigration staff refer to a Foreigners Act direction, the first request is for the order itself: who made it, when, and on what terms. Our overview of Bangladesh immigration law explains the wider Foreigners Act regime.

Tax clearance under the Income Tax Act 2023

Tax is the source most often overlooked by expatriates. Section 243 of the Income Tax Act 2023 provides that, subject to exceptions made by the National Board of Revenue, a person who is not domiciled in Bangladesh, or a domiciled person whom an income tax authority considers unlikely to return, must not leave Bangladesh without obtaining from an authorised Deputy Commissioner of Taxes either a tax clearance certificate or, where the person intends to return, an exemption certificate covering a single journey or all journeys within a stated period.[4] An airline or shipping operator that carries such a person without the certificate can be made liable for the tax due and a penalty of up to Tk 20,000.[4]

Section 193 supplements this with a departure assessment. Where a person authorised to work in Bangladesh is expected to leave with no intention of returning, the Deputy Commissioner of Taxes may assess income up to the probable date of departure, and may serve a notice requiring a return within a period of not less than seven days.[4] Practitioner guides confirm that non-domiciled individuals are expected to obtain these certificates before leaving, and that an employer must also apply to cancel a work permit when an expatriate leaves before it expires.[5]

Wilful loan defaulters

Banking exposure creates a separate risk for Bangladeshi directors and guarantors. Following the 2023 amendment to the Bank Company Act 1991, Bangladesh Bank issued a circular in March 2024 under which persons identified as wilful defaulters face a bar on foreign travel, refusal of new trade licences and other sanctions, with the central bank requesting the relevant authorities to impose the travel restriction.[14] A listed borrower should look first at the listing decision and the internal appeal it allows, rather than at the airport alert that follows from it. Our guide to loan defaulters in Bangladesh covers the listing process.

Police and immigration holds without an order

The final category is the most troublesome. An investigating officer, a police unit or an agency asks immigration to stop a named person, and the request is entered without a court order. Immigration staff may also stop travellers on grounds of their own. In September 2026 the High Court Division issued a rule asking why the stopping of three adult women at Dhaka airport, reportedly because they were unmarried and travelling without a guardian, should not be declared illegal, and directed that immigration must not obstruct their future travel without a lawful basis.[13] The principle extends well beyond that fact pattern: an airport hold needs a legal source, and where none is disclosed the writ jurisdiction is available.

The court-approval rule: what the Supreme Court requires

The modern law on departure restrictions was shaped by litigation against the Anti-Corruption Commission between 2019 and 2022. Its effect is simple to state: an executive agency may act urgently to stop a person fleeing due process, but a court must take ownership of the restriction almost immediately.

The Ataur Rahman litigation and interim guidelines

In Md Ataur Rahman v Government of Bangladesh (Writ Petition No 824 of 2021), the High Court Division held that an ACC travel ban imposed without any law authorising it was illegal, and that no authority could restrain an accused from travelling without a legal basis. Pending legislation, it laid down interim guidelines: the investigating agency should apply to the court, which could impose an embargo of up to 60 days; the affected person could seek its withdrawal; and any extension required a hearing of both sides.[7]

The Appellate Division's three-working-day rule

The Commission appealed. A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain delivered a short verdict on 27 September 2021 modifying the High Court Division's ruling, and the full text was released in December 2021.[6] The Appellate Division described the Article 36 right as non-absolute. It accepted that a restriction may be imposed to stop a person who would leave quickly to avoid due process, but held that every such restriction is subject to confirmation by the appropriate court, and that the authorities must obtain that approval within three working days of imposing it.[6]

Two consequences follow. First, an executive hold not confirmed by a court within three working days is vulnerable, and the absence of a court order is itself evidence for a writ petition. Secondly, once a court has confirmed or made the order, the argument changes: the person is no longer challenging an unlawful executive act but asking a court to vary its own order.

Tafsir Awal: no free-standing ACC power

The High Court Division applied the Appellate Division's approach in the case of Tafsir Mohammad Awal, a company director. The Commission had reportedly imposed a ban in October 2020 without filing a case, and he was offloaded from a London flight on 24 January 2021. The court allowed him to travel by interim order and, on 24 February 2022, held the restriction illegal because no court had affirmed it.[8] The full judgment, released in September 2022, confirmed that the right to leave is not absolute, but that a restriction must be imposed by law, not by executive order, and with the object of preventing escape from due process.[8]

The 2026 position on a travel ban in Bangladesh

No new travel-restriction statute was enacted in 2025 or 2026. The framework remains the Constitution, the Passport Order, the Foreigners Act, the Income Tax Act 2023, the banking legislation and the Supreme Court's guidance. What changed in 2026 was the institutional picture, especially at the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The ACC ordinance lapse and the vacancy

The interim government's Anti-Corruption Commission (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 was not converted into an Act by the new Parliament and was set to lapse after midnight on 11 April 2026. The chairman and two commissioners had resigned on 3 March 2026, and without a sitting commission the ACC reported that it could not even ask courts to impose travel bans on accused persons; no new restrictions were imposed during the vacancy.[9] In August 2026 the government appointed Justice AKM Asaduzzaman as chairman, with Dr Jahangir Alam Khan and Dr Md Sazzad Hossain Bhuiyan as commissioners.[10]

Courts are granting ACC applications again

The reconstituted Commission has returned to the Special Judge's court. On 22 September 2026, for example, the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court in Dhaka barred Emma Claire Burton, the wife of a former education minister, from leaving the country on the Commission's application, which alleged that she had failed to submit her wealth statement on time, held assets of Tk 84.35 lakh disproportionate to her income and was secretly trying to leave.[11] The pattern is consistent: an application citing a pending inquiry or case and information that the person may leave, granted at an early stage and often without the person being heard.

Immigration practice under judicial scrutiny

The September 2026 rule on the three women stopped at the airport shows that the High Court Division remains willing to require immigration authorities to identify a lawful basis for stopping a traveller, to direct police to investigate a complaint within seven days and to file a compliance report.[13] For businesses, the message is that an unexplained offloading is reviewable, and that a written complaint, a legal notice and a prompt writ are a recognised sequence.

Investment approvals and work permits

Foreign investors should also note that BIDA, BEZA and the PPP Authority have been merged into Invest Bangladesh, which has operated since 23 August 2026; our note on the Invest Bangladesh Act 2026 explains the new structure. An investment approval or work permit is evidence of a legitimate project role, and is useful in any application to vary a restriction, but it does not override a court order or a tax-clearance requirement.

How to check for a travel ban in Bangladesh before you fly

There is no public online register in which a person can search for a departure restriction against their own name. A check is therefore an exercise in mapping exposure and then verifying it through counsel. For a director or senior expatriate who has any reason for concern, it should be done well before the travel date, not at the counter.

Map the exposure

Start with the questions that predict a restriction. Has the person received an ACC notice, an asset-statement order or a request to appear? Is the person named in any first information report, complaint petition, cheque case or criminal proceeding, including one filed by a counterparty in a commercial dispute? Is any company on whose board the person sits, or for which the person is a guarantor, classified as a defaulter? For a foreigner, is the visa current, the work permit valid and the tax return filed, and will the person need a tax clearance or exemption certificate under section 243?[4]

Verify through the records that matter

Counsel can search the cause lists and order sheets of the courts where cases are likely, including the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's court for ACC matters, and obtain certified copies of any order. Where a case is known, the order sheet will show whether a travel restriction or passport deposit has been directed. Where the concern is tax, the person's tax circle can confirm the position and issue the certificate. Where the concern is an agency request, counsel can write to the relevant authority asking whether any restriction is recorded and on what legal basis.

At the airport

If the person is stopped, the priority is a usable record, not an argument. Note the time, counter, flight, officer's name and rank, the words used and any document shown. Ask, politely and in writing if possible, for the legal basis and the authority that requested the hold. Do not attempt another port, another passport or another route. Article 11 of the Passport Order and the penalty provisions of the Foreigners Act make such steps offences in their own right, and they destroy the credibility of any later application.[2]

How to challenge a travel ban in Bangladesh

The correct remedy follows the source. The routes below are not alternatives to be chosen by preference; the High Court Division expects a petitioner to use the remedy that the law provides unless there is a good reason why it is not equally efficacious.

Apply to the court that made the order

Where a Special Judge, magistrate or Sessions Court has imposed the restriction or attached it to bail, the first route is usually an application to that court to recall or vary it. A strong application proposes a defined travel window and return date, a foreign address and contact details, an undertaking to appear on notice, the appointment of a local representative, evidence of past cooperation with the investigation and, where relevant, security. For an ACC matter, the application should engage with the Commission's stated reason, usually the risk of flight, and show why controlled travel answers it.

Revision and quashing proceedings

If the trial court refuses, or the order was made without jurisdiction, the order may be taken to the High Court Division in its criminal revisional jurisdiction, and in an appropriate case the underlying proceeding itself may be challenged under section 561A of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Our guides to criminal revision and section 561A quashment explain when each is used.

A writ petition under Article 102

Article 102 allows the High Court Division, on the application of an aggrieved person, to give directions to any person or authority for the enforcement of fundamental rights and, where no other equally efficacious remedy is provided by law, to direct a public functionary to refrain from doing what the law does not permit or to declare an act done without lawful authority and of no legal effect.[1] It is the natural route against an executive hold that no court has confirmed, an immigration stop with no disclosed basis, or a passport or Foreigners Act action taken outside the statute. Our guide to writ petitions in Bangladesh covers procedure, standing and interim relief.

Two cautions apply. Article 102(4) restricts interim orders that could prejudice a development programme or development work, or otherwise harm the public interest, unless the Attorney-General has had reasonable notice and an opportunity to be heard.[1] A petition from a major infrastructure project should therefore present the project's operational need carefully, without suggesting that commercial urgency outranks the criminal process. Secondly, the writ court is reluctant to bypass a court-made order: in November 2024 the High Court Division rejected a writ petition by a former NBR appellate tribunal president seeking permission to travel abroad, where the ban had been imposed by the Senior Special Judge on an ACC application.[12]

Passport, tax and listing routes

Where the restriction is a passport action, the passport authority's decision and its stated ground under Article 7(2) should be obtained first, and the challenge framed against that decision.[2] Where it is a tax-clearance issue, the fastest remedy is usually compliance: file the outstanding return, settle or secure the liability, and obtain the clearance or exemption certificate.[4] Where it flows from a wilful-defaulter listing, the challenge should target the listing itself and the procedure by which it was made.[14]

Swipe or scroll →

Foreign directors and project personnel

A departure restriction that falls on a foreign director or a key expatriate is a project-risk event, not a private inconvenience. It can stall commissioning, block bank mandates and customs filings, and trigger notice provisions in EPC, finance and concession documents. The legal response and the commercial response should run in parallel from the first hour.

Who should apply

The affected individual is usually the proper applicant, because the right in issue is personal. The employer or project company can support the application with an affidavit explaining the person's role, the project's critical path, the delegation already in place and the employer's own undertakings about the person's availability. That evidence answers the court's two real questions: will the person come back, and can the process be protected without a complete ban?

Keeping the project moving

Appoint an interim signatory under the articles and the bank mandates. Confirm who can sign customs documents, payment certificates and safety-critical approvals. Review contractual notice periods and send protective notices that state facts rather than allegations. Public statements attacking an investigating officer or a complainant rarely help and can damage a pending application.

Keeping the immigration record clean

A foreign national subject to a restriction may remain in Bangladesh for longer than planned. The visa must be extended in time, the work permit kept valid, and address and reporting obligations met. Breaching an immigration condition while a travel restriction is being challenged creates a second, unrelated problem under the Foreigners Act.[2] Our guides to visa extension and employment law for expatriates cover the compliance steps.

Critical mistakes to avoid with a travel ban in Bangladesh

Most of the damage is self-inflicted in the first forty-eight hours.

• Treating every stop as the same problem. A tax-clearance issue, a court order and an unexplained police hold have nothing in common except the airport where they surface.
• Filing a writ against a court order. The High Court Division will usually expect the person to go first to the court that made the order, or to use revision.[12]
• Ignoring ACC correspondence. A missed notice or a late asset statement is precisely the ground the Commission cites when it asks for a ban.[11]
• Trying another route out. Using a second passport or a land border converts a challengeable restriction into a Passport Order offence.[2]
• Forgetting tax clearance. Non-domiciled expatriates leaving for good need a certificate under section 243 of the Income Tax Act 2023.[4]
• Letting the visa lapse. While the restriction is challenged, the foreigner's own status must remain lawful.
• Arguing commercial urgency alone. Courts protect process; they vary restrictions when they are shown a credible attendance plan.

What to watch in 2026 and 2027

Three developments will shape practice. The first is whether Parliament legislates for travel restrictions, as the High Court Division invited in the Ataur Rahman litigation; until it does, the Appellate Division's three-working-day rule is the operative standard.[6] [7] The second is the pace at which the reconstituted Anti-Corruption Commission seeks new bans after its 2026 vacancy.[9] [10] The third is whether the High Court Division, in the September 2026 rule on immigration offloading, issues general guidelines that constrain airport holds made without a court order.[13] Until then, directors with live exposure should build a pre-travel check into their calendar.

Frequently asked questions

Who can impose a travel ban in Bangladesh?

Only an authority acting under law. In practice that is a competent court, most often the Senior Special Judge on an ACC application or a criminal court through bail conditions; the passport authority under the Passport Order 1973; the Government under section 3 of the Foreigners Act 1946 for foreigners; and the tax-clearance rule in section 243 of the Income Tax Act 2023.[2] [4] [8]

Can the Anti-Corruption Commission stop me leaving without a court order?

Not lawfully for long. The High Court Division has held that the ACC Act 2004 contains no travel-ban power, and the Appellate Division requires any urgent restriction to be confirmed by the appropriate court within three working days.[6] [8]

How can I find out whether I am subject to a travel ban?

There is no public register. Counsel should check the order sheets of any court where you are named, confirm your tax-clearance position with your tax circle and, if an agency request is suspected, write to the relevant authority asking whether a restriction is recorded and on what basis.

Does a valid passport and visa guarantee that a foreign director can leave?

No. A court order, a Foreigners Act direction or a missing tax clearance certificate can each prevent departure despite valid travel documents.[2] [4]

Do expatriates need a tax clearance certificate to leave Bangladesh?

A non-domiciled person must obtain a tax clearance certificate, or an exemption certificate if returning, from an authorised Deputy Commissioner of Taxes before leaving, subject to exceptions made by the NBR. Carriers can be made liable for the tax and a penalty of up to Tk 20,000.[4]

Can a travel ban be challenged by writ petition?

Yes, where no other equally efficacious remedy exists, typically against an executive or immigration hold with no court order. Where a court made the order, the High Court Division usually expects an application to that court or a revision first.[1] [12]

Can wilful loan defaulters be barred from foreign travel?

Yes. Following the 2023 amendment to the Bank Company Act, Bangladesh Bank's March 2024 circular provides for travel restrictions, trade licence refusal and other sanctions against persons listed as wilful defaulters.[14]

Did the law on travel bans change in 2026?

The statutory framework did not. The ACC (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 lapsed in April 2026, the Commission was without members from March to August 2026, and a new commission has since resumed applications for travel bans.[9] [10] [11]

Can my employer apply to lift a travel ban on my behalf?

The affected individual is normally the applicant because the right is personal. The employer can support the application with evidence of the person's role, the project's needs, delegation in place and its own undertakings.

What should I do if I am stopped at the airport?

Stay calm, record the officer's details, time and words used, ask for the legal basis, and call counsel. Do not attempt another port or passport, which can itself be an offence under the Passport Order 1973.[2]