Our visa department will be happy to support all our customers and guests with 2 types of inbound visas. Before you travel to the UAE, we can help you to verify your visa and passport requirements in advance, in order to be sure that you have a valid visa if needed. Sometimes, holders of non-standard passports and travel documents may also have different entry requirements, so our duty is to help you to check all requirements in advance and avoid unexpected surprise during your travel.
Most of travellers need to obtain a visa prior to entering the Emirate. Citizens of 47 countries – GCC nationals & nationals of listed countries mentioned below — do not require visas prior to arrival in the UAE: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, Vatican City.
For all other nationalities, a visa must be applied before the traveler enters the country either through sponsorship of UAE resident (relative or friend), local UAE sponsor, local hotel or embassy. The kind of visa that you require for entry to the UAE depends on several different factors such as: your nationality, the purpose of your visit and duration of your stay. The main entry requirements of obtaining your visa to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and its seven emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, and Fujairah) are that your passport must be valid for at least 6 months before your arrival.
Visa requirements for entering Dubai vary greatly between different nationalities and we always advise you to check regulations before traveling. Currently, every nationality before entering to the UAE needs a visa except citizens of GCC countries (Gulf Cooperation Council: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia) expatriate residents of the GCC (certain nationalities and professions) and British citizens with the right of abode in the UK, who will be granted a visa on arrival in the UAE. GCC nationals can stay more or less as long they like. British citizens can stay for a month and then apply for a visa for a further two months.
Please note that Israelis and travellers whose passports bear Israeli stamps will be denied a visa.
Who are not GCC nationals but who have a high professional status such as company managers, business people, auditors, accountants, doctors, engineers, pharmacists or employees working in the public sector, their families, drivers and personal staff sponsored by them, are eligible for a non-renewable 30-day visa upon arrival at the approved ports of entry.
Issuing Authority
The Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) is the sole administrative authority of the Ministry of Interior that deals with issuing visas to foreigners.
UAE Immigration Procedures
As an added security measure, Immigration Authorities at the UAE International Airports are now conducting random eye screening for visitors to the UAE. Visitors asked to proceed for eye screening are required to present a hard copy of their visa or a printed version of the visa number confirmation page at the screening counter. If you do not have a copy with you, a charge of AED 50 per copy applies — payable only in AED.
The visa application procedure in the UAE
If your country of nationality appears on the list above, no advance visa arrangements are required to visit the UAE. Simply disembark your flight at Dubai International Airport and proceed to Immigration desk where your passport will be stamped with a 30 day visit visa free of charge. Nationalities not in this list can get 14 days Business or Service visa or 30/90 days Tourist Visa that will be sponsored by Citylifetravels LLC and this should be obtained before entry to the UAE.
There are some important rules when obtaining a visa to the UAE about which some tourists are not aware of:
- To visit the UAE, Ukrainian citizens and all other nationalities have to obtain a visa IN ADVANCE rather than at the airport on arrival.
- You cannot obtain a visa in your country’s consulate; only the UAE immigration service can issue your visa. Therefore, you will not be able to get a visa by yourself. Only airlines, hotels or travel agencies which have a contract with a company sponsored in Dubai can obtain your visa to the UAE.
- The tourist visa to the UAE cannot be stamped in the international passport, it exists in electronic form. It is not necessary to collect the original visa in order to stay in the country rather printed out copy is enough — it is the normal size sheet (A4), with the photo of the tourist, passport number, date of birth and visa number.
- The tourist visa issued for the length of stay in the United Arab Emirates no more than 30 days. This visa is a single entry, means for re-entry to the country it is required to obtain for another new visa or multiple visa type.
- Tourist visa to the UAE is valid for 60 days from the date of issue but you can stay in the UAE no more than 30 days during the period of the visa validity but you can apply for multiple visa, if you wish. If the Visa holder of the tourist visa stays more than 30 days and didn’t apply for another type of visa in time, that person has to pay a fine per day plus some charges for an out pass.
- Official period of validity of the international passport must be not less than 6 months since the trip beginning. Sometimes (in exceptional cases) you can apply for a visa with less time international passports validity period but not less than 3 months prior to the beginning of your trip.
- The UAE Visa processing time is 2 to 3 working days. Official holidays in the UAE – Friday and Saturday. Therefore, it is desirable to provide in advance all the required documents to obtain the visa and no later than seven working days prior to the beginning of a trip.
- For a child visa is free, if he/she is entered in the passport accompanying his/her parents, if the child is traveling to the UAE with his/her own passport, the visa must be paid in full.
- During submission of documents to the UAE visa, it is necessary to consider that fact that there is no travel company or any other intermediary firm or services in applying for visas, whatever authority and experience it possessed, may not fully guarantee that specific period. The immigration service of the United Arab Emirates may delay issuing visa or in exceptional cases, may refuse it without any explanation.