It is crucial for all residents and visitors in the UAE to regularly check the status of their visa. Knowing your visa expiry date allows you to renew it on time and avoid overstay fines or other legal issues. As per UAE immigration laws, overstaying beyond your visa validity leads to heavy fines calculated on a daily basis.
For instance, the fine is AED 200 for the first day, AED 100 per day after that along with a service fee of AED 100. For visit visas, there is no longer a grace period so fines apply from the very first day of expiry. Keeping track of your visa status ensures you do not overstay unintentionally.
In addition, checking online also validates if your visa is genuine and still active in the system. This prevents cases of visa scams or fraud. It can also inform you in advance if there is an employment/travel ban linked to your visa during cancellation or other procedures.
Knowing the UAE visa status is critical whether you are a tourist, resident, employee or family dependent. The simple online checking process takes only a few minutes. You can do it anytime without paperwork or embassy visits to enjoy the peace of mind regarding your stay’s legal status.
Step-by-Step Guide to Checking Your UAE Visa Status Online
Visit the ICA Portal
The Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) has an online portal with various visa and immigration-related services for expats and visitors in the UAE. Their website allows you to check the latest status and details of your UAE visa.
To begin, go to the ICA main website at www.ica.gov.ae. Make sure you access the English version of the website to easily navigate between different sections. On the homepage itself, you will see a tab for ‘E-Services’ – click on this tab to open the portal.
Navigate to “Passport Information”
On the e-Services portal page, you need to scroll down slightly until you see the option for ‘Passport Information’. Click on this service to open the visa status check page.
This page will ask you to select your nationality from a drop-down list first. Choose your nationality, for instance, India, Pakistan, Nepal etc. if you are from the Indian subcontinent region. After selecting the nationality, it will open additional input fields below it.
Instruct readers to click on the “Passport Information” tab
As covered in the previous section, users need to first access the e-Services portal on the ICA website. Once the portal opens, they should scroll down and specifically click on the “Passport Information” tab given there.
This tab then leads them to a form where they can enter details like nationality, passport number etc. Clicking this tab is the second step users should follow if they want to check their visa status online through the official ICA website.
Without clicking the “Passport Information” tab, they cannot proceed further to actually view their visa details. So this instruction needs to be clearly given to readers trying to check their visa status. The next section they land on will ask for crucial details like passport and visa numbers.
Select “Visa” and Enter Details
The next page will have a tab for ‘Passport’ and ‘Visa’. Under the Visa tab, you need to enter specific personal details of either your passport or Emirates ID.
If using your passport, input its number, your full name as on the passport and date of birth. For Emirates ID, enter the ID number and expiry date. Make sure all spellings and details entered are accurate.
You also need to prove you are not a robot by solving a simple captcha/puzzle given on the page. Once all fields are complete, hit the ‘Continue’ button at the bottom.
