Apply for your Emirates visa on whichever airline you fly

No. And this is the single most common mix-up we hear on the phone, so it is worth settling first. “Emirates visa” gets used for two different things: the UAE entry permit itself, and the visa desk that Emirates the airline runs for its own passengers. They are not the same service.

The airline’s desk is genuinely useful — if you qualify for it. It is open only to travellers holding an Emirates-issued ticket, with the flights into and out of Dubai on a single booking reference and both operated by Emirates. An itinerary that arrives on one carrier and leaves on another does not qualify, and neither does a codeshare booked through a different airline. Applications also need to be in several working days before you land.

That leaves a lot of people out: anyone flying flydubai, Etihad, IndiGo, Air India, Wizz Air, Air Arabia, Turkish, Qatar, a low-cost carrier, or two separate one-way tickets. It also leaves out anyone who has not booked a flight yet and wants the visa settled first — which, honestly, is the sensible order to do it in.

The permit is the same either way

Whichever route you take, the visa is issued by UAE immigration, not by an airline. It is the same electronic entry permit, checked against the same passport number at the same border. Nothing about it is tied to the carrier whose aircraft you happen to sit on. Alongside airlines, the UAE government lists licensed travel agents and hotels as recognised channels for filing a tourist visa — that is the channel we file yours through.

You may not need a visa at all

We would rather tell you that now than take a fee for something you do not need. Passport holders from the GCC states travel to the UAE without a visa. Citizens of most European Union countries, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, China and a number of others are granted entry on arrival at the airport, at no cost, for a stay that depends on their nationality. Put your passport into the checker at the top of this page and it will tell you which group you fall into before you spend anything.

One caveat that agencies rarely mention, and that catches people out: visa-on-arrival is granted by the immigration officer in Dubai, but the decision that actually strands travellers happens earlier, at the check-in counter. Airlines carry the cost of flying an inadmissible passenger home, so ground staff sometimes refuse boarding when they are unsure of a nationality’s status — particularly on one-way tickets, first-time travellers, or where entry rules changed recently. If any of that describes your trip, an entry permit arranged in advance is cheap insurance. You board with a document in hand instead of an argument.

If you do need one

Most travellers apply for a tourist or visit visa, issued for a 30-day or 60-day stay, as a single or multiple entry, and extendable from inside the country. If you are only passing through Dubai between two long-haul flights, a 48-hour or 96-hour transit visa is cheaper and quicker — it requires a genuine onward flight to a third country and a long enough gap between the two legs. Business visitors and travellers coming for treatment, events or family visits have their own categories.

Whichever one applies to you, the fee you see on the visa card is the fee you pay: the government charge and our filing fee, together, in your own currency, before you enter a card number. Rules and fees in the UAE do move — the long-stay multiple-entry visa introduced in 2026 is a recent example — so every price on this site is pulled live rather than typed into a page and forgotten.