A Dubai visit visa needs four things from you. A colour scan of your passport's photo page, with six months or more before it expires. A recent photo against white. A flight out of the UAE dated within your stay. And the address where you will stay. That is the whole standard application. There is no embassy visit, nothing to post, and nothing to pay when you land.
Most delays do not come from a missing document. They come from a document that is there but not quite right: a scan with a corner cut off, a photo taken against a cream wall, a flight home booked one day after the visa ends. This checklist goes through each requirement in turn, what is accepted, and the small details that send applications back.
The checklist at a glance
Document | What is accepted | The usual problem |
|---|---|---|
Passport scan | Colour scan of the photo page, six months or more of validity from arrival | Blurred, cropped or photographed at an angle |
Photo | Recent, plain white background, full face, no glasses | Off-white background, shadows, or an old photo |
Ticket | Return or onward flight dated inside your stay | Flight home booked after the visa ends |
Where you will stay | Hotel booking, tenancy contract, or your host's address and phone number | No address given, or dates that do not match |
1. Your passport
The passport needs at least six months of validity counted from the day you arrive in the UAE, not from the day you apply. If it expires in five months and three weeks, renew it first and apply with the new passport. The visa is issued against your passport number, so the passport you apply with should be the one you travel on.
What immigration receives is a scan, so the scan has to do the passport's job. Send the whole photo page in colour, flat, with all four corners in the frame and every line readable, including the two rows of letters and numbers at the bottom. A phone camera is fine if the page is lit evenly and nothing is cut off. Glare from a ceiling light across your date of birth is enough for a file to come back.
Your name in the application must match the passport exactly, in the same order, with every middle name. If the passport prints your whole name in one field with no surname, enter it exactly that way. Do not borrow a spelling from your ticket or your bank card.
2. Your photograph
Use a recent photo taken against a plain white background, with your full face visible, looking straight at the camera, and no glasses. Head coverings are accepted for religious reasons, as long as the face can be seen clearly.
Two things cause most photo problems. The first is the background: cream, light grey or a white wall in yellow evening light all read as "not white". The second is age: a photo cropped from the one in your passport, or from a family picture, is easy to spot. A new studio photo or a well-lit phone photo against a white sheet works better than either.
3. Your return or onward ticket
You need a flight that takes you out of the UAE before your visa ends. It can be a return flight home or an onward flight to another country. What matters is the date.
Your stay is counted from the day you land, and the arrival day counts as day one. With a 14-day visa your final full day is the fourteenth, and a flight booked for the fifteenth is already a day over. Book the flight against the visa you are buying, or buy the visa that fits the flight you already have. If your plans are still moving, a 30 days visa costs $20 more than the 14-day one and leaves room for change.
4. Where you will stay
Give the address of your first night in the UAE. A hotel booking confirmation is the simplest. A tenancy contract works for longer stays. Staying with relatives or friends? Then their home address and a phone number for them are enough. No invitation letter is needed, and your host's salary plays no part in a tourist visa.
If you plan to move between places, the first address is the one to give. The application does not tie you to staying there for the whole trip.
Extra documents some applicants need
The four documents above cover most travellers. A few situations add something.
- Some nationalities are asked for one more document, such as a national ID card. If your passport is one of them, we tell you exactly what is needed.
- Residents of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain or Oman applying for the Dubai visa for GCC residents also send both sides of their residence permit. A Gulf tourist visa does not count; the card has to be a residency, and it should stay valid well past your return date.
- Transit passengers on the 96 hours transit visa need a confirmed onward ticket leaving within 96 hours of landing. This is the document transit applications most often get stuck on.
- Children need their own visa on their own passport, including babies, with their own photo. They pay the same as adults.
If you are a UAE resident inviting a parent, child or spouse on a visa you sponsor yourself, the paperwork is different and built around you as the host. Our family visa guide compares that route with a tourist visa.
What you do not need
Older guides and some websites still list documents that a standard Dubai tourist visa application does not ask for.
- Travel insurance is not required for the visa. It is still sensible to have, but nobody will ask you to upload a policy.
- An invitation letter is not needed when you stay with family or friends. Their address and phone number do the job.
- Original documents are never posted. Everything is uploaded.
- An embassy appointment is not part of the process.
- Payment on arrival does not exist. The visa is paid for in full when you apply.
Requirements by visa type
Visa | Stay | Enter within | Price | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
14 days | 60 days | $185 | Flight out by day 14 | |
30 days | 30 days | 60 days | $205 | Nothing extra |
60 days | 60 days | $325 | Tenancy contract accepted as the address | |
30 or 60 days multiple entry | 30 or 60 days | 60 days | $320 or $390 | Give your first arrival and final departure only |
96 hours transit | 96 hours | 30 days | $150 | Onward ticket within 96 hours |
GCC residents | 30 days | 30 days | $200 | Both sides of your residence permit |
Prices are per person and include processing. Express processing adds $50.
Four checks before you press submit
Open your passport next to the form and read each name field against it, letter by letter. Zoom in on the scan and confirm all four corners and both bottom lines are visible. Hold the photo next to a sheet of white paper; if the background looks darker, retake it. Then count the days from your arrival to your flight out and compare the number with the visa you are buying. A document corrected now costs nothing. A refusal costs a new application. When everything matches, start your Dubai e-visa application.
Why documents get sent back
- A passport scan that is blurred, cropped or taken at an angle.
- Name fields typed differently from the passport, very often with a middle name left out.
- A photo with a background that is not white, or with glasses on.
- A passport that expires within six months of the arrival date.
- A flight out dated after the visa ends.
- A GCC residence permit close to expiry, or a visit visa sent instead of a residence permit.
If an application is refused anyway, immigration does not give a reason. Our Dubai visa rejection guide explains how to work out the likely cause before applying again.
After you submit
Expect a decision in 3 to 4 working days; the UAE working week runs Monday to Friday. If you pay for express, the wait drops to 24 to 36 hours. Approval arrives as a PDF attachment by email. Save it to your phone and print it as well, since the check-in desk may want to see it before you board. For every step from picking a visa to clearing passport control, read our guide to applying for a Dubai visit visa.
UAE immigration sets the requirements and can change them, and approval is always its decision. The documents and prices on this page were checked against our visa pages on 21 October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What documents are required for a Dubai tourist visa?
Four. Your passport's photo page scanned in colour, valid for six months or more from arrival; a recent photo against white; a flight out of the UAE within your stay; and your address in the UAE.
How long must my passport be valid for a Dubai visa?
At least six months from the date you arrive in the UAE. If it runs out sooner, renew it before applying.
Is travel insurance required for a Dubai visit visa?
No. Insurance is not part of the visa application, although it is a good idea to have your own cover.
Do I need a bank statement for a Dubai tourist visa?
A bank statement is not part of the standard tourist visa application. If your nationality needs an extra document, we tell you exactly what it is.
Do I need a hotel booking for a Dubai visa?
You need an address. A hotel booking is the easiest, but a tenancy contract or the address and phone number of family or friends you are staying with also work.
What are the photo requirements for a Dubai visa?
A recent colour photo on a plain white background, full face visible, looking at the camera, with no glasses. Religious head coverings are fine if the face can be seen clearly.
Do children need their own Dubai visa?
Yes. Every child, including babies, needs a visa on their own passport with their own photo, at the same price as an adult.
Can I apply for a Dubai visa with a phone scan of my passport?
Yes, if the whole photo page is in the frame, evenly lit and sharp, with every line readable. Blurred or cropped scans are the most common reason a file comes back.
About the author
Eunice Rollon
Dubai Visa Specialist, eDubai Visa
Eunice Rollon has spent more than six years filing UAE entry permits for travellers, and handles Dubai tourist, visit and transit visa applications at eDubai Visa day to day. Her work covers the part of the process most applicants find hardest to judge: whether a given passport and travel route qualifies, which visa length actually fits a trip, and what causes an application to be refused before it is submitted. She reviews the visa guidance published on this site for accuracy against current GDRFA and ICP practice. eDubai Visa is operated by Only Tourism L.L.C., a travel agency licensed in Dubai under Dubai Economy and Tourism licence 690148, trading since 2013.
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