It does not come as a great surprise that Dubai is the 3rd most expat-friendly city to live in the world. I for one have been living here for 5 years with absolutely no complaints or regrets hence why I am happy to share with you the Dubai residence visa process.



As in most countries, in the UAE you must have a visa to stay here legally unless you are one of the lucky UAE nationals. The visa which I shall call here as Dubai residence can be obtained in two major ways.

1. Getting employed by a UAE company

This is by far the most popular way that most people get the Dubai residence visa.

2. Opening your own company or freelance permit



Thanks to the great UAE government, they have made the Dubai residence visa process very streamlined.

This is how it starts:

Whether you are inside or outside the UAE or holding a tourist visa, another valid residence visa or a canceled residence visa, you shall have to either get an offer from a new Dubai employer, set up a company in the Dubai free zones and get the visa under it, or buy a property in the Dubai that will allow you to get the Dubai residence visa or get sponsored by a spouse who already has an existing Dubai residence visa.

In all these cases the Dubai residence visa process is generally the same, as you shall need the below requirements:

copy of your passport

copy of the tourist visa/canceled visa/current Dubai visa (if applicable)

personal photograph

a few questions for the visa application form like mother's name, father’s name, religion etc.

Once all the above documents have been gathered and submitted to the immigration by the relevant party, all you have to do is wait for 5 - 7 business days for your entry permit visa will be issued.

At this stage, it is called an entry permit visa i.e a digital version of the Dubai residence visa (E-visa in simple terms) which is valid for 60 days. Meaning you have 60 days to complete the rest for the Dubai residence visa process that I shall explain below.

So let’s carry on. You will use this entry permit visa to enter the UAE if you are outside and get a blue entry stamp at the border OR if you are inside UAE, you shall have to do what we here call “Visa Status change”.

It basically is a process of removing you from the old visa you are on to the new entry permit visa you just got. It can be done by paying a minimal fee to the immigration and having them do it for you by submitting a copy of the entry permit along with your original passport to them for a day. Otherwise, you can take a flight/drive to any bordering country outside UAE and come back using the entry permit.

Once that is done, you will have to do medicals and Emirates ID application at one of the hospitals here. This takes about an hour and the results are sent to you by email on the same day. Once you have the results you shall have to get a personal health insurance plan. You can easily get it online in this smart city since it is mandatory for all Dubai residence visa holders to have personal health insurance. If your visa comes from another Emirate, health insurance is not mandatory.

Well, we are almost at the end. The final step is to submit the medical results, insurance copy, Emirates ID application form and passport to immigration through the relevant party in order for the immigration to stamp the residence visa on your passport.

It only takes 1- 3 business days and once you get your stamped passport back, the Emirates ID will follow in 5 days which comes to the P.O. box chosen by the relevant party who applied for your visa. Otherwise, it will be delivered to a random Emirates Post office and you will be notified by SMS.

That’s it, you have completed the Dubai residence visa process. Enjoy your stay!