Last month, I made a last-minute dash to Dubai for the IATA AGM 2024. I wasn’t entirely on board with if I was going, so I had tickets booked and a hotel room on hold, but I did not get my Visa processed. For many years now, I’ve been using the UAE Visa on Arrival route, which came in 2017.

The UAE Visa on Arrival for Indians

When it was launched, the visa on arrival for Indians was only available to those with an Indian passport and a valid US Visa. However, very quickly, the qualifying criteria were added to include:

• US Green Card
• US Tourist Visa (B1/B2)
• UK/EU (Resident Cardholders only)

The UAE Visa on Arrival for Indians differs from the other country passport holders who qualify to get a free Visa on Arrival in the UAE. I’ve previously used and written about the UAE Visa on arrival in Abu Dhabi and Dubai over the years. This facility is available at every airport that handles International arrivals in the UAE, including, for instance, Sharjah and RAK. The charges and the method/workflow of the Visa on Arrival might be different, though.

For instance, in Abu Dhabi, you directly pay at the border checkpost for your visa, while in Dubai, you go to a Marhaba counter and pay for it, receive an invoice, and then head to the border checkpost/passport control counter. You are granted a 14-day visa, and you can travel anywhere around the UAE and exit the country before/on the 14th day.

I was asked for my Visa at Delhi Airport to visit the UAE before departure. The AI-SATS agent was familiar with the visa-on-arrival process, made notes on my PNR, and issued me my boarding pass. It was the same at Indian Border Control, who also looked at my USA visa and let me go after stamping the passport. You can read about the Air India A350 flight experience here.

Dubai Visa on Arrival process

On arrival at Dubai Airport, there were clear markings for Indian travellers who wanted to be admitted with a Visa on Arrival. We had to first go to a Marhaba counter before immigration, where they would process the payment for the Visa on Arrival for us. This is the Marhaba counter at Terminal 1, pre-passport control, where they collect the payments and issue the invoices.

One person was queued up before me, so I was in quickly. At the front of the desk is the current pricing for the Visa on Arrival (for Indian) facility.

Marhaba used to charge AED 120 per person as Visa Fees (including 20 Dirham for their service). Last year (2023), I used the facility while heading for the Dubai Airshow, and it was AED 141 (INR 3200). It was much less than the fee required for prior processing, which usually costs INR 6000 at least. On this particular trip, the price had increased to AED 240, which works up to INR 5,500, give or take. So, the process had lost its economic edge for sure.

At the beginning of January 2024, Emirates launched a new “preapproved visa” for those satisfying the Visa on Arrival for Indians criteria, where you don’t need to queue up as long as you apply beforehand on the Emirates website. I feel that the cost of this visa processing route was updated to be comparable with that route so that people choose to get their visa prior.

But I digress. Once at the counter, I presented my passport to the agent, who scanned my passport and USA visa and collected the money. One can pay in cash or by card. Subsequently, she handed me an invoice for the money and advised us to go to the immigration counter. It looks like new charges were added to the process to equalise the prices.

The queue for passport control was long, and it took more than 25 minutes to arrive at the front and have an immigration officer talk to me at that hour of the night. It seems three other flights arrived at the same time.

At the counter, the only question asked was about the length of my stay in the UAE. Then, I was just made to give my picture to the immigration camera and stamped in.

Bottomline

This was easy, and if you have a USA visa or a US/UK/EU residency on your passport, you can get a Visa on Arrival with your Indian passport as well. It is no longer cheap compared to back in the day, and while it does take a short while to arrive in Dubai (it could be more when you get off an A380), it can be used to plan spontaneous trips to the country.

Have you had a chance to experience the Visa on Arrival offered by UAE for Indian Citizens? What has been your experience?

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