Dubai Visit Visa Fees in 2025: What You Actually Pay

If you're trying to figure out Dubai visit visa fees before booking flights or sponsoring a relative, the published numbers are only half the story. Service charges, VAT, insurance, and the deposit nobody warns you about can double what you thought you'd pay. Here's the real breakdown.

Quick answer

Dubai visit visa fees in 2025 range from roughly AED 200 to AED 1,200+ depending on duration (30 or 60 days), single or multiple entry, and whether you apply through ICP (the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security), GDRFA Dubai (General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs), an airline, or a typing centre. A 30-day single-entry tourist visa through GDRFA's Smart Services is around AED 350 all-in. A 60-day multi-entry runs closer to AED 1,000–1,200. Add insurance and, often, a refundable deposit when a UAE resident sponsors.

The official fee, the service fee, and the gap between them

The "visa fee" you see on ICP or GDRFA is the government charge. Nothing more.

What you actually pay at checkout includes a service/processing fee (the channel's margin), 5% VAT on that service portion, and sometimes mandatory medical insurance bundled in. Travel agencies and typing centres add their own markup on top. Honestly, the gap between the headline number and the final invoice catches most first-time sponsors off guard.

As of 2025, here's roughly what to expect through official GDRFA Dubai channels [1][2]:

• 30-day single entry tourist visa: AED 300–400
• 30-day multiple entry: AED 650–750
• 60-day single entry: AED 600–700
• 60-day multiple entry: AED 1,000–1,200
• 5-year multi-entry tourist visa: around AED 650 (90 days per stay, extendable once)

ICP rates through smartservices.icp.gov.ae sit in a similar band but the breakdown of "service" vs "fee" differs slightly. Same visa, different invoice format.

Watch out: Third-party visa portals quote "from AED 250" prices that exclude insurance, urgent processing, and the AED 100–250 e-service add-ons. Always check the final total before paying.

The deposit nobody mentions

When a UAE resident sponsors a relative or friend on a visit visa through GDRFA, the system can require a refundable deposit — typically AED 1,000 per visitor, sometimes more for certain nationalities flagged as higher overstay risk.

You get it back. Usually. But only after the visitor exits the country and GDRFA processes the refund, which takes 30–60 days in my experience. Some sponsors wait longer.

If the visitor overstays, the deposit covers the fines (AED 50 per day after the grace period) and the difference comes out of your pocket. Plan cash flow accordingly — particularly if you're sponsoring two or three family members at once. That's AED 3,000+ parked with GDRFA for two months.

Fees by application channel

Where you apply changes the price more than people realise.

GDRFA Dubai Smart Services (smart.gdrfad.gov.ae): Cheapest direct route for visas sponsored from inside Dubai. You'll need an Emirates ID login and the sponsor's documents. Expect AED 350 all-in for a basic 30-day single entry.

ICP smart services app: Federal channel, works for sponsors in any emirate. Pricing is comparable, though the user interface is — let's say — an acquired taste.

Emirates and flydubai: Both airlines bundle visit visas with tickets. Convenient if you're already booking. Emirates charges roughly AED 350 for a 30-day single entry [3]. You don't need to be flying their metal for the outbound, but it helps.

Typing centres and travel agencies: Add AED 100–300 on top for the convenience of someone else filing the paperwork. Worth it if your Arabic name spelling matters or you're sponsoring a parent and don't want to upload 14 documents at 2 a.m.

Visa-on-arrival: Available for around 70 nationalities. Free for many (UK, US, EU, GCC residents on certain permits), paid for others. Check the GDRFA nationality list before assuming.

Insurance, medical, and the hidden extras

Since 2023, visit visa applicants must have medical insurance valid in the UAE for the entire stay [4]. Some applications bundle it. Some don't.

Standalone visitor insurance for 30 days costs AED 50–90 from local providers. Sixty days, AED 90–150. Cheap, but skip it and your application gets rejected — or worse, you arrive uninsured and a hospital visit costs you AED 5,000 instead of AED 500.

Other add-ons that quietly inflate dubai visit visa fees:

• Urgent processing: AED 100–250 for same-day approval instead of 48–72 hours.
• Visa change inside UAE (if a visitor wants to extend or switch to a residence visa without exiting): around AED 1,000.
• Extension fee: AED 600 for a 30-day extension on a 30-day visa, applied through GDRFA before expiry.
• Overstay fine: AED 50 per day, no grace period since 2024 changes [5].

Cost snapshot (sponsor in Dubai, 30-day single entry, 2025): Visa fee ~AED 350 + insurance ~AED 75 + refundable deposit AED 1,000 = AED 1,425 out of pocket. You recover AED 1,000 after exit.

Five-year multi-entry: is it worth it?

Launched in 2022, the five-year multi-entry tourist visa lets visitors enter Dubai repeatedly, staying up to 90 days per visit (extendable to 180 days total per year).

Fee: around AED 650 [6]. No sponsor required. Self-applied through ICP.

For a parent who visits twice a year for three months at a time, this is genuinely the best deal in the system. One payment, five years, no deposit, no repeated paperwork. The catch — you need to show USD 4,000 (or equivalent) in bank statements for the last six months. Frankly, that screens out a lot of applicants who'd benefit most.

When fees change and how to verify

GDRFA and ICP update tariffs without much fanfare. The last meaningful adjustment to dubai visit visa fees was in early 2024 when the overstay grace period was scrapped. Before that, fees moved in 2022 with the new visa categories.

Always check the published rate on the day you apply:

• GDRFA Dubai: gdrfad.gov.ae → Services → Visa Services
• ICP: icp.gov.ae → Services → Entry Permits
• Visa cost calculator: available on both portals

Travel agency quotes from last quarter are not reliable. The fee on the government portal at the moment you click "Pay" is what counts.

What I tell clients before they apply

Three things, every time.

Use GDRFA Smart Services directly if you're a Dubai resident sponsoring family. You'll save AED 100–300 versus a typing centre and the process takes 20 minutes once you have the documents scanned.

Buy the insurance separately from a local provider rather than the bundled option — it's usually cheaper and gives you better coverage. Daman, Orient, and AXA all offer 30-day visitor plans online.

Track the visa expiry date in your phone. Overstay fines compound fast and the days you spend chasing a refund of the deposit later are days you'll wish you'd spent setting a reminder.

For more on visa categories, sponsorship rules, and renewal timelines, see our visa guides.

Sources

[1] GDRFA Dubai, Visa Services tariff page, gdrfad.gov.ae, accessed 2025. [2] UAE Government Portal, "Tourist visa fees," u.ae, updated 2024. [3] Emirates Airlines, "Apply for a UAE visa," emirates.com, 2025. [4] Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, Cabinet Resolution on visitor insurance requirements, 2023. [5] ICP announcement on overstay fines, January 2024. [6] UAE Cabinet, Five-year multi-entry tourist visa scheme, launched 2022.

Need this checked for your situation? Talk to a UAE-licensed lawyer →