By Starting Tuesday 13 December 2022 expats on visit visas are no longer able to extend their visas without exiting the country first. This change on the UAE visit visa extension will affect many expats who are on visit visas in looking for jobs in UAE.
This was the norm before the Covid 19 pandemic, where expats needed to exit the UAE to extend their visit visas. People usually travelled to Oman, Kuwait and other neighbouring countries to do the visa change.
There has not been an official word from the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs but travel agencies who spoke to Khaleej Times have confirmed that they have not been able to process in-country visit visa extensions.
“It was during the Covid pandemic that the UAE first introduced the option for visitors to extend their visas from within the country,” said Afi Ahmed from Smart Travels. “The option to extend the visa or change [their] status from the country was not available before that.”
Earlier in November the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security published the new fines for visa overstay for both visit visas and resident visas. The new system unified the amount of UAE visa overstay fine to 50 AED per day for any type of visa violator.
You can check the exact amount of the fine you have on your visa on the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security website.
Navigate to the website using this link https://www.gdrfad.gov.ae/en/fines-inquiry-service
