The UAE Will Offer An Extended Stopover Visa
Now, more than ever, employers are seeing the benefits of covered stopover trips for their employees, but their not the only ones.
Looking to encourage stopover trips in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates started offering free transit visas for tourists. As of June 2018, the visas are valid for 48 hours at a time. The new transit visa doubles that allotted time to 96 hours for the price of $10.
These new laws were made in the hopes of increasing tourism to Dubai and helping the local economy. Flights to the UAE could also increase thanks to this change. Officials see major airlines to increasing the number of stopovers in the country, encouraging tourists to stay a while.
Currently the new short-term visa change will only affect adults visiting the UAE. Anyone over the age of 18 who’s planning to stay between 48-96 hours will need the visa. Travelers under the age of 18 will be exempt from the rule.
To further encourage travelers to obtain the visa, the country will make them available at express counters. Those counters are found across from the UAE airports at a Passport Control Hall.
The UAE Cabinet also added on a few more rules affecting the country’s visa laws. These include the exemption of fines in the case of voluntary departure and the start of a 6-month visa for people who overstayed their visa, but wish to continue working in the country. The country will also offer a two-year extension of a residency visa for children of parents who are finishing university studies.
As mentioned above, this new short-term visa program also promotes the rise of stopovers during business trips. The visa could then take advantage of two growing travel trends: bleisure and stopovers.
Based off a study from December 2016, four out of ten people traveling for business also use the trip for leisure. The extra 48 hours offered by the visa could encourage even more bleisure trips. If the extended visa was looking to take advantage of this market, the UAE is a great place to start.
According to US News, the country is home to the fastest growing economy in the world. An extended stopover visa could prove ideal for those new business travelers.
To take full advantage of those visas, we recommended starting your trip on a Friday. With 96 hours to work with, businesspeople could then have a 4-day weekend to spend in Dubai.
Are you in need of a travel visa for an upcoming trip? Do you have some more questions about travel to the UAE? Passport Health can help! Give us a call at or check out any of our other passport and visa services.
Written for Passport Health by Kaitlyn Luckow. Kaitlyn is a freelance writer, photographer and English teacher in Milwaukee. She has a passion for capturing and writing other people’s stories.
