Dubai is a very popular destination for Indians. UAE (Dubai is a city and also one of the states in the UAE) requires Indian citizens to have a visa to enter the country. Recently, I travelled to Dubai with my family, and in this post, I will share my experience of getting a tourist visa for the UAE.
The UAE allows visa-free entry for citizens of many countries, but unfortunately India is not on that list. This means we need to apply for a visa in advance. The good part is that the UAE has an e-visa system for Indians, but you cannot apply directly on your own.
You need to apply through a sponsor. Many travel agencies provide this service, and it is not mandatory to book a tour package with them. I did some research and selected a travel agency for this. The process was quite simple. I created an account, uploaded a copy of my passport and photo, and made the payment.
Soon after, I was asked to share a few additional documents over email:
- Flight tickets
- Hotel reservation
- PAN card copy
- Copy of the outer cover of the passport
I emailed the documents, and after about 4 days, I received the e-visa.
Visa on arrival
There is also an option for visa on arrival if you already have a valid US or Schengen visa. I had those visas, but since I was applying for my entire family, I found it more convenient to apply for all of us together in advance.
Privacy concerns
While my experience with the travel agency was smooth, I did face an issue later. I received a WhatsApp message from a business account asking me to update my credit card details to reconfirm my Dubai hotel booking made through Booking.com. They had all the details of my booking, which made it look very convincing.
However, I realised something was not right. After a bit of checking, it became clear that this was a fraudulent account.
The data leak could have been from Booking.com, but that would have been a major issue and likely made news, so I don’t think that was the case. It could also have been from the embassy, which again seems unlikely. The most probable source is the travel agency, since I had shared my hotel booking voucher with them. I cannot prove this, so I am not mentioning the agency’s name.
Ok to Board
Earlier, there was a confusing requirement to get an “Ok to Board” stamp on the boarding pass. This is no longer required, unless your passport has an ECR stamp.
Final words
Overall, getting a UAE tourist visa is quite easy. However, it is on the expensive side — around ₹7,500. The visa is valid for 30 days and allows single entry.
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