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Overstay Fines in UAE: Avoid Penalties and Stay Legal

Updated September 10th, 2024

This advisory guide covers all the necessary information about overstay fine in UAE to help those who overstaying in tourist visa or cancelled residence visa during 2024.


01

What are overstay fines in UAE & how much is it?

Any visitor overstaying on a pre-paid or on-arrival UAE visit visa will be charged a fine of 50 AED. The overstaying penalty in the UAE has been standardized by the UAE ICP from October 14, 2022. The new regulations set the daily charge for overstaying a visit, tourist, or residency visa at AED 50. Over stayers on resident visas will now be charged AED 50 per day rather than the previous AED 25.

02

Over staying fine for visitors – Explained

A 30 days on arrival

If you are a passport holder of the countries mentioned below then you don't require a prepaid visa as you will be eligible for a 30 day visa that will be stamped on arrival at the UAE port of entry (airport, land border or seaport). All you have to do is disembark your flight at Dubai International Airport and head to immigration where your 30 day on arrival visa will be stamped on your passport free of charge.

Andorra Australia Brunei
Canada China Hong Kong, China
Japan Kazakhstan Macau, China
Malaysia Mauritius Monaco
New Zealand Republic of Ireland San Marino
Singapore Ukraine United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
United States of America Vatican City

B 90 days on arrival

If you hold a passport from any of the countries or territories mentioned below, your passport will be stamped with a 90 day multiple entry visa upon arrival at any of UAE's ports of entry. This multiple entry visit visa is valid for a total of 6 months from the date of issue and permits the holder for a stay totaling to 90 days within that time span.

Argentina Austria Bahamas Islands
Barbados Belgium Brazil
Bulgaria Chile Colombia
Costa Rica Croatia Cyprus
Czech Republic Denmark El Salvador
Estonia Finland France
Germany Greece Honduras
Hungary Iceland Italy
Kiribati Latvia Liechtenstein
Lithuania Luxembourg Maldives
Malta Montenegro Nauru
Netherlands Norway Paraguay
Peru Poland Portugal
Romania Russian Federation Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
San Marino Serbia Seychelles
Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands
South Korea Spain Sweden
Switzerland Uruguay

C Prepaid visa holders

If you hold a passport from Asian, African or other developing countries in the world you need to apply for a entry visa before entering UAE. You can apply for a single entry UAE visit visa or a multiple entry UAE visit visa via an airline or local tour companies.

D Indian passport holders with USA Visa or USA Green card holder, EU Residency visa & UK Residency visa

Indian passport holders holding a USA green card or having USA visa, EU residency visa or UK residency visa are eligible for a UAE visa on arrival that is valid for 14 days. It is extendable once for a period of 14 days. The fee for this on-arrival permit is 100 AED and renewal fee is 250 AED and 20 AED service charge.

E Mexican passport 180 days on arrival

If you are a Mexican passport holder you are eligible for a 180 day multiple entry visit visa that is valid for a total of 6 months from the date of issue. This allows you to stay for a total of 180 days in the UAE.

F Brazil passport 90 days on arrival

If you are a Brazil passport holder you get free 90 days on arrival visa that is valid for 365 days where as 90 total days can be used with in an year

03

Overstaying fine for residents – Explained

If you are a UAE resident after your residence visa gets expired, you have a 30 day grace period to change your status, apply for a new residence visa or exit the country. There won't be any fines charged during the grace period. If the individual overstays after the grace period, a fine of 50 AED will be charged for the first day and 50 AED for every day from the second day onwards. Additionally, 50 AED will be charged per day after six months of overstaying and 50 AED per day after one year of overstaying. If your new employer is taking a long time to process your residence visa you can apply for a tourist visa with or without exit and get a status change. For more details check our UAE tourist visa extension option for a better idea.

04

Where to pay the fine

You can settle your overstaying fines at any of the entry ports (airport, land border, sea ports), immigration offices, Amer offices and typing centres. If you are opting for an extension, the tourism company will make the payment for you.

A
Upon exit – Airports, Ports & boarders

Most UAE residents and visitors are settling their overstaying fines while exiting UAE through the airports, Ports and land borders in any of the 7 Emirates. Every point of entry is equipped with well-trained immigration officers and systemized processes to collect the overstaying fines and help make your exit a hassle-free process.

B
Ministry of Interior MOI – Immigration offices, Amer offices & typing center

If you feel like settling any overstaying dues before you leave to make the exit process less time consuming, feel free to make the payments in any of the local immigration offices, Amer offices or typing centres.



C
Upon extending tourism companies will pay

30 day or 90 day on arrival visa holders, prepaid visa holders or Mexicans are eligible to extend their stay via a local tourism firm. While extending their stay, they can settle any overstaying fines of the previous visa.After reforms, also visit visa holders who are extending their stay need to make a payment of 50 AED per day of overstay and residence visa holders need to pay 50 AED per day and additional 50-100 AED will be service charge.

05

How to avoid paying fines

Make sure to adhere to these tips and you won't have to pay any overstaying fines.

  1. 1. Plan your return trip beforehand. This trick will save you lots of money as you won’t need to pay any overstay fines. Use Visa days calculator to count your days of stay accurately.
  2. 2. Make use of the Days Calculator Days Between Two Dates and tick the ‘Include end date in calculation’ box. 1 day will be added as UAE immigration counts your date of entry into the country too
  3. 3. Use the UAE Immigration’s file validity checking systems to confirm your last day of stay after you have entered the country.
  4. 4. Request your visa provider to send you screenshots from the immigration system to confirm your last day of stay in UAE.
  5. 5. Get to know your visa type and read the Type of visas in UAE for a better understanding of grace periods and their availability.
  6. 6. Avoid any travels on the last day of your grace period as delays in flights can postpone your stay resulting in fines being charged. Always travel a minimum of 2 days before your last day of grace period.

06

Fines During Corona-virus

Any UAE visit visa holders waiting for an announcement for a stay extension for the individuals unable to leave UAE due to airport closures and flight cancellations there won't be any overstaying fines charged. The Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship had made a statement on March 23, 2020 that such individuals will be able to extend their stay in the country until situations improve.
Source : Khaleej Time

07

Modifying visa status – Status change

Under the Ministerial Resolution No. 377 of 2014, visa holders of all types can modify the status of their entry while staying in the country if they wish to get a residency visa. A payment of 550 to 650 AED and compliance to certain requirements and conditions have to be met for successfully modifying visa status into residency visa. However, the applicant must ensure to perform this step before his current visa expires to avoid any fines being charged.

08

Is it criminal?

In UK, overstaying without a valid reason is a criminal offence under section 24 of the Immigration Act 1971. In UAE, there is no law that says overstaying a visitor's visa or expired residence visa is a criminal offence. Most of the visit visa holders and cancelled residence visa holders overstay due to reasons like flight cancellations (Now due to corona), delays in processing new visa or employment visa. In most cases the average period of overstaying is between 5 to 15 days. In certain cases, Asian visitors have been scammed into believing that their visit visa is an employment visa resulting in them overstaying for many months. In such an instance, it is regarded as a criminal offence and the individual will be deported upon getting caught. As UAE practices many humanitarian acts, once every one or two years, The UAE visa amnesty requests all individuals who are overstaying to exit the country and waive off their overstaying fines.

Source :UAE visa amnesty: Millions in fines waived off, 88% response rate UAE authorities waive Dh500k in fines to help worker return home 31-year fine worth Dh1.08 million waived for illegal UAE resident

09

Overstaying affect my re-entry?

We have heard news that overstaying for more than 1 to 2 months could affect any prospective employment opportunities. There are no laws confirmed about how overstaying will affect a visitor’s or resident’s next re-entry. In our experience some individuals who had overstayed and re applied for a new visa were approved while some were rejected. This decision is solely reliant on the Immigration departments’ security team.

10

Frequently Asked Questions

Some applicants are excused due to medical reasons and global issues. Contact the nearest Amer service center or Immigration and apply for a fine reduction by filling in the application.

Yes, you can do this through any of the 7 emirates’ airports or land borders.

Yes, you can check Arabiers Visa days calculator which is very similar to the overstay fine calculator.