A Dubai visa, explained properly
Pakistani passport holders need a visa before travelling to Dubai. There is no visa on arrival for a green passport, and the UAE does not let a tourist apply by themselves — GDRFA states that the sponsor or host must be an establishment working in the field of tourism, and that only accredited tourism offices in the emirate can issue this type of visa. In practice an airline, a hotel or a licensed travel agent submits it for you.
Government fees run from AED 210 for a 30-day single entry up to AED 3,713 for the 5-year multiple entry — and AED 3,000 of that 5-year figure is a refundable guarantee, not a charge. The 30-day and 60-day visas carry no deposit at all. GDRFA gives 48 hours as the expected processing time.
Most Dubai visa pages written for Pakistani travellers quote one blended price and leave it there. That is not much help when the five visas are genuinely different products with different rules, and when one of them carries a three-thousand-dirham figure that frightens people away from a visa they never needed in the first place. Here is each one, with the fee the UAE government actually charges.
Which visa you need
Pick by how long you are staying and how many times you will enter. A family going for a week needs the first row. A trader who crosses to Dubai several times a year needs the fourth or fifth.
| Visa | Stay | Entries | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tourist, 30 days | 30 days | Single | A holiday, a family visit, a short shopping or event trip. The most common choice by far. |
| Tourist, 60 days | 60 days | Single | A longer family stay, or a trip where the return date is not fixed yet. |
| Tourist, 30 days multiple | 30 days per entry | Multiple | Short repeat trips inside the visa period — a trader doing two or three runs. |
| Tourist, 60 days multiple | 60 days per entry | Multiple | Longer repeat trips, business travel with stays either side of a weekend. |
| 5-year multiple entry | 90 days per visit, 180 days maximum in a year | Multiple, 5 years | Frequent travellers who can show a USD 4,000 bank balance over six months. The only one with a deposit. |
What the UAE government charges
These are the fees GDRFA publishes on its own service pages. They are what you pay the UAE government. They are not our charges, and no part of them comes to us.
| Visa | Government fee | VAT 5% | Total | Deposit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tourist, 30 days, single entry | AED 200 | AED 10 | AED 210 | None |
| Tourist, 60 days, single entry | AED 300 | AED 15 | AED 315 | None |
| Tourist, 30 days, multiple entry | AED 300 | AED 15 | AED 315 | None |
| Tourist, 60 days, multiple entry | AED 500 | AED 25 | AED 525 | None |
| 5-year multiple entry | Application 100, issuance 500, guarantee 3,000, warranty service 21, guarantee collection and return 20, Knowledge Dirham 10, Innovation Dirham 10, service fee 52.5 | AED 3,713 | AED 3,000, refundable | |
Source and date. Official fees published by the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs — Dubai, checked on 10 October 2026: single-entry tourist visa, multiple-entry tourist visa and the 5-year multi-entry service. GDRFA can raise or lower these fees without notice, and the rupee equivalent moves with the exchange rate, so confirm the current figure before you pay. GDRFA also notes that the total can change with the applicant's circumstances — for example, an additional AED 520 applies where the person being sponsored is already inside the UAE.
The AED 3,000 deposit, and who actually pays it
This is the single most misunderstood thing about Dubai visas, and most Pakistani visa pages get it wrong by saying nothing at all.
The 5-year visa
- Carries an AED 3,000 guarantee inside the AED 3,713 total
- The guarantee is a financial security, not a fee — GDRFA charges a separate AED 20 for collecting and returning it
- It is forfeited if you breach the visa conditions, including overstaying
- You also need a bank balance of USD 4,000 or equivalent, documented across the six months before you apply
The 30 and 60-day visas
- No deposit whatsoever. GDRFA states it plainly: "There is no security deposit amount on this type of visa"
- No USD 4,000 balance condition attached to the visa itself
- Total government cost is between AED 210 and AED 525
- This is the visa most travellers from Pakistan are actually asking about
Why this matters before you choose
People hear "Dubai visa needs three lakh rupees blocked" and assume it applies to their two-week holiday. It does not. If you are going for a wedding, a family visit or a short break, you are looking at a visa with no deposit and a government fee of a few hundred dirhams.
The 5-year visa is worth it only if you genuinely travel several times a year and can meet the balance condition comfortably. We will say so honestly rather than sell you the larger product.
Documents required
GDRFA asks the same short list of everyone, and it really is short. What follows is that list, plus what we ask you for on top of it — because a file that only meets the minimum still gets refused when the pieces do not agree with each other.
GDRFA asks all four for this
Identity
What GDRFA lists- One personal photograph
- Passport copy, valid for at least six months
- CNIC — GDRFA names Pakistan specifically, so this is required whether or not anyone mentions it
The trip
Also on the official list- A travel ticket onward or out of the UAE
- Medical insurance valid for the UAE — check the policy names the UAE, not just “worldwide”
- Where you are staying, so the dates agree with the ticket
Money
Only for one of the five visas- The 30 and 60-day visas need no bank statement at all
- The 5-year multiple entry needs six months showing USD 4,000 or equivalent
- There is no published minimum for the short visas
What we ask you for as well
If you are salaried
Not on GDRFA’s list — but it is what makes a thin file credible- An employer letter confirming your role and that your leave is approved for those dates
- Last three months of salary slips
- Salary arriving in the account you are showing, if you are showing one
- For a government employee, the departmental NOC
If you own a business
The questions that come up when a trader applies repeatedly- Business registration or proprietorship proof
- NTN certificate, and tax returns if you file
- Business bank statements, separate from personal, if you are showing funds
- If you travel to Dubai often on business, a short note on the trade you do there — frequent short trips attract attention
If you are retired
Showing a settled life rather than an employer- Pension book or pension payment order
- Six months of statements showing the pension arriving
- Property or other income documents, which carry weight when there is no job to return to
If you are a student or dependent
The file is really about whoever is funding and sponsoring you- Student card and a letter from the institution, if you are studying
- Your sponsor’s identity, relationship to you and financial documents
- NADRA Family Registration Certificate to prove the relationship
- For a child travelling without both parents, notarised consent from the parent not travelling
In practice the application is also judged on how the file hangs together — whether the ticket dates, the hotel booking and the stated purpose agree with each other. That is the part we work on with you.
How the application actually works
You cannot submit this one yourself. GDRFA's own conditions say the sponsor or host inside the UAE must be an establishment working in tourism, and that only accredited tourism offices in the emirate can issue the visa. So the route is through an airline, a hotel, or a licensed travel agent.
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Tell us the trip
Dates, how long you are staying, whether you will enter once or several times, and who is travelling. That alone decides which of the five visas you need, and it is usually a two-minute conversation.
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We check the documents before anything is paid
Passport validity, CNIC, photograph specification, insurance and the onward ticket. If something will cause a problem, you hear it at this stage rather than after the fee has gone.
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The file is submitted through an accredited channel
We submit it as a licensed agency, with the government fee paid to GDRFA, and track it until the outcome comes back.
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The visa is issued to you by email
You travel with a printed copy. Check every detail on it against your passport the day it arrives — a misspelled name is far easier to fix before you fly than at the airport.
Processing time
GDRFA gives 48 hours as the expected completion time for the tourist visa, and the service runs around the clock through its digital channels.
Treat that as the processing clock, not the whole timeline. The file still has to be assembled, checked and submitted first, and applications can be held for additional checks without a reason being given. For a trip you have already booked, apply with a clear margin rather than counting on two days.
What changes your total cost
We do not publish a single service charge for a Dubai visa, because there is no single number that would be honest. What a file costs to prepare depends on things that differ from one applicant to the next:
- Which visa. A 30-day single entry and a 5-year multiple entry are different pieces of work entirely.
- How many travellers. A family file is prepared once; the per-person effort drops.
- How complete your documents already are. If the insurance, ticket and CNIC are in order, there is less to do.
- Urgency. A file that has to move today is handled differently from one with three weeks on it.
- Whether anything needs fixing first. A previous refusal, a name mismatch across documents, or a passport close to expiry all add work.
Send us the trip on WhatsApp and you get the government fee and our charge quoted separately, so you can see exactly what goes where.
How we prepare your file
Breeze Travels & Tours is an IATA-accredited agency working from a walk-in office on Davis Road, Garhi Shahu, since 2003. You can sit across the desk from the person handling your application rather than sending documents to a number you found online.
On a Dubai file that means we check the passport and CNIC against each other before submission, make sure the insurance actually covers the UAE, book the onward ticket and the hotel so the dates agree with the application, and tell you plainly if the 5-year visa is not worth it for your travel pattern.
If your Dubai trip also needs flights or a hotel, we handle those with the same team: air tickets and hotel reservations. Travelling for work rather than a holiday? See business visas.
If your Dubai visa has been refused
UAE refusals usually arrive without a stated reason, which makes the next application a question of judgement rather than paperwork. In our experience the recurring causes are a name that does not match across passport and CNIC, an incomplete or invalid insurance policy, a previous overstay on a UAE visa, or a file submitted through a channel that was not accredited.
Applying again immediately with the same documents is the most common mistake. Send us the refusal and the file as it was submitted, and we will tell you whether anything can realistically be changed before you spend another government fee. If we think a re-application will fail, we will say so.