UK visit visa from Dubai — check if you even need one.

Your passport nationality and travel purpose usually decide the route. Your UAE residence visa does not by itself grant access to the UK.

Nationals of the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are all on the UK’s Electronic Travel Authorisation list. If you hold one of these passports you apply for an ETA rather than a visitor visa. It costs £20, is valid for two years or until your passport expires, and is usually decided within three working days.

Many expatriate residents — including Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Filipino and Sri Lankan passport holders — need a full Standard Visitor visa instead. That is an online application, a biometrics appointment in Dubai and a decision that normally takes around three weeks.

Most ETA-eligible travellers will not need a visitor visa. Previous refusals, a criminal record or other immigration history may still make a full visa application the better route, and an ETA does not guarantee entry at the border. Send us your passport details and we will tell you which applies — free, and before you pay us anything.

A Standard Visitor visa covers tourism, visiting family and friends, business meetings and conferences, short recreational courses, private medical treatment and passing through the UK in transit. You can also study a course of up to six months on it.

You can usually stay up to six months per visit. That limit applies to each entry on a long-term visa too — a ten-year visa is not permission to live in the UK.

• No work for a UK company — paid or unpaid, or as a self-employed person, unless it falls under a permitted paid engagement or event
• No public funds — you cannot claim benefits or public funds while visiting
• No living by repeat visits — frequent or successive visits to make the UK your main home may affect future entry and later applications
• No marriage — marrying or registering a civil partnership needs a Marriage Visitor visa instead
• Volunteering is allowed — up to 30 days with a registered charity, as are certain business activities under specific rules

The Home Office sets these in pounds sterling and they are the same worldwide, whatever your nationality.

A long-term visa is only worth the higher fee if you would otherwise make several separate applications. Three six-month visas cost £405, which is less than a two-year visa at £506; four cost £540, which is more. So the two-year visa starts paying from the fourth application, not the fourth trip — a six-month visa can cover multiple entries while it remains valid, so applications rather than trips are what you count.

UKVI does not publish a fixed checklist for visit applications. What it asks is that your evidence shows you will leave at the end of your visit and can support yourself while you are there.

• Passport — with adequate validity for the trip you are planning
• UAE residence visa — and Emirates ID, evidencing your status here
• Financial evidence — showing both the availability of your funds and where they came from
• Employer’s letter — confirming your role, salary and approved leave

We confirm the right period and format for your circumstances before you gather anything.

Send a photograph of your passport and UAE residence visa. We confirm whether you need a visa or an ETA, quote the full cost of both parts, then prepare and submit.

1. 1
   Eligibility check

   Free. Passport nationality and purpose checked before any payment.
2. 2
   Preparation

   Application form, supporting documents and cover letter prepared and reviewed.
3. 3
   Appointment and decision

   Biometrics booked at the Dubai visa application centre, then tracked to decision.

The earliest you can apply is three months before you travel. Since 1 July 2026 UKVI has stopped issuing visa stickers to successful new applicants, so most people now receive an eVisa linked to a UKVI account instead. The visa application centre will tell you when and how to collect your passport.

Studying for longer than six months is a different route with different requirements — see our guide to studying in the UK from Dubai.

Our charge is fixed and published. UK government fees are separate and passed through at cost, with nothing added on top.

You are told the exact total, both parts included, before anything is submitted. If the eligibility check shows you need only an ETA, we say so and you pay us nothing.