Dubai Residency

By subject

Travel and UAE residency

Everything on this site filed under travel — what changed, when it starts, and where we read it.

A tobacco-brown paper gateway with an arched opening on a sand ground, a low picket fence across its lower half with a small brass hinge

Travel

EES: fingerprints, no stamps

The Schengen Entry/Exit System now runs at every external border. A UAE traveller gives fingerprints and a photograph on the first entry, the passport is no longer stamped, and the 90-days-in-180 count is kept by the system rather than by the officer. The travel permit, ETIAS, comes later.

A small tobacco-brown paper ticket on a sand ground with a cream paper coin resting on its corner

Travel

UK ETA: £20

The UK Electronic Travel Authorisation rose from £16 to £20 on 8 April 2026. GCC nationals have needed it since February 2024, and many UAE residents on other passports do too: it covers stays of up to six months, every traveller including babies, and is applied for in the UK ETA app.

A tobacco-brown paper arrow on a warm sand ground, its tip cut off and set further along, leaving a clear gap in the middle

Travel

ETIAS slips to 2027

eu-LISA has accepted that ETIAS cannot launch by the end of 2026, which pushes back the permit UAE nationals will need for Europe. The biometric Entry/Exit System it depends on went fully live in April and is producing waits IATA has put at three to six hours.