UK citizens have been for years vising UAE either for business or tourist purposes. Even after the UK review on the red list countries, UAE is still on the list. According to UK regulations, if you are travelling from red-listed countries, you ought to quarantine for up to 10 days upon arrival in a hotel. If you would like to avoid undergoing the mandatory quarantine in the UK, you first have to travel to the green listed counties for 11 days and then travel to the UK.
If you are a UK citizen who had travelled to UAE before these regulations or listing of UAE in the red list, chances are you would stay in UAE until it is delisted from the red list. However, there are hindrances because even though you don’t need a visa to enter UAE from the UK, the visa is time-bounded. If you would like to stay longer, you have to extend your visa.
Before diving into how to extend your visa as a UK citizen in UAE, let look first at the UAE’s COVID restrictions and travel advisory.
1. UAE Travel Restrictions – UK travellers
The following is a category of passengers or people allowed to enter the UAE;
- Diplomatic mission members
- UAE citizens
- Persons with UAE golden visa
- Persons authorized to enter the country by relevant authorities
- Persons entering UAE on a business flight with certified COVID 19 PCR eat certificate
There is no restriction on UK passengers to enter UAE, but there are regulations to adhere to upon arrival. These regulations include;
- Travellers from the UK must have a certified COVID 19 PCR certificate. The test and insurance of the certificate should have been done within 48 hours before entering UAE. The following are laboratories designated for PCR tests and issuing of a certificate.
- The PCR test should have been issued by certified or approved laborites. Additionally, the certificate should have a linked QR code.
- After arriving in Dubai, it is a must to Covid PCR test and other two more tests scheduled after 4 days and 8 days during the quarantine period.
- Upon arrival in UAE, you need to sign your agreement for 10 days quarantine either in a hotel or at home.
- Upon arrival in UAE, you have to give all required information at the Dubai airport and download the COVID19 – DXB Smart App iOS‑Android.
If your PCR certificate indicated positive results, the first step is to self-quarantine and then adhere to the Dubai health regulations.
When you are traveling to Abu Dhabi
If you are a UK citizen and would like to road trip to Abu Dhabi, you need to know the stricter regulations. The mandatory to have is a negative COVID 19 PCR test certificate issued with 48 hours or a Negative DPI test result issued within 24 hours. Upon entering Abu Dhabi is counted as day 1.
Arriving passengers
Authorities in Abu Dhabi have laid down regulations for all arriving passengers, and they are meant to adhere to every passenger entering Abu Dhabi; it doesn’t matter the entry point. These regulations are revised often and can delay your entry to Abu Dhabi. These rules are;
- For travellers from green-listed countries and are vaccinated there are not required to undergo quarantine. All required is to take COVID 19 PCR test upon arrival and another one after 6 days.
- Travellers from red-listed countries who are vaccinated have to take COVID 19 PCR test upon arrival and another one after 4 days. It is also mandatory to self-quarantine e for 5 days.
- For travellers who are vaccinated and identified as a close contest, it is mandatory to self-quarantine for 5 days. Additionally, you have to take COVID 19 test upon arrival and another one after 4 days.
- Travellers who are yet to be vaccinated and come from green-listed countries don’t have to quarantine. All required is COVID 19 PCR test upon arrival and two more tests on days 6 and 12 if the traveller is staying longer.
- For travellers coming from red-listed countries and not vaccinated, it is mandatory to quarantine for 10 days. Additionally, take COVID 19 test upon arrival and another one day 8.
- Travellers who are not vaccinated and identified as close context are required to go in isolation for 10 days. Additionally, have COVID 19 PCR test upon arrival and another one after 8 days.
2. Extending my stay
The regulation put in place to curb the spread of COVID 19 can delay you from what you came to do in UAE. For instance, if you are a tourist and were required to self-quarantine by the time you start to explore the free visa, time is almost over.
But the good news is that you can extend your stay in UAE. There are several informative pages of a UAE travel firm, where you can learn everything about how to extend your stay in the UAE. You will realize COVID 19 is not a hindrance to extend your stay in UAE.
Requirements about extending your stay in UAE
For UK passport holders, there is a visa required to enter the UK. It is visa-free. Thus, there is no need to prepare any visa when you are travelling to UAE. After arriving in Abu Dhabi or Dubai airport, all you have to do is go to the immigration offices and have your passport stamped. The stamp gives you a free 30-day visit visa.
After 30 days are over, you are given a ten-day grace period to either extend your stay or leave the country. In an instance where you have been planning to stay in UAE for more than 30 days, it is important to extend to stay upon arrival. However, if you made up your mind later, you can also extend to stay while still inside the country without exit, but you need to do that 2 days to expiry of the grace period.
How to extend your visa upon arrival
Upon arriving in AUE, you can request the immigration office at the airport to extend your stay. They will scan your eyes and passport details then use them to extend your visa by 20 days and your free 40 days. In total, you will have 60 days.
How to extend visa inside the country without exiting UAE
If you have made up your mind to extend your stay while in UAE, you can do so without leaving the country. Interesting, you can do this remotely either extend your stay by 30 or 90 days. These two packages are available at an affordable price. You need to request to extend your stay within 2 days before your allowed days lapse. Additionally, you have to submit all required documents. Note the whole process to extend stay is done remotely as the airport offices have been closed.