Residence visa and Emirates ID in the UAE: the basics

Three documents that depend on each other

In the UAE, your residence visa, your Emirates ID and your lease lean on one another. The tenancy contract asks for a copy of your passport, a valid residence visa and your Emirates ID (u.ae, leasing a property). So the order of the first weeks matters more than any single form.

Abu Dhabi emirate counted 4,135,985 residents at the end of 2024, up 7.5%, according to its statistics centre (SCAD, 30 June 2025, recorded in our research on 5 October 2026).

The residence visa

The government’s general provisions for the residence visa give these rules (u.ae):

• Length. A residence visa can be for 1, 2 or 3 years on a sponsored visa, or up to 5 or 10 years on an unsponsored visa.
• Sponsorship. Dependants, including spouses and children, can be sponsored. The expiry of a dependant’s visa does not exceed that of the sponsor. A sponsor renews visas before they expire and cancels dependants’ visas before cancelling their own.
• Medical test and checks. Applicants aged 18 and above undergo a medical test, pass a security check and apply for an Emirates ID card from the federal authority. Medical insurance or a health card is among the required documents.
• Time abroad. If an expatriate resident lives outside the UAE for more than 180 days continuously, the residence visa is nullified automatically.
• Overstaying. Visit, tourist and residence visa overstaying fees have been standardised at AED 50 per day.

The 180-day rule matters to anyone who moves in stages: first a job, then the family, with months between. Plan trips so that no one’s absence reaches 180 days in a row.

The Emirates ID

The Emirates ID is the identity card the government issues to citizens and residents. The portal says it is mandatory for all of them to apply for one, and that people aged 15 and over complete the fingerprint procedure. The card consists of a smart card, a public key infrastructure component for digital signature and authentication, and a fingerprint biometric (u.ae, Emirates ID).

How to apply: through the website of the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) or through an accredited typing centre. The portal sends you to the ICP website for the documents and the fees, and we do not reprint them.

On renewals, the portal says that a card renewed more than one month after it expires carries a late fee of AED 20 a day, up to AED 1,000. It also says that cancelling a residence visa cancels the card automatically.

Health insurance

Two things connect the visa to insurance. The residence visa application lists medical insurance or a health card among its documents. And in Abu Dhabi, the health insurance law says a non-UAE national may not obtain a residence permit or its renewal unless enrolled in the scheme (Abu Dhabi Department of Health). Read our guide to health insurance in Dubai and Abu Dhabi before you choose a policy.

Who files what

The government’s pages say that a sponsor has duties: renewing visas before they expire and cancelling dependants’ visas before their own. Our research notes that employers and sponsors file, and that authorised typing centres and company representatives submit on their behalf; the typing-centre names in that note come from a secondary source, so we do not repeat them. Ask your employer or sponsor, in writing, who is filing what and by which date.

A sequence for the first weeks

1. Before the move. Ask your employer which visa category it is filing, and for how many years.
2. At the visa stage. Prepare the medical test and the insurance or health card the application lists.
3. After the visa. Apply for the Emirates ID through the ICP website or a typing centre.
4. Then the lease. Bring the passport copy, the visa and the Emirates ID to the tenancy contract (see our guide to renting in Dubai).
5. Plan trips. Keep any absence below 180 days in a row.

What we could not source

We did not find official fees for the visa, the medical test or the Emirates ID at the sources we read, and we did not research the golden visa, remote-work visas or freezone visas. We also did not verify processing times. Check the ICP and the Dubai or Abu Dhabi immigration pages, or ask your employer’s PRO team.