Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

Hi guys,

24 year old Canadian professional here.

Planning to move to Dubai by first week of October and head to interviews, try to secure employment.

If I come in with a visit visa, which expires in 30 days (albeit it can be extended...) but secure a position with a company during that time, how long does (or can) the process take to transfer to a residence/work visa?

Some countries like the UK, etc, have wait times that can span months just because of the backlog.

I'm hoping the process takes 2-3 weeks...and I'm talking October, after the summer months of decision maker absence and Ramadan.

Any thoughts and insights would be most appreciated.

They have just changed all the visa regulations. You can come in on a visit visa, however if you find a job, you will have to go back to your home country and wait for the work/residency visa to be ready, then come back in on that.

From what I understand you are able to either transfer directly while remaining in the UAE or leave the country and re-enter as some type of silly formality.

Couldn't I go to another country, rather than my home country, and re-enter when the visa is ready? Why does it have to be my home country. If a man comes in from Canada, he is expected to fly back thousands of miles just to get an email, and then return?

I'd rather go to Iran or Turkey or somewhere for a brief vacation while waiting for the visa application to be completed. What am I missing here?

Canadians are in the list of nationalities that get a free visa on arrival so they can still easily do a UAE visa renewal (change visa at Oman border). There were conflicting comments from various officials about visa renewals before and after the new visa regulations.

How long residency takes depends mostly on how efficient the company is. It can vary from ready almost before you get here (if you're the head of a large conglomerate) to months, or never.

Cheers bonk.

Bonk, as far as I am aware you cannot do visa renewals through Oman anymore, that stands for everyone pretty much. The 34 countries that can still get visit visa on arrival, can still not transer from visit visa to residence. You have to travel out the country, now where you have to go to is another matter.

Ok. My post was based on comments from authorities ...

"There is no rule that visitors have to return to their home country to renew visit visas. At DNRD, we only check whether they left the UAE or not," Bin Surour said.

you communicate the Canadian embassy

The rules are changing all the time and nobody knows what’s going on including immigration, I just changed visa, on a Canadian passport from one sponsor to another they did it no problem, cost me AED 500 at immigration. This was done on Sept 25th about 10 days ago.

Good luck in your job search, worst case scenario you’ll have to go back home and come back.