Here's a bit of an update and a word of potential caution:

a. Arrived at DXB, used e-gate, no problem at all. I am a passport holder of a visa-waiver country, not a uae resident. I have heard many have had problems with having their card rejected... I was expecting the same and was kind of surprised to see the doors open... lol

b. More importantly... I landed in DXB on August 10 and used my e-gate. On August 13, I drove from Dubai to Abu Dhabi to catch an EY flight. After checking in, I went to use my e-gate card to leave AUH but it kept denying me so I finally went to the passport control counter with my boarding pass, passport and e-gate card in hand.

The individual serving first looked through my passport for an arrival stamp, which he of course could not find. I informed him that there would not be one because I used e-gate when arriving in Dubai.

He then explained that while e-gate is issued to non-residents in Dubai, only residents can use this facility in Abu Dhabi and other emirates. I said thank you for explaining this and letting me know.

Then, when trying to 'exit' me from the UAE using my passport, it took him 93 (yes, ninety-three) minutes to be able to issue me an exit stamp on my passport. This, to me, sounds pathetic. In Dubai, even when I have entered using e-gate, they have been able to stamp my passport on the exit within 10 seconds.

It took 4 people and 15-plus calls to passport control at AUH, e-gate office in Dubai, and Ministry of Interior to be able to 'grant' me exit from the UAE.

It almost appeared to them that I had 'illegally' entered the UAE and was now trying to officially leave. I showed him my EK boarding pass showing that I did indeed arrive in DXB on August 10.

After them scrambling around to do whatever they needed to, the gentleman that was assisting me said, "were is not for your old boarding pass, we would not have let you leave UAE"... ...?

To me, this seems simple. If you do not see an entry stamp, you ask for a reason. If this does not work, you call e-gate for verification of usage/entry. If this is validated, issue an exit stamp and create an 'exit report' on your system.

-t.