Canadians require visa before arrival in UAE
 

In what it seems to be a retaliation for not allowing EK+EY to increase their frequencies to YYZ, the UAE government has cancel the waiver for Canadians to enter the UAE without visa.

As of January 2, 2011 all Canadians arriving into the UAE (DUBAI and ABU DHABI) are required to have visitor visa issued by the UAE embassy in Canada. Transit passengers who don't leave the airport premises are not required to have such visa.

You do not have to go to an Embassy. You can get your visa from either the airline you are flying with, the hotel you are staying at or your company if it has an office in the UAE.

The hotel you are staying at in the UAE I assume?

Are you sure? Aren't visas government issued documents? How can AC (for example) issue a visa?

Any hotel in the UAE can issue you a visa with your reservation.

If you are flying Emirates, this is their information.

You can apply for a visa online through the Emirates website by going to www.emirates.com and logging on to our Manage a Booking tool with your Flight Reference Number and last name.

As for AC, they do not fly there, but Lufthansa can do it for you on the codeshare

Any idea how much the VISA will cost? And how does it get "on to" the passport if doing it online?

From what I've been told, it's not like a Chinese visa, nothing goes into the passport. It's just a money grab and is done electronically. If there is a visa on file at the boarder they just stamp your passport. If it's missing, they just charge you on the spot.

As this all starts only Jan 2nd 2011, So I've not see it in process yet, but the information comes from one of my hotels there.

I hold a card called "e gate pass" which entitle me to enter the UAE by using a special e-gates using my finger print with out going through the passport control.
Will this card stop working as of January 2, 2011 or it will still continue to be operational ?

Plenty of countries allow for Visas to be issued upon arrival. No sure of cost for this, but it sounds a bit like a cash grab. At least transit passengers are not affected.

One of the reasons for why this visa rules are imposed upon Canadians is Lufthansa :td::td: