15 hour stopover in dubai...question about visa..
 

hey guys..ok so i m flying from USA to India on 30th dec..i have 15 hour stop over in dubai..However emirates has booked a room for me in a copthorne hotel..i have question since they r giving me a hotel room, i dnt need to apply for a visa right? I am indian citizena nd USA permanent resident with greencard. and one more question during that stopover time, can i go out side of hotel to visit some places near by the airport or hotel ...I called emirates and they told me that i have to ask at the counter upon arrival in dubai airport about this..what should i do? thank you.

Hi rajamin92, welcome to FT

You won't be able to enter the city without a visa. Emirates will transport you to the hotel and you will not be able to leave the premises. You can however obtain a 96-hour transit visa when you arrive at the airport or you can apply for a visa online on the EK website.

but i heard that emirates can sponsor me a visa since there is no early flight available to board...do i have to pay for the visa???

This is correct but you must have purchased your air ticket through EK for EK to sponsor you. My wife, a chinese citizen, and I are off to dubai for the new year. We purchased our airticket through EK and I completed her visa application through their website.

thank you and yes i have purchased my ticket through emirates website...so if i fill out the application online on emirates.com...i wont have to pay for it right??

After checking in in USA, ask them where you get a hotel voucher. The hotel voucher includes the Visa. You keep the voucher with you until you arrive to Dubai. Just before immigration ( at the right side of the elevators) there is a customer service desk. They will fix your visa there and then you will go to the bank on the far right. They will put a fee exempt sticker for you. on the right of the bank you will eye scan and finger print. Then you go back to immigration and they will stamp your passport for 96 hrs visa.

DO NOT APPLY FOR A VISA ONLINE OR THROUGH AN AGENCY.

I hope this helps.

thank you very very very very much...this really helps...this website is the best...thanx once again....

This thread was timely, I am about to do this tomorrow. Thanks.

Where do you get this info from ?

As noted by gomurad, you get a STPC voucher at ticketing counter at the US departure airport.

I have never heard of being able to go the hotel but not leave the premises.

I have done this about 15x by now.

My pleasure :D

I had to visit someone at the millennium airport hotel as they said they couldn't step out because they didn't have a visa ! This was sometime ago, could've changed since then or pehaps he didn't get the STPC voucher or something

I usually take the STPC voucher simply for the visa and book my own hotel. The Millenium's ridiculous internet rates (AED 50 per 30 minutes) mean that its far cheaper for me to book somewhere else than to just pay for internet access for anything longer than 4-5 hours.

If you decide to go this route, yes they do charge a fee. It was very nominal, $20 UDS of a 96 hr visa. Plus it is an electronic visa, so no need to have anything pasted in the passport.

If you don't have a visa, you won't make it past the Immigration counters - I am pretty sure of this.

Did this yesterday... followed these steps

1. Had to collect a paper STPC from my local Emirates office after confirming the booking with their customer service

2. Landed at Dubai, followed gomurad's instructions, worked perfectly

What all need to know is how incredibly slow the lines move. Once I was done with the "fee paid" sticker at the bank, I discovered that the lines for the iris scan and later immigration are very slow moving. Immigration guys were a lot busier chatting than clearing people in the line.

Anyway, once I reached the hotel and checked in, I did meet a friend outside. There was absolutely no restriction on my movement.