Do I need a visa for a layover in Dubai?
 

Hello all,

Do I need a visa for a layover in Dubai? I won't be leaving the airport.


Thanks in advance!

No you don't if you're just transiting through

no visas required; why don't you call the airline and verify that?
You might be eligible for STPC (hotel/meals) if your layover is more than 7 hours for economy and 6 hours for business/first.

If EK provide hotel room for layover - is that the airside hotel or a hotel near the airport so that pax can wander about dubai for the day?

It's the Millennium Airport Hotel for economy (which is about 2 minutes by bus), and one of the Meridien hotels for J/F.

So does EK get visas sorted? I assume that once the pax are checked into the Millenium hotel, they are free to go out and explore Dubai, right?

Well, last time I did it, EK issues you a visa/hotel voucher (prior to departure of course) which you pick up at the local Emirates office, or at the airport.
Once you arrive into Dubai, you take the voucher into the arrivals hall (this is going through the old terminal, not sure where it is now) just before immigration; there you hand the voucher to an Emirates staff, who should get it validated before you could proceed to immigration.

Once you pass passport control you're free to do whatever you like, but of course you either pick up the bus to the hotel (free of course) or the arranged chauffeur car.

At the hotel, you will receive vouchers to cover either (arrivals drink/snack and/or dinner, breakfast, lunch) all depending on the time of the day. If you have an early morning departure, you won't get breakfast (the standard response will be: breakfast will be served on your flight) which is not always the case.

Very helpful! ^

Thanks.

Because no one asked... here goes. Are you from one of these nations?
France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Finland, Malta, Spain, Monaco, Vatican, Iceland, Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
http://www.government.ae/gov/en/visitors/uae/visas.jsp

If the answer is yes, you can walk out and raise hell in town as you please. If not, you are at the mercy of EK. In case you want to walk out and are willing to pay for your own visa, just walk to the EK/Dnata desk and book a room at a local hotel and voilà you have a visa.

Its DXB, its all about $. If you are willing to pay they will let you come in. Otherwise, enjoy the terminal.

If you don't have a STPC, just walk out and get a room. With the way rates are, thanks to the recession its possible to get a AED 199 / night room at the Golden Tulip in Al Barsha... ok not the most awesome place in DXB, but its a room and a 5 minute cab ride away from Barasti & Buddha Bar & Marina Walk.

Discovered this last week ... was amused that any hotel in Al Barsha was going at that rate. What has the world come to... :D In 2008 the crappiest hotel in DXB never went below AED 600/night ... and just about every +4* hotels had an AED 700 ADR

Hotel rates in Dubai have come down a lot. I'm planning a stopover in end of September, and I was able to score a room in a 4 star for less than 450AED. The same hotel I had looked at about 3 years ago, remember it was 1200+++

No, I'm not from any of those countries, but I'm not planning on leaving the airport. Can I still do the layover without the visa?

I called EK and the lady told me they provide Hotels only if your layover is 8 hours or more, mine is 5 minutes short and invited to go to a lounge.Anybody?

As mentioned, you can layover in the terminal w/o a visa. Need to get out? There are two ways. First, as you step off the escalator after disembarking, ask one of the EK staff if they will give you a vouher for a room. It never hurts to ask, and often they just offer even if you don't want one (happened to me 2 weeks ago, and I wasn't even flying EK:D). The EK desk in the Immigration Hall (after you step off another escalator) will take care of the details. The second option is to reserve a room and keep a copy of the reservation, and et EK to do the formalities in the Immigration Hall. I thought roadrunner21 had an excellent suggestion, although the JW Marriott (5 mins away -on ABS) has had rates as low as AED 400 lately. ^

Also if you have a long layover there is a hotel within the transit area , the email is
[email protected]

You could contact them to check on rates , its in terminal 3 as well , you would be in transit the whole time and you wont see yur bags.

out of interest what is your nationality because there are sometimes some nationals that are not even allowed to transit certain countries so you would be denied boarding at your place of origin.