United Arab Emirates Visit Visa (30-day and 90/180-day rules)

Key parameters
Limit	90 days
Period / Window	Rolling 180 days
Counting	Any part of a day
Alternative	30 days per visit
Additional requirements	Nationality determines route, no work

There is no single UAE visitor rule — there are several parallel regimes, and which one you're in is decided before you do anything, by your nationality:

• GCC nationals — Saudi, Kuwaiti, Bahraini, Omani and Qatari citizens enter without a visa, and can travel on a national identity card rather than a passport.
• 90 days within any 180 — nationals of European Union and Schengen states enter free of charge under reciprocal waivers, as do some others, including New Zealand passport holders.
• 30 days per visit — many other nationalities are stamped in on arrival for a month at a time, counted per entry rather than across a window.
• Short paid permissions — a handful of other nationalities qualify through residence held elsewhere, such as in the United States, the United Kingdom or the European Union. They take a 14 or 60-day visa at the airport.
• Pre-arranged visit visa — everyone else applies in advance, usually sponsored by an airline, hotel, tour operator, relative or UAE company.

Whichever route applies, your passport needs at least six months left on it at the point you enter. And none of these permissions carries any right to work. Employment requires a residence visa with a work permit, sponsored by an employer, which is an entirely separate process.

• 90-day entitlements are an allowance, not a per-trip reset. Leaving and returning doesn't restore a full 90 days, since the 180-day window keeps running underneath.
• A residence visa is a different thing entirely. Visit permissions carry no work rights and don't lead anywhere — living or working in the UAE requires an employer-sponsored or investor residence visa.
• The eligible nationality lists change. The authorities say so themselves, and countries are added to the visa-free and visa-on-arrival lists periodically, so a list you checked a year ago may be out of date.
• Border-running to reset a 30-day stay is well recognised. A quick exit and re-entry to obtain a fresh stamp is a known pattern and can result in refusal at the counter rather than a new stamp.

Overstaying accrues a fine for each day past your permitted date, charged the same way whether you came in as a visitor, a tourist or a resident. It has to be cleared before you can leave, and a longer overstay adds an exit permit with its own fee. Repeat or lengthy cases lead to deportation and a re-entry ban recorded against your passport, and because entry records are fully digital, an unresolved overstay surfaces at every later border crossing and visa application. Professional advice is strongly recommended in situations like this.

A visa-free business trip

You hold a passport on the 90-day list and fly to Dubai for a fortnight of meetings. You're stamped in at the border at no cost, and the days you used stay on your record across the 180-day window for further trips.

Extending a 30-day stay

You enter on a 30-day permission and want to stay longer. You apply from inside the UAE before it expires and, if the authority approves, receive a further period of the same length. You can ask again later, but everything you're granted has to fit inside a 120-day total.

Assuming a fresh 90 days on re-entry

You spend 80 days in the UAE on a 90-day entitlement, fly out for a week, and return expecting a new 90. Because the allowance runs across a 180-day window, you have around 10 days left rather than a fresh three months.

• The Official Portal of the UAE Government — Check if you need a visa to enter the UAE
• General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs Dubai — Visa calculator (90/180)
• Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security — Visa extension
• Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security — Expanded entry visa eligibility