# Tourist VISA to Residence Change Update



## desertwarrior (Feb 19, 2015)

I thought will let you know guys on the update about this matter.

If you have a tourist VISA and changed to residency, you need to get out of the country and get back. There was a rule that you could pay 550 AED and do a local amendment. For some reason, it is now stopped. In few cases, Immigration Department at Jafflia can do the local amendments and chances are rare.

If you are from Asian countries, you can't do the Hatta border run to change the VISA in a easy way. There are three options: 1. Get a VISA to Oman and do the VISA change trip through Hatta Boder. There are some guys on Dubizzle who can arrange the trip, best one I found for this is a guy called Imtiaz on Dubizzle. 2. Change your VISA via visa change flights, the best option for this either DNATA or SATA. They are really friendly and will explain & arrange the whole process. 3. Take a flight back to your country or any country where you are entitled for VISA on arrival.

If you are a westerner, you could do the Hatta border run as usual. They even have bus service to Hatta for VISA changes. There are plenty of guys advertised on dubizzle for Hatta run. Please note most of those guys on Dubizzle only entertain the Europeans; so if you are an Asian, even if you have Oman VISA with you, they don't entertain you.

If you are going through Hatta Boarder, there are plenty of information in other threads in this forum regarding what to do.

Carry these with you when you do VISA Change flights:
1. Original Residency Entry Permit (pink document)
2. Your Tourist VISA which you came to Dubai with
3. Your flight tickets 
4. Some cash (in case required). In case you overstayed, you need to pay the fines at the Dubai airport while you exiting.

If you taking flight option: Once you land in Muscat Airport, you can hear airport staff shouting "VISA change people this way", just follow them or directly go to Transit counter; don't get out of the airport. Transit desk guys will direct you and you are back on the flight back to Dubai. 

Please note: This is only if you came on Tourist VISA and got a residency permit while you are in UAE. If you came on VISIT VISA, rule might be different.


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## Moe78 (Oct 29, 2010)

Western expats of the 33 nations who get visa on arrival get visit visas not tourist visas though. I don't think there are many "westerners" who aren't from the 33 nations...


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## Zeeshan08 (Sep 15, 2013)

I'm American, I changed thru Hatta border. My employees are Indian, I booked them on a flydubai visa change flight to Kuwait (they also go to oman, qatar, etc). Flydubai was like 560 AED per person and they said it was super easy, just fyi


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## mrjohnka (Dec 3, 2014)

Its there sill the 10 days grace period? for both border run and airplane?


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## nasaneso (Oct 15, 2012)

My question is what is the process to change my visa status from Tourist Visa to resident visa through my wife sponsorship ( she is a teacher got her residency visa through her school job , both of us are American citizen ,I did a visa run to Hatta once to renew my stay but what I got is a 30 days stay like the first one so still tourist visa . Kindly if you could explain the steps to follow including fees for each step till obtaining a residency Visa for me , thank you in advance .


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## tcs (Sep 10, 2015)

google "Status change or Visa change process inside Dubai"

Your wife should be able to sponsor you if she is a teacher and making a normal American teacher's salary, provided that the profession on her labor contract states the same.

Also google "Non-employment Residency Permit Issuance for Individuals Sponsored by an Expatriate"

However, hold your horses if you do not have your marriage certificate attested yet...


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## nasaneso (Oct 15, 2012)

Thanks Tcs


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