# UK Passport expiry / Visit visa to employment visa transfer



## Colo (Oct 29, 2013)

Hi there,

Requesting some advice:

- I have a UK passport which expires in 3 months
- I arrived into Dubai on 1st July on a visit visa and have been doing visa runs to Oman every month since without issues
- I have just been employed but cannot change the status of my visa due to my passport expiring within 6 months

My questions: 
- Will I face issues returning to Dubai if I do another visa run before I send my passport for renewal to start the employment visa process?
- Is is possible to extend my visit visa (I am on my 4th back-to-back visit visa) rather doing a visa run? 
- Is there any other way to simply transfer my visit visa to an employment visa?

Thanks in advance


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## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

Well they require your passport to put the residency visa in it - there's no way around that. I'm amazed they've let you do visa runs with less than 6 months left on your passport.

Sadly it could take quite a few weeks to get a new passport - you're likely to get fined overstay here.

Not much you can do in this situation really.


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## Colo (Oct 29, 2013)

Will an overstay fine affect the outcome of my employment visa?


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

No as long as you pay it. Where I think you may have a problem is that your passports won't be linked. For those of us with residency, when we get a new passport, it's linked to the old one with the visa in it. You will be here with an entry visa on your old passport, which will be cancelled before you exit. When you leave, your entry stamp will be in a cancelled passport and you will have nothing in your new passport and you may find yourself on the receiving end of questions from immigration as to how you were in the country with NO passport, because, effectively, that's what will happen and why you didn't leave before your passport expired. I am not sure you would get your passport back in the four weeks. I think you might be better to get on a 'plane go home and do it all in person and come back again. If you have a job offer, I don't think your visa can be processed in a passport with less than six months in it anyway and, again, you can't just stick a blank new passport in because it won't have your entry stamp in it. Just my five pence worth, I may be wrong....


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## Colo (Oct 29, 2013)

Is it possible to get a visit visa renewal in Dubai without leaving?


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

Colo said:


> Is it possible to get a visit visa renewal in Dubai without leaving?


Yes, you can go to Immigration and pay but they may refuse because of the expiry date. It won't help in the issue of a work permit either because you will still need the six months' validity.


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## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

I think you need to go an get advice from immigration as to what to do. Personally I'd send off for you new passport NOW - get your residency put in that and pay the over stay fines. Hate to say it, but you shouldn't have let it get this far.


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