# Sponsoring Friends & Family for Visit



## FountainGuy (Jan 23, 2011)

Hi All,

I tried searching the forum, but couldn't find any topic that exactly answered my questions.

My Uncle and his family are going to be stopping over in Dubai next month for 4 days next month. They are Canadian citizens, and thus require a visa. Also, my immediate family [Mom (Canadian), Dad (Canadian), Sister (Canadian) & Grand Mother (Indian)] are also planning a visit in the next 6 months or so.

My questions are:

1. What are the procedures for sponsoring my extended family and friends to visit UAE? Is this even possible for me to arrange? If so, any advice on costs, etc would be greatly appreciated!

2. Similarly, what are the procedures for sponsoring my immediate family to visit us here? Is there a limit to how long they can stay? I'm sure the visa fees would be proportional to the duration they wish to stay. Also, does it matter what country they originate from?

Thanks!

FG


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## neilrock (May 7, 2011)

Easiest thing to do is google "family visit visa", that will take you to the relevant UAE govt website which will detail the requirements and costs....

When I looked into it, the costs were 600 per person irrespective of age and a 1 or 5,000 AED deposit per person.

Sent from my iPhone using ExpatForum


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## w_man (Apr 16, 2010)

I am not sure about the Indian grandmother but all your Canadian relatives could simply apply for the UAE visa through the UAE Embassy in Ottawa. If they fly through Emirates or Etihad, they could also apply through the airlines. I understand if going through the embassy, it's roughly 250CAD per person for a 30 day single entry visa but if you go through Emirates, it's about 70CAD. I understand there's also a 250CAD refundable deposit per person. These are rough figures so you might want to confirm.

I don't think you need to sponsor them. I recently had my in laws visit us and they got their own visa through Emirates and said it was a fairly straight forward process. These details are also available on UAE Embassy in Canada's website.

Let me know how it works - I have my immediate family coming for a visit later this year as well and I am not aware of any sponsorships.

Cheers.


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## indoMLA (Feb 6, 2011)

*/Thread Bump/*

I have some friends that want to come visit me in Dubai, as they pass through on their way to Asia. What are my possibilities here? I hear that travel agencies and hotels can arrange this for them, but which ones? 

For a hotel, how long do you have to stay as if someone is only here on holiday for about a week then they aren't going to want to be relegated to one hotel in Dubai when there are other emirates to visit and other hotels to frequent. In addition, my friends could save money by just staying with me (but they are female, so don't know if that will be a problem when asked by immigration where they are staying).

If you guys know of any tourist company or hotel or have any information about this, please do let me know. Thanks.


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## w_man (Apr 16, 2010)

indoMLA said:


> */Thread Bump/*
> 
> I have some friends that want to come visit me in Dubai, as they pass through on their way to Asia. What are my possibilities here? I hear that travel agencies and hotels can arrange this for them, but which ones?
> 
> ...


I am assuming your friends are Canadian citizens? If so, they can manage their own 30 day single entry visa - if they are flying through Emirates (this is by far the cheapest and easiest solution). 

If they are not flying through Emirates and would like to get the visa through a hotel - I would personally recommend them to go through a travel agent in Canada. Travel agents in Canada will more than likely charge their own 'processing fee' on top of the $70ish for the visa through a hotel establishment. 

I am not 100% sure how the visa process works when applying through the hotel - if the hotel will only issue a visa for the period of the stay or not. It wouldn't make any sense as the shortest visa Canadians get is 30 days single entry - through Emirates or UAE Embassy in Canada. 

GL and let us know how it turns out.


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## indoMLA (Feb 6, 2011)

w_man said:


> I am assuming your friends are Canadian citizens? If so, they can manage their own 30 day single entry visa - if they are flying through Emirates (this is by far the cheapest and easiest solution).
> 
> If they are not flying through Emirates and would like to get the visa through a hotel - I would personally recommend them to go through a travel agent in Canada. Travel agents in Canada will more than likely charge their own 'processing fee' on top of the $70ish for the visa through a hotel establishment.
> 
> ...


1. Yes, they are Canadian citizens.
2. Not flying via Emirates or Etihad (but a US and European based carrier)
3. I think the hotel, tour service, or travel agency is the best option, but no one seems to know of any that do it. I have contacted a few and were told that they don't do it (even they don't know the name of someone that will).
4. I would like to sponsor them, but a guy sponsoring a couple of chicks ain't going to fly in Dubai.


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## w_man (Apr 16, 2010)

indoMLA said:


> 1. Yes, they are Canadian citizens.
> 2. Not flying via Emirates or Etihad (but a US and European based carrier)
> 3. I think the hotel, tour service, or travel agency is the best option, but no one seems to know of any that do it. I have contacted a few and were told that they don't do it (even they don't know the name of someone that will).
> 4. I would like to sponsor them, but a guy sponsoring a couple of chicks ain't going to fly in Dubai.


Have you or your friends contacted a travel agency in Canada? Not everyone knows how to deal with this yet so they might have to call a few different agents.

Worst case scenario - they can simply get a regular tourist visa from UAE Embassy in Canada for $250/per person. This is a straight forward process and usually is done within a few days (even though they say it could take up to 15 business days).


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## indoMLA (Feb 6, 2011)

w_man said:


> Have you or your friends contacted a travel agency in Canada? Not everyone knows how to deal with this yet so they might have to call a few different agents.
> 
> Worst case scenario - they can simply get a regular tourist visa from UAE Embassy in Canada for $250/per person. This is a straight forward process and usually is done within a few days (even though they say it could take up to 15 business days).


I guess that is the main problem... they don't live in Canada. They are expats as well living in different countries. 

I found a few options and have contacted them... I don't know how legit this *SPOT* is, but found them via a search and will given them a try. They also list a few hotels to the side and I am assuming that these hotels will more than likely be able to assist. Will try it out...

Damn, I just wish Canada will let the freakin' Emirates/Etihad planes in. I mean Air Canada doesn't fly to the UAE, so why not let someone else? Competition is good for everyone, right?


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## w_man (Apr 16, 2010)

indoMLA said:


> Damn, I just wish Canada will let the freakin' Emirates/Etihad planes in. I mean Air Canada doesn't fly to the UAE, so why not let someone else? Competition is good for everyone, right?


I hear ya brother!! Tell your Canadian friends to thank the 'majority' Harper government for this wonderful added tax to anyone visiting UAE ... not like Canadians aren't already taxed enough!! 

Please do keep us posted on how it ends up .. I have my immediate family coming to visit later this year and at the moment we are estimating 1000 CAD in visa fees alone since they won't be coming via Emirates/Etihad.


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## oneboy (Jan 26, 2012)

*UAE visa for Canadian living in third country*



w_man said:


> I hear ya brother!! Tell your Canadian friends to thank the 'majority' Harper government for this wonderful added tax to anyone visiting UAE ... not like Canadians aren't already taxed enough!!
> 
> Please do keep us posted on how it ends up .. I have my immediate family coming to visit later this year and at the moment we are estimating 1000 CAD in visa fees alone since they won't be coming via Emirates/Etihad.


So, did it work? I am a Canadian living in Uzbekistan, and the consulate here says they can sell me a "non-hotel" visa for 107 USD. Sounds good, but do I dare try to enter the UAE with it? And are they referring to a sponsored visit visa? I have friends in the UAE because we lived there in 2010, but no family. There is so much conflicting information online.

I would prefer to fly on Uzbekistan (only direct flight) or Turkish (daily connections). Most others would cause me to get further visas (India, Pakistan). 

Also, I would like to visit Qatar since I was a former resident, and to kill some time between volunteering at the Desert Classic and the Marshall's tournament 2 weeks later. I don't see any multi entry option except the 1000 dollar visa offered by the UAE embassy in Ottawa. 

Anyway, I hope your friends were able to visit, and Ottawa starts being a better global player. They did say they were trying to patch it up, but stopping in "on the way to Israel" gives you some sense of how clueless they can be.

It's Air Canada's partner Lufthansa that is getting the protection from Emirates, but they stopped flying to Tashkent in October and to Calgary this month. So now I'm making do with British Airways, and hoping this visa problem gets fixed so I can use the DXB-SEA flight which starts soon on Emirates.

Please let me know how it worked out. Thanks.


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## ArabianNights (Jul 23, 2011)

Am I missing something here? Why do Canadians need to have a pre-arranged entry visa to visit the UAE? Can't you get a free visa on arrival? I have a UK Passport, and I visited Dubai few weeks back from Egypt... I got a free visa on arrival, surely its the same for Canadians and other 'western hemisphere' lot?


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## Jynxgirl (Nov 27, 2009)

Only certain countries are able to get visa's on arrival and each person has to check if their country passport is one of the privileged ones or not. UAE and Canada are having a spat. They can not get a visa on arrival. One would of thought this would have been resolved but them literally kicking their military out (can only imagine the cost of having to upheaval their entire military base....) made sure that a resolution wasnt going to be an easy one.


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