Dubai: If your residence visa is up for renewal, is it possible to renew it without renewing your Emirates ID? A Gulf News reader raised the query, with her visa renewal due soon.
She said: “A couple of years ago I moved from an employment visa to my husband’s visa. The residence visa is now coming up for renewal and I wanted to know if I have to renew my Emirates ID along with the visa, too. Is it possible to renew the Emirates ID at a later date or should I renew it along with the Emirates ID?”
Gulf News raised the query with Rashid Khwaja, a public relations officer, at B2B Document Clearing, who said that it is not possible to renew one’s residence visa without applying for a new Emirates ID as well.
“Both the Emirates ID and residence visas are linked in the [government] system. When putting in a request for renewing the residence visa, we also have to upload the renewal form for the Emirates ID. If not, the immigration department will ask for the Emirates ID application as well, or the approval will not come through,” Khwaja said.
Both the Emirates ID and residence visas are linked in the [government] system. When putting in a request for renewing the residence visa, we also have to upload the renewal form for the Emirates ID.
He clarified that after the medical fitness test is conducted for the visa renewal process, an Emirates ID application also needs to be filled out.
“First, we have to renew the Emirates ID and then we apply for renewing the residence visa,” he added.
The official UAE government website – u.ae – also provides the following information on when a UAE-based expatriate can renew their Emirates ID: “UAE residence visa holders can only apply for renewal when their residence visa is renewed or reissued.”
Fines for late renewal of Emirates ID
The website also mentions the time limit to renew an expired ID card, which is 30 days from the date of expiry. After this, late fines of Dh20 per day will apply, with a maximum of Dh1,000.
So, if you fail to renew your residence visa after it expires, which would also lead to the expiry of your Emirates ID, you would need to pay the fines for a late renewal of visa as well as Emirates ID, as per Khwaja. The UAE Government also allows residents a grace period of 30 days to stay in the UAE after the expiry of their visas. The residence visa has to be renewed before the end of that period to avoid incurring fines.
“The late fees for visa renewal is Dh25 per day and for Emirates ID is Dh20 per day,” he said.
