Dubai: If you are a citizen of one of the 26 European countries that are part of the Schengen area, you can receive a visa on arrival in the UAE. You can even make multiple trips to the UAE, if your total stay is not more than 90 days in a 180-day period.
To help visitors from the Schengen countries easily calculate how many days they can stay on in the UAE, the General Directorate of Foreign Affairs-Dubai (GDRFA-Dubai) has an online ‘Schengen Visa Calculator’ that helps them avoid overstaying.
Here’s how you can use the service.
How long can citizens of Schengen countries stay in the UAE?
According to GDRFA-Dubai, nationals of Schengen are eligible for visa on arrival and are allowed to stay in the UAE for 90 days within any period of 180 days.
This means that if you are a citizen of a country in a Schengen zone, you can get a visa on arrival, which is valid for 180 days. You can choose to visit the UAE multiple times within those 180 days on this visa. However, your total stay – in a single stretch or over multiple entries – should not exceed 90 days within those 180 days.
How to use the Schengen Visa Calculator
Using the service is free of cost and is done through the official GDRFA website – gdrafd.ae. Here’s how:
Step 1: Access the service on the GDRFA-Dubai website:
• Visit the website - gdrfad.gov.ae
• Scroll down on the homepage until you see the service, ‘Schengen Visa Calculator (90/180)’ and click the red ‘Start Service’ button.
Step 2: Select whether you are outside or inside the UAE
If you have previously visited the UAE in the past 180 days and are planning to revisit,
• Select the ‘Outside Country’ option to record the date of the next visit.
• Enter your expected date of entry and fill in your previous entry and departure date.
• Once you have entered the dates, a box will appear on the right of the screen showing the number of days you have used on your visa and the number of valid days left, which will help you plan your upcoming trip.
If you have previously visited the UAE in the past 180 days and are in the UAE currently on a second or third trip,
• Select the ‘Inside Country’ option.
• Enter the date of entry and departure of your previous trip, which was in the past 180 days. You can enter more than one trip, by clicking on the ‘add more’ option if you have already made multiple trips on this visa.
• Once you have entered the dates, a box will appear on the right of the screen showing the number of days you have used on your visa and the number of valid days left, which will help you plan your trip, to ensure that the allowed stay period is not exceeded.
The service is free of cost; however, the website advises users that the service “is for guidance only and does not guarantee the right to stay in UAE”.
