UAE's smart inspection car can spot visa violators

Dubai: You may not see it, but a new car on UAE roads could be watching you. The Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Ports Security (ICP) is launching a fully electric “smart inspection car” designed to identify visa and residency violations.

The vehicle is equipped with six cameras placed around its body, giving it full 360-degree coverage. It can capture facial images of people within roughly 10 metres of the car. The system integrates with AI and a bespoke dashboard to present heat maps and alerts in real time, said Faris Almaeeni, Foreign Affairs Systems Department Manager, ICP.

“It’s fully electrical. It has its own dashboard, and it’s working with the AI, so it gives you some heat maps,” he said.

Though highly automated in its sensing and analytic functions, the car is not driverless. Officers will drive it as part of their routine patrols and review flagged individuals on screen. “This is not fully automated,” he clarified.

ICP plans to deploy the first units in early 2026. The rollout will begin within Dubai before expanding to other emirates.

When the car detects a potential violation, such as someone whose residency status is expired or unlawful, the procedure does not end at the dashboard. An officer will approach the person, verify their documents, and attempt to resolve the situation through standard legal channels.

“The officer will go down and he will speak with him, and they will try to solve his issue with the being illegal in UAE,” Almaeeni said.

The smart car is one of several new tech initiatives launched by ICP at Gitex 2025 as part of a broader push to digitalise inspection and immigration functions.

The plan comes amid heightened enforcement activity: in the first half of 2025, the ICP flagged over 32,000 visa violations, including overstays and unlawful employment. 

If successful, the smart inspection car could accelerate detection, cut down field-manual verification time, and allow faster response in violation cases.