August 11, 2020

Difference between an entry permit and a residence visa

Difference between an entry permit and a residence visa
What is an Entry permit?

An entry permit is a document given by the General Directorate of Residency & Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) that permits the foreigners to enter as well as stay in the UAE legally for a specific timeframe. The document might be in a physical or an electronic form. However, it’s important to know the difference between an entry permit and a residence visa.

The party sponsoring the individual who needs to enter the UAE will deal with the entry permit through the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) offline and online channels. The sponsor could be an organization from the private sector, a relative, a public entity, a UAE-based airline or a hotel, etc.

Free zones or free trade zones in Dubai are business zones where organizations working in them are excluded from all types of taxation, for example, Customs, Corporate Tax, Income Tax, Value Added Tax (VAT).

Relying upon your reason to enter the UAE, there are different types of entry permits. Some of them are as follows:
  • Employment – entry permit
  • Family visit – entry permit
  • Tourism/transit – entry permit
  • Treatment – entry permit
  • Mission – entry permit
  • Attending conferences – entry permit
The entry permit has a validity date, which mentions the period inside which the entry permit should be used by entering the United Arab Emirates through one of its entrance points at the land borders, airports or seaports. For majority entry permits, the validity is two months (60 days). The validity of entry permits can’t be extended, they are automatically expired upon the lapse by of their time.

Stay duration for every entry permit contrasts as per the type of entry permit. For instance, entry permits for transit permits the individual to stay in the nation for 4 days, while entry permits for employment permit the employee to stay in the nation for two months (60 days), during which his sponsor should change the employee’s status into residence visa, or else should leave within stay duration. If the entry permit holder doesn’t change his status into residence visa, he needs to leave the nation upon the lapse of entry permit duration to prevent from penalties and fines, or renew inside the recommended periods, as per new news. 

Note: New provisions for entry permits and visit visas

Beginning from 21 October 2018, all types of entry permits and visit visas can be extended for 1 month (30 days) twice, upon renewal without the need to leave the nation.

Tourists and visitors can apply for the second renewal before the expiry of the first one against Dirham 600 each time of renewal.

Those individuals whose is visa overstayer who don’t renew, as above, should pay Dirham 100 fine for each day of their overstay in the UAE, it will be calculated 10 days after the visa is expired.
The new rule for an extension doesn’t apply on the following categories:
  • Tourists and visitors who are residents in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations
  • Residents accompanying Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nationals
  • Those who are on 96-hour permit for special missions
  • Those who are on special entry permits
What is a Residence visa?
A residence visa is given to the foreigner when he is inside the nation having entered using the entry permit. Just sponsor’s meeting General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) requirements can apply for the foreigner’s residence visa.

A residence visa requires the individual sponsored to go through a medical exam and verify that he/she is medicinally fit and he/she should pass a security check.

The validity of stay on a residence visa differs according to its sponsor and the type. It could be for 1, 2 or 3 years.

The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) will paste a residence visa on the passport allowing him/her to travel in as well as out of the UAE in the validity period of the visa, given that the duration of travel does not exceed six months (180 days), or else the residence visa will be canceled automatically.

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