Will staying outside 6 months continuously cancel my UAE visa?

Automatic visa cancellation of UAE Visa if 6 months outside UAE

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If you have a valid UAE residence visa and for some reason you have to stay outside the UAE continuously over six(6) months the visa will become invalid or expired. However, it is possible to prevent the automatic cancellation of residence visa. If you have a valid residence from UAE and stay outside UAE for more than six months or 180 days continuously, provided that the visa is still valid it is possible to prevent the invalidation of residence visa.

(The image is not of UAE residence visa)

The procedure to get re-entry in case of automatic visa invalidation is as below:

In case your visa has expired, the sponsor of the residence visa may apply to the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners’ Affairs and obtain a letter or re-entry permit from the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners’ Affairs. This will help you in getting the visa validated and permit the visa holder to re-enter the UAE. The visa holder must enter Dubai within 14 days from the date of letter being issued.

The Fees for issuing re-entry permit would be AED 230. You may have to pay AED 100 for each month of stay outside the UAE after completion of six months of continuous stay outside the UAE.

The original letter or re-entry permit to be deposited in the airport immigration (where you normally deposit your original visa) and copy to be send to the visa holder to board the flight.

Documents required to issue the re-entry permit after six months stay outside UAE are:

• Sponsor’s original passport copy
• Sponsor’s original ID
• Copy of the passport of the sponsored, in case of company sponsorship, you need to show the below documents along with the above mentioned documents:
• Copy of the establishment card
• Copy of the commercial license

Kindly note that the approval for the exemption is strictly at the discretion of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners’ Affairs and it is always better to get updated information from the immigration.