UAE Multiple-Entry Tourist Visa: Cost & Eligibility

The UAE’s multiple-entry tourist visa is the five-year, self-sponsored visa. It can be issued for all nationalities. You do not need a host or guarantor in the UAE. You may enter more than once, stay up to 90 days on a visit, and extend that stay by another 90 days, as long as you do not spend more than 180 days in the UAE in one year. The year starts on your first entry, not on 1 January. GDRFA Dubai lists the fee lines and a total of AED 3,713, most of which is a AED 3,000 guarantee. You also need a passport valid for six months, a photo, six months of bank statements showing a balance of USD 4,000 or the same amount in another currency, health insurance valid in the UAE, and a return or onward ticket. This page was reviewed on 3 October 2026 from the UAE Government’s tourist-visa page and GDRFA Dubai’s five-year multi-entry service.

By Yogesh Jangir
Visa guidance, Kite Star Tourism, Dubai
Office 1609, Musalla Tower, Sharaf DG Metro Exit 4, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Which multiple-entry visa this is

People use “multiple-entry tourist visa” for two different products. The one with a published national rule is the five-year visa above. A normal tourist visa filed by a tourism company can also be single entry or multiple entry, often for a 30-day or 60-day stay, and that file is sponsored. It is usually the right choice for one holiday. It is cheaper than AED 3,713 because it does not include a AED 3,000 guarantee. If you only need one trip, start on the UAE visa page and ask for a standard tourist visa. Use the five-year visa when you will come back several times across several years and you can show the bank balance and the insurance.

Do not mix the two in one sentence when you talk to an airline or a hotel. “Multiple entry” on a 30-day tourist visa means you may enter more than once during that visa’s validity. “Multiple entry” on the five-year visa means you may enter across five years, inside the 90-day and 180-day stay rules. The cost, the sponsor, and the documents are not the same.

Who is eligible

The UAE Government says this five-year tourist visa can be issued for all nationalities, on self-sponsorship. GDRFA Dubai describes it as a tourism visa for several trips, valid for five years from the date of issue, without a guarantor or host inside the country. That is the eligibility test. It is not limited to a short list of passports, and you do not need a resident relative to sponsor it.

You still have to meet the documents. The UAE Government requires:

• A bank balance of USD 4,000, or the same value in another currency, during the six months before you apply. One healthy day in the account is not the test. The statements have to show that balance across those six months.

• Health insurance that applies in the UAE and is valid for 180 days.

• A ticket for a return journey or for travel onward from the UAE.

GDRFA adds the practical papers: a personal photo, a passport copy valid at least six months, the six-month bank statement, the insurance, and the round-trip ticket. The passport must also let you return to the country where you live or to the country that issued it. A passport that is valid, but will not get you back home, is not enough.

GCC citizens do not need this visa to enter the UAE. If you already enter visa-free or on visa on arrival, you can still choose the five-year visa, but you should only pay for it if the repeat visits are worth the guarantee. A single holiday is a poor reason to lock AED 3,000.

What the AED 3,713 is made of

GDRFA Dubai’s service page for issuing a multi-entry tourist visa for five years lists these lines. The page also says the total can change with the applicant’s circumstances, so pay the figure on the checkout, not a number copied from a chat.

The guarantee is the large line. It is not a tourism company’s profit. GDRFA says that if you violate the stay rules, fines are collected at the departure port and the financial security is forfeited. If you keep to the 90-day and 180-day limits, the guarantee is the sum those fee lines are built to collect and later return. The page does not promise a number of days for the refund. Keep the payment receipt.

An application through ICP can show a different screen total, because the fee names are not identical. Do not argue with a counter that the blog said AED 3,713 if that channel’s invoice is different. Kite Star Tourism’s own service fee, if you ask this office to prepare the file, is quoted separately. It is not a substitute for the government lines.

How long you may stay

The visa is valid for five years from the day it is issued. That is not five years inside the UAE. GDRFA’s stay rule has three parts.

• You may remain continuously for no longer than 90 days. The UAE Government describes the same limit as 90 days on each visit.

• That stay may be extended for a similar period, so a further 90 days, provided the days you spend in the UAE in one year are not more than 180.

• The year is counted from your first entry, not from January and not from the day the visa was printed. Days you do not use do not move into the next year.

Two short trips of 20 days each use 40 days of that year’s allowance. A single stay of 90 days uses the base allowance. Extending it toward 180 days is possible only inside that same year-count, and only before you are in breach. If you leave on day 40, the unused 50 days of that visit do not become extra days next year.

GDRFA also says the visa is valid for entry within two months of issue, and that entry window can be extended for another two months. That is the deadline to make use of the visa after it is printed. It is not an extra 60 days of holiday. If you cannot fly within two months, extend the entry window before it lapses. Do not assume the five-year validity repairs a missed first entry.

Count the days yourself. GDRFA tells the holder, or their representative, to request a travel report of entries and exits so the remaining days match the rule. A stamp you forgot is still a day in the country. Overstay fines are collected when you depart, and the guarantee can be lost with them. For a stay that needs to go past the first 90 days, read how a UAE visit visa is extended without leaving the country and confirm that the five-year file is the one being extended. A different visa’s extension rules do not transfer.

Documents that get a file accepted

Prepare the set before you pay, because a weak bank statement is the usual reason this visa is the wrong product.

• Passport copy with at least six months of validity, and a passport that lets you go home.

• Personal photo as the channel specifies. Use a recent one. A cropped holiday picture is a common rejection.

• Six months of bank statements showing USD 4,000, or the equivalent, across that period. Print the name, the account number, and the dates. A letter that only says “the client is wealthy” is not the statement GDRFA asks for.

• Health insurance valid in the UAE for 180 days. A policy that covers your home country only does not meet the government line.

• Return or onward ticket. The date should make sense with a first stay of 90 days or less.

If a child is travelling, the child is a separate person. A parent’s five-year visa does not include a son or daughter. Whether a child must show their own bank balance is a question for the channel that will issue that child’s file. Do not guess. The general rule that each child needs their own entry status is in Do Children Need a Dubai Visa? Family Visa Guide.

How to apply

The UAE Government says you can apply for a tourist visa through ICP or through the General Directorate of Identity and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai, and also through airlines, licensed travel agents, or hotels. GDRFA’s own steps for this five-year visa are: sign in with UAE Pass or a username, open the service, complete the form, and pay. You can also file at a Customer Happiness Centre or an Amer centre. The online channel is listed as available all day. GDRFA’s expected completion time is 48 hours. That is an expected time, not a promise that every file finishes in two days.

1. Decide that you need five years of repeat visits, not one holiday. If it is one holiday, use a standard tourist visa instead.

2. Gather the passport, photo, six-month statements, UAE health insurance, and the ticket.

3. File on ICP, on GDRFA, or through a licensed office that will submit those documents in your name. Contact Kite Star Tourism if you want this office to check the papers before you pay the guarantee.

4. Pay the checkout total. Save the receipt, especially the guarantee line.

5. Enter the UAE within two months of issue, unless that entry window is extended.

6. Track the days from your first entry. Leave, or extend, before you cross 90 days, and do not spend more than 180 days in that year.

You can follow a Kite Star application on visa tracking. If the travel date is close and you are eligible for a faster ordinary visa instead, look at the express visa. Express handling does not remove the USD 4,000 test on the five-year visa, and it does not turn a missing bank statement into an approval.

When this visa is the wrong product

Choose a normal tourist visa if you will visit once, if you cannot show USD 4,000 across six months, or if you cannot buy 180 days of UAE health insurance. Paying AED 3,000 as a guarantee and then overstaying is the expensive way to take a holiday. The guarantee is forfeited if you breach the stay, and the overstay fine is collected on top when you leave.

Choose this visa if you have family or work-adjacent travel that is still tourism, you will enter several times before the five years end, and you can live with a 180-day cap each year. It is not a residence visa. It does not give you the right to work. It does not replace an Emirates ID. If a company in the UAE is employing you, this is the wrong file.

A refused file should be read before you pay again. A short passport, a statement that dips under USD 4,000, insurance that does not cover the UAE, or a ticket that does not show you leaving, are document problems. Fix the document. Submitting the same PDF a second time does not change the rule.

Using the visa once it is approved

Book the first flights inside the two-month entry window. Keep the return date inside the 90-day stay unless you already know an extension will be filed in time. Match the hotel to those dates. If you need a car from the airport, book the transfer in the same name as the visa. A five-year visa does not reserve the hotel, and the hotel does not extend the visa.

Later trips in the five years still consume the 180-day yearly cap measured from the first entry. Before you buy a fourth flight in the same year, add the days you have already spent. If the cap is close, wait for the next year-count or leave earlier. Days you skip are not saved.

Dubai plans, once the entry is lawful, sit on the activities list, a desert safari, or a holiday package. Read the other travel guides for visas and Dubai planning while the 48-hour file is in progress. Do not pay a non-refundable desert camp for a date that falls after day 90 unless the extension is already approved.

How Kite Star handles this file

Kite Star Tourism is a Dubai travel agency at Office 1609, Musalla Tower, Sharaf DG Metro Exit 4. The visa desk can tell you whether the five-year multiple-entry visa fits the trip, or whether a standard single-entry or multiple-entry tourist visa is the honest product. Call +971 545484000 or email support@kitestartourism.com. The contact page repeats the office address.

Send the passport copy, the photo, the six-month bank statements, the insurance schedule, and the ticket. Do not send card numbers or one-time passwords by email. The government fee, including the guarantee, is paid on the ICP or GDRFA channel or as shown on the invoice. Kite Star does not control the officer’s decision, does not keep the AED 3,000 guarantee as a fee, and does not promise that unused days will roll into the next year. They do not.

Fees and entry lists change. The cost lines and the 90-day, 180-day, and five-year rules in this guide are taken from GDRFA Dubai’s “Issuing a multi-entry tourist visa (5 years)” service and from the UAE Government’s tourist-visa page, as reviewed on 3 October 2026. Pay the total on your checkout. GDRFA says that total can vary.

Official sources

• UAE Government — Tourist visa: five-year multiple entry, all nationalities, self-sponsorship, 90 days each visit with a further 90 days, USD 4,000 bank balance, 180-day UAE health insurance, and a return or onward ticket.

• GDRFA Dubai — Issuing a multi-entry tourist visa (5 years): fee lines totalling AED 3,713, six-month passport, photo, statements, insurance, ticket, two-month entry window, 180-day yearly cap, and forfeiture of the guarantee if you violate the stay.

Checklist before you pay the guarantee

• You need repeat visits across years, not a single holiday. A standard tourist visa is the cheaper file for one trip.

• The passport has six months of validity and lets you return home.

• Bank statements for the past six months show at least USD 4,000, or the equivalent, through that period.

• Health insurance covers the UAE for 180 days.

• You have a return or onward ticket.

• You can enter within two months of issue, or you will extend that entry window.

• You understand the stay: 90 days, extendable toward 180 days in a year that starts on your first entry. Unused days do not carry over.

• You can leave the AED 3,000 guarantee with the authority until the file is clean. A breach can forfeit it.

Meet that list and the five-year multiple-entry tourist visa is a real product with a published price. Miss the bank balance or the insurance and it is the wrong application. Kite Star Tourism will say which of the two it is before you pay.