Dubai visas are on GDRFA, not ICP
The UAE has two immigration authorities, and each keeps its own records and runs its own public status check. The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai (GDRFA) issues visas for Dubai. The Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) issues them for Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah. A visa only appears on the portal of the authority that issued it.
That matters for you because every visa we issue comes through our own quota as a licensed Dubai tour operator — so it is a Dubai visa, on record with GDRFA. Check it on the GDRFA portal. If you search for it on the ICP portal you will get “no record found”, and that is not a problem with your visa; ICP simply doesn’t hold Dubai files. We still cover the ICP check below, because travellers who were issued a visa elsewhere in the UAE land on this page too.
Both checks are free, both work without creating an account, and both live on .gov.ae addresses. Search for “UAE visa status” and you’ll find plenty of look-alike websites that ask for your passport details and then ask you to pay. There is nothing to pay for. The links in this guide go straight to the government pages, and those are the only ones you should ever type your passport number into.
What you can and can’t check
The public checks look up a visa that already exists — they confirm it’s real, show whether it’s valid, and give you its dates. What they don’t do is show a pending application creeping through immigration. So if you’ve applied with us and you’re waiting, the portal won’t tell you “in progress” or “approved tomorrow”; it will simply find nothing until the visa is issued, and we email you the PDF the moment that happens. While you’re waiting, the honest answer to “where is it?” comes from us: message us on WhatsApp with your reference number and a person will check your file.
Once you have the PDF, the portal is worth a visit. It’s a free way to confirm the visa on record matches the document in your hand, and to see the dates for yourself before you book anything non-refundable.
Option 1: GDRFA Dubai — the portal for our visas
Open GDRFA’s public status tracking page. It is the same page GDRFA’s own website links to as “Visa Status”, and it needs no sign-in — ignore the Login link. If it opens in Arabic, use the English link at the top of the page; the heading then reads “Status Tracking”.
Under Search by you’ll see several options. For an issued visa, choose File and fill in:
- First Name (English) — your first name exactly as it appears on your passport.
- File Number — the number GDRFA assigned to your visa. It’s on the visa document you were sent; if you’re not sure which number that is, message us with your reference number and we’ll point it out.
- Nationality, from the list.
- Birth Date, in the DD-MM-YYYY format the box shows.
- Tick I’m not a robot and press Search.
The other option worth knowing about is Application, which tracks a submission rather than an issued visa. It asks for the Application Number, the Transaction Number and the Payment Date from the submission itself — details that sit with whoever submitted the application, not on your passport. If your visa came through us and you don’t have those numbers, don’t guess at them; message us with your reference number instead and we’ll check where it stands.
Option 2: ICP Smart Services — visas issued in the other six emirates
If your visa was issued in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah or Fujairah, use the ICP Smart Services portal: from the top menu choose Public Services, then File Validity, or go straight to the File Validity page. No sign-in is needed — the “Sign in” button is for residents managing their own files.
The right choices for a visitor are:
- Under Search By, select Passport Information.
- Under Select the Type, select Visa — not Residency, and not Emirates ID.
- Enter your passport number exactly as it appears on the passport, including any leading zeros.
- Enter your passport expiry date.
- Choose your nationality from the list.
- Complete the Verify step (the captcha) and press Search.
Remember: a Dubai visa, including any visa from us, will not be found here. That’s expected — go back to Option 1.
Reading the result
A successful search returns the record the authority holds for your file. Compare it with the PDF you were sent: the name, passport number and dates should match. Two things are worth keeping straight while you read them. The expiry date shown is the last day the visa can be used to enter the UAE; it is not the length of your stay, which only starts counting on the day you actually pass through immigration. Our processing time and validity guide walks through that difference with the numbers for each visa type.
The status itself is the part that matters most. A visa that shows as valid is ready to travel on. If it shows as expired or cancelled, or the details don’t match your PDF, stop and contact us before you travel — don’t assume a display error.
If nothing comes up
“No record found” is far more often a typing problem than a visa problem. Before you worry, check the obvious things: the file number or passport number (a dropped leading zero is the classic mistake), the nationality you selected, the date of birth, and — above all — whether you’re on the right portal. A Dubai visa lives on GDRFA; a visa from another emirate lives on ICP. Searching the wrong one always comes back empty.
If the right portal still shows nothing, send us your reference number on WhatsApp or email. We’d rather look into it straight away than have you turn up at the airport unsure. And if you ever receive a “visa” from anyone that can’t be found on either government portal, treat that as a warning sign and tell us — a real UAE visa is on record with the authority that issued it.
Keep your details safe
A few habits keep this simple and safe. Only enter your passport details on the two .gov.ae addresses above — bookmark them rather than searching each time. Never pay anyone for a “status check”; the government doesn’t charge for it. And keep your visa PDF and your eVisaPlanet reference number together on your phone, because between them they hold every number either portal could ask for.