Can I use a photo taken on my phone?

Yes. A clear phone photo against a plain white wall in daylight is accepted. Face the camera straight on, no sunglasses, no filters, and make sure the whole head and top of the shoulders are in frame.

Does my passport need six months' validity?

Yes — six months counted from your travel date, not from the day you apply. If it has less, renew it first; we cannot submit an application on a passport that expires sooner.

My name on the form doesn't match my passport exactly. Does it matter?

It matters a lot. Type it exactly as printed on the passport photo page, including middle names. A mismatch is the single most common reason we pause an application.

UAE Visa Photo & Document Requirements

Most delays we see are not immigration's doing — they are a passport scan with a corner cut off or a photo taken against a beige wall. Here is exactly what we check, why, and how to get it right first time.

What we check, in 60 seconds

Every application that comes through eVisaPlanet gets opened by a real person, not just a script. Before anything is submitted, someone on our team checks three things: does the name and passport number you typed match the passport page you uploaded, is the photo actually usable, and does your passport have enough validity left for the trip you’re booking. Get those three right and your file moves straight through. Get one wrong and we pause and come back to you — a common cause of delay.

This guide walks through each one, in the order we check it, so you can get it right the first time.

Your passport photo page

Upload the photo page of your passport — the page with your photo, name and passport number printed on it.

Six months’ validity from your travel date, not from today. If your passport expires sooner than that, we can’t submit your application on it; renew first, then apply.
All four corners visible. A scan or photo that’s been cropped at the edge, even slightly, is one of the first things we send back.
No glare and no fingers. Light bouncing off the laminated page, or a thumb holding it flat, can hide digits in your passport number.
Colour scan or a clear phone photo — both are fine. You don’t need a scanner. Lay the passport flat on a plain surface in good light and photograph it straight on.
File type and size: JPG, PNG or PDF, up to 10 MB. That covers a normal phone photo without any adjustment.

Your photo

This is separate from the passport scan — it’s a current photo of you, the passport-size photo, not a scan of your passport page.

Recent. Not the photo from your last passport application five years ago.
Plain white background. Not a patterned wall, not a car seat, not a room with furniture behind you.
Face uncovered and unfiltered. No sunglasses, no beauty filters, no heavy editing. Glasses are fine as long as there’s no glare across the lenses hiding your eyes.
Head and shoulders in frame, facing the camera straight on.
A phone photo is genuinely fine. Stand against a white wall in daylight, hold the phone at arm’s length or use a timer.

Your name, exactly as printed

Type your full name on the form exactly as your passport photo page shows it — including middle names, in the same order. Don’t shorten it, swap first and last names, or use a nickname. A mismatched name is the single most common reason our team pauses a file, so this small step saves the most time.

The five reasons files come back to you

Five things that send a file back to you:

Dark or cropped scan — a passport photo that’s blurry, badly lit, or missing a corner.
Coloured or busy background — your photo taken against a wall, curtain or outdoor scene instead of plain white.
Old photo — one that no longer looks like you.
Name mismatch — the form doesn’t read exactly as your passport does.
Passport expiring within six months of your travel date.

None of these are UAE immigration rejecting anything — they’re us catching a problem before it ever gets that far.

How to fix each one from your phone

No special equipment needed for any of this.

Re-scan the passport flat on a table in daylight, straight on, with all four corners in frame.
Retake the photo against a plain white wall, with the light in front of you, not behind you.
Take a new photo today if the one you have is old — a phone photo is fine.
Re-check the name field against your passport photo page, letter by letter.
Check your passport’s expiry date against your travel date, and renew first if it’s under six months out — we can’t submit until that’s done.

If you’ve uploaded everything and you’re still not sure it’s right, message us on WhatsApp before you pay — someone will look at it and tell you whether your documents will pass our check.

Transit visas: one more document

If you’re applying for a transit visa rather than a tourist visa, you’ll need one extra item alongside the passport page and photo above: an onward flight ticket departing the UAE. If you’re not sure a particular ticket qualifies, ask us on WhatsApp before you apply.

Everything else — the passport scan, the photo, your name matching exactly — works the same as above.

Once your documents are in, a person on our team checks them within 24 hours before we submit through the UAE immigration channel using our own quota as a licensed Dubai tour operator. If we spot a problem first, we tell you and refund you in full — visa decisions are always UAE immigration’s alone; ours is just the checking.