New Dubai Visa Rules Lead to Spike in Rejections for Indian Travelers

New rules set by the emigration department of UAE have led to increase in the visa rejection rates among the Indians who plan to visit Dubai. The rate of rejections that used to be about 1-2% has now risen to 5-6 applications out every 100 applications according to the travel agencies.

The new regulation requires the applicants of visa to produce hotel bookings with a QR code and return tickets during their stay. Those willing to live with their relatives must produce other documents from the relatives offering them the shelter. Earlier, they had to be submitted only when they had been requested at the airport.

High rejection rates make the process expensive to the travelers financially. “Applications that are prepared to the finest details are being turned down completely,” opined Rishikesh Pujari, director – Vihar Travels. He gave examples of families that irrespective of presenting all legal documents got rejected.

In terms of the impacts on others, Share, and Kumar used the financial perspective when Share said that tourists lose money they spent on visa fees, canceled flights, and hotel bookings added by Kumar, who is the director of Passio Travels Pvt Ltd. They said the visa fees of Rs 14,000 with each member of one family was consumed while more than Rs 20,000 worth of travel had been canceled.

As part of the new guidelines, applicants need to prove adequate funds; in the form of an AED 5,000 (about Rupees 11,400) for two months visa, and AED 3,000(Rupees 6,800) for a three-month visa.

Some professionals within the travel industry think that measures are applied to limit overstays and make immigrations procedures more efficient, yet this move led to rejections, which are becoming too unexpected for many people.

As the people start gearing up for the festive season, the travelers and the travel agencies have called for the UAE authorities not to impose such strict measures again so as not to deal with similar hiccups. At the moment, if Indians plan a vacation to Dubai, there is no certainty without knowing all the requirements, so one has to be ready for mistakes.