Dubai transit for Indian passport holders

Before you book a connection through Dubai

1. 1Ask Emirates, or your airline, to confirm in Timatic that your airside connection needs no document.
2. 2For a stop outside the airport, choose between the 48-hour and 96-hour transit visas and apply through Manage your booking.
3. 3Keep the flights into and out of Dubai on one Emirates booking, as the transit visas require.
4. 4If you hold a US, UK or EU visa or residence document, check whether you qualify for the pre-approved entry permit before you fly.
5. 5Avoid connections that switch to Al Maktoum or Abu Dhabi unless you will hold a UAE visa or permit.

What is and is not confirmed

Emirates’ UAE visa page for India, read on 23 October 2026, sets out the visas it sponsors for travellers entering Dubai. It does not address passengers who stay airside, so it neither confirms nor contradicts visa-free transit, and no UAE government page read for this guide addresses it either.

That gap matters because transit advice should come from an official source. Before you book, ask Emirates to confirm what its systems show for an Indian passport on your route, or ask any airline to check Timatic, the IATA database that check-in staff rely on.

Emirates’ 48- and 96-hour transit visas

For travellers who want to leave the airport, Emirates offers two transit visas. Both must be used within 30 days of issue, cannot be extended, and are priced inclusive of VAT:

• 48-hour transit visa: US$10, valid for 48 hours from arrival.
• 96-hour transit visa: US$49, valid for 96 hours from arrival.
• Apply through Manage your booking on emirates.com or at the Emirates visa office in Terminal 3.
• Transit visa fees are non-refundable in any case.

One Emirates booking, Emirates flights

Emirates says these visas “are valid for travel with Emirates tickets outbound from Dubai”. Its prearranged visa service is “only available to passengers with a confirmed Emirates booking”, and the itinerary into and out of Dubai “should be on one ticket (PNR), and these flights must be Emirates flights.”

In practice that rules out the cheapest self-transfers. A traveller arriving on one airline and leaving on another cannot use the Emirates transit visas, and would need another UAE visa or permit to pass immigration.

Entry permits and the visa-on-arrival question

Emirates now lists India among the nationalities eligible for a pre-approved visit entry permit, applied for online before travel: 14 days for US$63 or 60 days for US$141.36, single entry, with a passport valid for six months. You qualify if you hold, among others, a residence permit from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Korea or Singapore, an EU residence permit or EU visa valid for at least six months, a UK residence permit or UK visa valid for at least six months, or a US Green Card or US visa valid for at least six months.

This overlaps with an older rule. In February 2025 the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs described a visa on arrival for Indians holding a US, EU or UK visa, residence permit or Green Card, extended on 13 February 2025 to residence permits from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Korea and Singapore. Emirates’ 2026 page frames the same group as needing a pre-approved permit, so do not count on a visa on arrival without checking the current position with the airline.

Connecting at Abu Dhabi instead, and the flight reservation

Etihad’s hub at Abu Dhabi (Zayed International) is the other UAE option, and Etihad is reported to serve many Indian cities. Its transit visa terms and fees could not be checked for this guide, so do not assume Emirates’ figures apply to Etihad, and ask Etihad directly about airside transit. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are separate airports: landing at one and departing from the other means entering the UAE, as does a switch to Al Maktoum (DWC).

A flight reservation is an airline booking held without payment. For a route through Dubai, such as an Emirates booking from Kochi through Dubai to London for a UK visa file, keep both flights on one booking with a realistic layover. Emirates’ transit visas are issued against real Emirates tickets, so a held reservation cannot be used to obtain one. Each airline decides how long it holds a reservation, so it varies. Order it for the day you submit.

Dubai International (DXB) questions, answered