Check UAE Visa Status 2026: Dubai and the Other Six Emirates Use Different Portals — and You Need a Number You Must Ask For
Checking a UAE visa status means querying the authority that holds your file for the state of your application or the validity of your permit. There is no single national page that does it. Which portal you use depends on the emirate the file was submitted in — and if you use the wrong one, it returns nothing rather than an explanation.
That is the first thing to get right, and it is where most searches go wrong.
Which portal is yours
Dubai files go to GDRFA. Everything else goes to ICP.
Where the file was submitted | Where to check |
|---|---|
Dubai (including Amer centres) | GDRFA Dubai — its Amer visa inquiry page, the application status tracker, or the DubaiNow app |
Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah | ICP smart services — select application tracking |
Note what determines this: the emirate where the application was submitted, not the emirate you live in. A Sharjah resident whose employer files through an Amer centre in Dubai checks with GDRFA. Using the other portal will simply return no record, which reads like a rejection and is not one.
The number you need — and why you may not have it
Tracking needs an application number and a reference number. On ICP, the application number starts with 010.
Both numbers are generated when the file is submitted, and they are handed to whoever submitted it — a typing centre, your employer’s PRO, or a visa service provider. They are not sent to the applicant automatically. This is the single most common reason a resident cannot track their own file: nobody refused them anything, they were simply never given the reference.
Ask for both numbers at the moment of submission. Chasing them a week later, when the person who filed has moved on to other files, is a different and slower conversation.
How to check, step by step
The mechanics are short once you are on the right portal with the right number.
For the six non-Dubai emirates: open smartservices.icp.gov.ae, choose the application-tracking option, enter the application number beginning with 010, and search. The result shows the current status of the file.
For Dubai: open the GDRFA application status tracker or the Amer visa inquiry page and enter the details the form asks for. The DubaiNow app covers the same enquiry from a phone.
If the portal returns nothing, check the emirate before you assume the worst. A blank result on the wrong portal looks identical to a blank result on the right one.
Checking validity, not just status
The same portals answer a second question: how long the permit you already hold is still valid.
This is worth checking on a schedule rather than when something goes wrong, because the consequence of an expired permit is not uniform. The grace period after expiry is 60, 90 or 180 days depending on how the permit was issued — the tiers and what triggers the AED 50 daily fine are set out in our residence visa renewal guide.
A resident who checks validity three months out has options. One who checks it on the expiry date has a deadline.
When the portal is not enough
Some questions do not have a portal answer, and the published toll-free lines are the intended route for them.
ICP takes enquiries about visa issuance, types and validity on 600 522 222. GDRFA Dubai answers on 800 5111 from inside the UAE.
Use them when the portal returns a status you do not understand, when you have no application number and no way to recover it from whoever filed, or when the status has not moved for longer than the process should take. Have your passport details in front of you before you call.
Where status checks go wrong
Three mistakes account for most of the frustration, and none require a fix from the authority.
Wrong portal. Checking ICP for a Dubai file returns nothing. The absence of a record is not the absence of an application.
No number, no track. Without the application and reference numbers there is no self-service route at all. Recovering them means going back to the filer, which is why asking at submission matters more than any portal trick.
Reading silence as refusal. A file that shows no movement is usually a file in a queue. Status pages report state, not progress, and they do not distinguish between “under review” and “under review for three weeks.”
How to verify this before you rely on it
Portals and phone numbers change, and unofficial sites that mirror them go stale without saying so.
Start from the government’s own index: track visa application and validity on u.ae, then follow it to ICP interactive services or GDRFA Dubai. ICP states plainly that services and information should be obtained only through its official channels and the UAEICP smart app — a warning worth heeding, because visa-status pages are a well-known target for lookalike sites that harvest passport data.
If a link or number here no longer works, tell us and we will correct the page — we date every detail for exactly this reason.
Sources
- Track visa application and validity — u.ae
- ICP smart services
- ICP interactive services
- Amer visa inquiry — GDRFA Dubai
- Application status tracker — GDRFA Dubai
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