Philippines Visa from Dubai: Who Needs One, the eVisa, eTravel and Extensions

The short answer: this guide is for non-Filipino UAE residents. Filipino citizens need no visa to visit their own country; if you are a Filipino resident bringing family to visit you in the UAE instead, see our guide to the UAE visit visa for Filipinos. For everyone else: Emiratis, and most British and other Western passport holders, can enter the Philippines visa-free for 30 days. Since June 2025, Indian nationals can also enter visa-free, for tourism only, for 14 days (non-extendable), or for 30 days if they hold a current visa or residence permit from the US, Japan, Australia, Canada, the Schengen area, Singapore or the UK. Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Egyptian nationals still need a visa before they travel, applied for at the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi or the Consulate General in Dubai, depending on where their UAE residence visa was issued. Whatever your passport, you must register in the eTravel system, free, within 72 hours of flying.

Manila is about nine hours non-stop from Dubai, which puts Palawan's lagoons, Cebu's reefs and Boracay's beaches within reach of a week off. Because the rules depend on your passport rather than on your UAE residence, check your own nationality below rather than assuming a UAE residence visa changes anything.

Philippines visa for UAE residents at a glance

Passport	Entry to the Philippines (October 2026)
United Arab Emirates	Visa-free, 30 days
United Kingdom and most Western and European passports	Visa-free, 30 days, under Executive Order 408
India	Visa-free for tourism, 14 days, non-extendable; or 30 days with a current AJACSSUK visa or residence permit
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Egypt	Visa required before travel
Philippines	Not applicable: Filipino citizens need no visa
Where visa-required nationals apply	Philippine Embassy, Abu Dhabi, or Consulate General, Dubai, by where your UAE residence visa was issued
eTravel registration	Mandatory for every traveller, free, within 72 hours of arrival
Passport validity needed	At least 6 months beyond your stay

Who needs a visa: it depends on your passport

The Philippines' Executive Order 408, as amended, lists the nationalities that can enter without a visa, almost always for an initial stay of 30 days. The United Arab Emirates is on that list, so Emiratis simply fly. So are the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore and most European countries, among many others. Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nigeria are not on the list, so nationals of those countries need a visa regardless of where in the UAE they live. Your UAE residence visa makes no difference either way: the Philippines looks at your passport, not your address.

Everyone, visa-free or not, needs a passport valid at least six months beyond their stay and a return or onward ticket, and must register in eTravel before flying.

Indian nationals: the new visa-free rules

Since 8 June 2025, Indian passport holders no longer need a visa for a short tourist trip. The Philippine Bureau of Immigration set the conditions in Memorandum Circular 2025-003, and the Department of Foreign Affairs announced the change on 7 June 2025; Philippine missions in the Gulf, including the Consulate General in Dubai, put out their own advisories at the time. There are two tracks:

• Standard tourist entry: 14 days, non-extendable and non-convertible. You need a passport valid at least six months beyond your stay, a confirmed hotel booking, proof you can fund the trip, such as a bank statement or employment certificate, and a return or onward ticket.
• AJACSSUK entry: 30 days. If you hold a current visa or residence permit from the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada, the Schengen area, Singapore or the United Kingdom, you qualify for the longer stay on just a valid passport and a return or onward ticket.

Both tracks are for tourism only, work at any Philippine port of entry, and are refused to anyone with a derogatory record at the Bureau of Immigration. If you are travelling for business, work or a longer stay, or simply want a visa sticker in your passport, you still need a regular visa or e-Visa from a Philippine mission. Older guides describe a different scheme, from 2015, that let AJACSSUK holders extend a 14-day stay by 7 more days; the 2025 rules instead give AJACSSUK holders 30 days outright and call it non-extendable, so treat the 2025 circular as the current rule and confirm with the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai if your plans are unusual.

Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Egyptian nationals: apply for a visa

These nationalities need a visa before they fly, whichever Emirate they live in. Which Philippine mission handles your application depends on where your UAE residence visa was issued, not your nationality or where you happen to be staying:

• Dubai and the Northern Emirates (Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah): apply at the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai.
• Abu Dhabi and Al Ain: apply at the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Sending your application to the wrong post can get it rejected, so check your Emirate first.

Philippine Embassy, Abu Dhabi: the e-Visa

The Abu Dhabi embassy was the first, and for some time the only, Philippine mission in the Middle East to issue the Philippine e-Visa, a fully online application that the Department of Foreign Affairs rolled out across the Middle East and North Africa from March 2025. The process starts with a pre-assessment by email: you send copies of your UAE residence visa and proof that you can fund the trip, such as personal bank statements. Once that is cleared, the embassy emails you a link to apply online and pay. The embassy sets the minimum bank balance it expects and its processing times, and we could not read its visa page directly for this guide, so ask for both when you email it, and allow several weeks.

Consulate General, Dubai: pre-assessment and an appointment

The Dubai consulate has described a different process, a pre-assessment followed by an appointment, rather than the fully online e-Visa. Its site blocks automated reading, so we could not re-read it for this guide: treat the steps below as a guide and confirm them with the consulate.

1. Fill in the application form at the Philippine visa application portal, and upload it with your supporting documents to the consulate's online pre-assessment page. Documents listed include your passport bio page, a copy of your UAE residence visa, your flight itinerary, a no-objection letter from your employer and three months of bank statements.
2. Wait for the pre-assessment. If you qualify, you are emailed a confirmed appointment date; if documents are missing, you are told what to add.
3. Attend your appointment with your original documents and copies, arriving ten minutes early, and pay the fee in cash at the counter. The consulate says it has not authorised any agency to process applications or collect fees on its behalf, so apply directly.

The consulate advises applying at least a month before you travel. Its pages do not say whether this route has since moved onto the same e-Visa platform the Abu Dhabi embassy uses, so confirm the current process with the consulate, or by email pre-assessment, before you gather documents.

Fees

Philippine visa fees depend on the entry type (single entry, or multiple entry for six months or a year) and on your nationality. We could not read a current fee on either UAE mission's own page for this guide, so ask for the exact amount for your passport and visa type when you submit the pre-assessment, and pay only the mission or its official e-Visa system.

eTravel: register before you fly

Every traveller to the Philippines, whatever their passport or visa status, must register in the eTravel system at etravel.gov.ph, the only official site for it. Registration is free; sites that ask you to pay for it are not genuine.

• When: within 72 hours (3 days) of your flight into the Philippines.
• What you need: your profile, travel details and a health declaration, filled in through a phone or desktop browser; no app is required.
• Each traveller registers separately, including children, though one person can file for their whole family travelling together.
• At the airport: show the QR code the system generates to the Bureau of Quarantine on arrival.

Extensions with the Bureau of Immigration

Neither the Indian 14-day scheme nor the 30-day AJACSSUK track can be extended; once that period ends, you must leave. Visa-free nationals on the general 30-day track, and visa holders, can extend through the Bureau of Immigration.

Extension	Fee
Visa waiver: the initial 29-day extension for non-visa-required tourists (after the first 30 days)	PHP 3,030 total
Beyond 59 days, adult, non-visa-required nationals: 1 month / 2 months	PHP 4,400 / PHP 4,900
Beyond 59 days, adult, visa-required nationals: 1 month / 2 months	PHP 4,400 / PHP 5,700

These figures are from the Bureau of Immigration's own fee schedule, dated 6 March 2014, which the Bureau says can change without prior notice; confirm the current amount at the Bureau's main office in Intramuros, Manila, or another authorised immigration office, before you apply. Overstaying adds a fine of PHP 500 per month on top. A foreign national whose stay will run beyond 59 days in total must apply for an extension with the Bureau of Immigration regardless of nationality.

What goes wrong

• Applying to the wrong Philippine mission. It is decided by where your UAE residence visa was issued, not by your nationality or which Emirate you are staying in when you apply.
• Assuming a UAE residence visa changes the rules. It doesn't. Only your passport nationality decides whether you need a Philippine visa.
• Skipping eTravel. It is separate from any visa or visa-free entry, free, and expected of every traveller.
• Forgetting the return or onward ticket. The airline can ask for it at check-in in the UAE, and Philippine immigration can ask again on arrival.
• Paying a third party to "process" a Dubai application. The Dubai consulate says no agency is authorised to submit applications or collect fees on its behalf.
• Overstaying. It brings a fine, and can lead to a derogatory record with the Bureau of Immigration that complicates future trips.

Flights from the UAE

• Dubai to Manila: Emirates flies non-stop, in about nine hours.
• Abu Dhabi to Manila: Etihad flies non-stop; check its current timetable.
• Cebu Pacific resumed its Manila to Dubai route on 2 July 2026, after a suspension tied to regional security concerns earlier in the year, flying four times a week.
• Philippine Airlines said it would resume non-stop Dubai to Manila flights on 2 October 2026, four times a week at first, building towards daily service; confirm with the airline that these flights are now running before you book.

flydubai and other low-cost carriers change their long-haul routes often, so check flydubai's own site for Manila before you book. Gulf-Philippines routes were disrupted for parts of 2026, so confirm your flight with the airline either way.

Frequently asked questions

Do UAE residents need a visa for the Philippines?

It depends on your passport. Emiratis and most Western and European nationals don't, for 30 days. Indians don't either, for tourism, for 14 or 30 days under the 2025 rules. Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Egyptian nationals do, applied for at the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi or the Consulate General in Dubai.

Do Indians in Dubai need a visa for the Philippines?

Not for a short tourist trip, since 8 June 2025. Indian passport holders get 14 days visa-free, non-extendable, or 30 days if they hold a current US, Japanese, Australian, Canadian, Schengen, Singapore or UK visa or residence permit. Longer or non-tourism trips still need a visa.

Do Pakistanis need a visa for the Philippines from the UAE?

Yes. Pakistan isn't on the Philippines' visa-free list, so Pakistani residents of the UAE apply at the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi or the Consulate General in Dubai, depending on where their UAE residence visa was issued.

What is eTravel and do I need it before I fly?

eTravel is the Philippines' free, mandatory pre-arrival registration at etravel.gov.ph. Every traveller needs it, regardless of visa status, filed within 72 hours of arrival, and you show the QR code it generates to Quarantine staff on landing.

How long can Emiratis stay in the Philippines without a visa?

Up to 30 days, under the Philippines' Executive Order 408 visa-free list, which includes the United Arab Emirates. A passport valid at least six months beyond the stay and a return or onward ticket are both expected.

Where do Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan residents of the UAE apply for a Philippine visa?

At the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai, if their UAE residence visa was issued in Dubai or the Northern Emirates, or at the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi, if it was issued in Abu Dhabi or Al Ain. Neither nationality is on the Philippines' visa-free list.

Planning a trip to the Philippines

A week is enough for one region: El Nido or Coron in Palawan for limestone islands and lagoons, Cebu and Bohol for diving and the Chocolate Hills, or Boracay for its beach. Many UAE residents add a few days in Manila at either end for connections and city sights. See Philippines visa services for help with your application, browse holiday packages, or talk to us about flights and hotels.

Related guides

• UAE visit visa for Filipinos
• India visa from Dubai
• Thailand visa for UAE residents
• Singapore visa for UAE residents

Last checked 9 October 2026 against the Philippine Bureau of Immigration's visa waiver, extension and fee pages, the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai's visa procedure pages, the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi's visa services page, Department of Foreign Affairs reporting on the 2025 e-Visa rollout and the Indian visa-free rules, the Philippines' Executive Order 408 visa-free list as published by Philippine missions abroad, the eTravel system's own site, and airline schedules and reporting. This guide is general information, not immigration advice. Confirm the current requirements with the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai or the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi before you apply or travel.