UAE Visa Status Check: How to Verify a Visa Through ICP or GDRFA Dubai

The short answer: Which government service you use depends on where your visa was issued, not where you are staying. Visas issued in Dubai are checked through GDRFA Dubai (gdrfad.gov.ae, the "Visa Status" service, or its Status Tracking tool at smart.gdrfad.gov.ae), by your file number, not your passport number alone. Visas issued in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah or Fujairah are checked through ICP, the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, at smartservices.icp.gov.ae, under Public Services, "File Validity". ICP's version does accept a plain passport number, expiry date and nationality, with no sign-in needed. Both authorities also run a separate, free "Fines Inquiry" lookup that tells you whether a fine is sitting on the file, and a separate tracker for an application that has not been decided yet. The UAE's own government portal, u.ae, routes you to exactly these two tools and nothing else: there is no single national "check my UAE visa" page that covers every emirate.

People search for this for ordinary reasons: a return flight to confirm, a visit visa that might be close to its last day, a sponsor who wants to see if a relative's file has cleared, or a fine that needs settling before anyone can leave. The confusing part is not the paperwork. It is that the UAE runs two separate systems, split by the emirate that issued the visa, that do not share a single search box, and that a visa's "validity" and the number of days you may actually stay are not always the same clock.

UAE visa status check at a glance

Question	Answer (October 2026)
Which service covers a Dubai-issued visa	GDRFA Dubai's "Visa Status" tool, at smart.gdrfad.gov.ae
Which service covers Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah or Fujairah	ICP's "File Validity" service, at smartservices.icp.gov.ae
Can I check by passport number alone	On ICP's service, yes, with the passport's expiry date and your nationality. On GDRFA Dubai's service, no: it asks for the file number
Do I need to sign in	No, for a validity check, a fines check or tracking an open application on either authority's public service
Checking a fine on the file	ICP's "Fines Inquiry" or GDRFA Dubai's "Fines Inquiry Service", both of which accept a passport number
Checking an application still being processed	ICP's "Application Tracking" (your email and request number) or GDRFA Dubai's Status Tracking, "Application" option
Official app	The UAEICP app (ICP)
Checking a work permit	MOHRE's inquiry.mohre.gov.ae, "Work Permit", by the transaction number
Cost	Free, on every official lookup above

Which authority covers your visa: ICP or GDRFA Dubai

The UAE does not have one federal portal for every visa. GDRFA, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, is Dubai's own authority, and handles only visas and entry permits issued in Dubai. ICP is the federal authority, and its public services cover the other six emirates: Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah. The UAE's own government portal, u.ae, states this split plainly on its visa tracking page: for Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah or Fujairah, "track your visa application on the website of Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP)"; for Dubai, use "General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs-Dubai" instead, and the same split applies to checking a visa's validity.

What decides which authority issued your visa is not where you are flying into or staying, but who sponsored it and where that sponsor is based. A visit visa booked through a travel agency, airline or hotel is issued by the emirate where that business is licensed: GDRFA Dubai's own service page for the single-entry tourist visa states that "only accredited tourism offices in the emirate can issue this kind of visa," which is why a Dubai agency such as Holidayys sponsors GDRFA-Dubai visas. A visa sponsored by a resident relative or friend instead follows that sponsor's own emirate of residence, not the visitor's. If you are not sure, the visa document itself, the PDF or the sticker in the passport, states the issuing authority and file number, or you can simply ask whoever sponsored it.

ICP's File Validity service

On smartservices.icp.gov.ae, open the menu, choose Public Services, and select File Validity from the tab bar (Establishment Inquiry, File Validity, Fines Inquiry, Application Tracking, Print Leave Permit, Application). The form first asks how you want to search and what kind of file it is:

• Search by Passport Information, and choose Residency or Visa. You then enter your passport number, its expiry date and your nationality, complete the security check, and search. No date of birth is asked for in this mode, and no sign-in is required.
• Search by File No., and choose Residency, Visa or Emirates ID. You then pick a file type, your Emirate Unified Number (UID), your file number, or your Emirates ID number, plus your nationality and date of birth.

This covers entry permits and residence visas issued in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah or Fujairah, for visitors, residents and GCC nationals alike. If you do not know your Unified Number, ICP's public services also include a separate lookup for it, and so does GDRFA Dubai's own site, both by passport number, nationality and date of birth. ICP's homepage carries a standing warning worth repeating here: it tells customers to use "only official and authorised channels, including the (Smart Services Platform) and the (UAEICP) smart app," because fraudulent calls and counterfeit websites misusing its name and logo exist. Bookmark smartservices.icp.gov.ae itself rather than a link from a search result or a message.

GDRFA Dubai's Visa Status service

GDRFA Dubai's "Visa Status" tool, linked from gdrfad.gov.ae and running at smart.gdrfad.gov.ae, is titled "Status Tracking" once open, and offers five search types: Application, File, Establishment, Application for reconsideration, and Over the Counter Service Applications. For an already-issued visa, you want File: it asks for your first name as it appears on your passport, your file number, your nationality, and your date of birth. There is no field for a bare passport number on this screen, which is the practical difference from ICP's service: in Dubai, the file number is what opens the record, and it is printed on the visa itself, so keep a copy or photo of the visa document once it arrives.

GDRFA Dubai's own site also carries a separate "Fines Inquiry Service" and a "Find my Unified Number" tool, each of which does accept a passport number as one of several search options, alongside your file number, your Unified Number or your Emirates ID. None of these public lookups needs a sign-in: a login, by UAE PASS or a username, only appears when you apply for or renew a visa.

Reading the result: status, dates and your last legal day

Both services return the same basic shape of answer: the file's current status, alongside its issue and expiry dates. A status along the lines of issued but not yet used means the permit has been granted but nobody has entered the UAE on it yet; entered or used means the holder has already arrived; cancelled means the sponsor closed the file; and expired means the stay allowed has run out. Treat the exact wording on your own screen as the authority, since the two systems do not use identical labels.

The trickier part is working out the last day you, or the person you are checking for, can legally stay. A UAE entry permit carries two separate clocks, and they are not always the same number of days from the same date. The government portal u.ae spells this out for one case, the GCC resident's eVisa: it states that "GCC residents' entry permit is valid for 30 days from the date of issue and they are allowed to stay for 30 days from the date of entry." In other words, the permit itself expires unused if you do not enter within its window from issue, but once you do enter, the clock for how long you may stay restarts from that entry date, not from the day the visa was issued. GDRFA Dubai's page for the standard 30 or 60 day tourist visa gives the length in days but does not say which date starts the count. So rather than count the days yourself, run the File Validity or Visa Status check: the expiry date it returns is the one GDRFA or ICP holds on file.

Checking an application still in progress

An application that has not yet been decided is a different lookup from an issued visa's validity. On ICP, use Application Tracking (same Public Services tab bar as File Validity): it asks only for your email address and the request number from your application receipt, plus a reCAPTCHA. On GDRFA Dubai's Status Tracking tool, choose Application instead of File: it asks for the application number, the transaction number and the payment date, all of which appear on the receipt issued when the application was submitted. Once the visa is issued, switch to the validity check above.

Checking for a fine on the file

Both authorities keep the fines lookup separate from the validity check. ICP's Fines Inquiry service asks you to search by Emirate Unified Number, File No., Emirates ID Number or Passport Information, choose Residency or Visa, then supply your nationality, date of birth and gender. GDRFA Dubai's Fines Inquiry Service works the same way, by File Number, UDB Number, Emirates ID or Passport Number, plus the file type (Resident or Permit), the emirate that issued it, your date of birth and gender. Either tool tells you whether anything is owed on a specific file; it does not explain the current daily rate, any grace period, or how to settle it, which our separate guide to UAE overstay fines covers in full.

Work permits: checking with MOHRE

A work permit is a different document from the residence or entry permit ICP and GDRFA handle, and it sits with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE), for private-sector mainland employment. MOHRE's own enquiry portal, inquiry.mohre.gov.ae, lists "Work Permit" as one of its service categories; inside it, "Electronic Work Permit Information" asks only for the transaction number from the permit application. This tells you the permit's own status, not the employee's residence visa, which is still checked separately through ICP or GDRFA Dubai depending on the emirate. Free zone employment runs through the relevant free zone authority rather than MOHRE, so confirm which applies before searching.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check my UAE visa status?

Through the authority that issued it. For Dubai, use GDRFA Dubai's Visa Status service at smart.gdrfad.gov.ae, by your file number. For Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah or Fujairah, use ICP's File Validity service at smartservices.icp.gov.ae, by passport number or file number. Neither requires you to sign in.

How can I check my UAE visa status by passport number?

ICP's File Validity service accepts a plain passport number, its expiry date and your nationality, for visas issued outside Dubai. GDRFA Dubai's main Visa Status tool instead asks for your file number; its separate Fines Inquiry and Unified Number services do accept a passport number.

How do I check a Dubai visa status?

Use GDRFA Dubai's Status Tracking tool at smart.gdrfad.gov.ae, choose File, and enter your first name as it appears on your passport, your file number, your nationality and your date of birth. The file number is printed on the visa itself.

What is an ICP visa status check?

It is ICP's File Validity service, under Public Services at smartservices.icp.gov.ae, for entry permits and residence visas issued in any emirate other than Dubai. You search by passport information or by file number, and the result shows the file's status and its issue and expiry dates.

How do I check my UAE visit visa status?

The same two services cover a visit visa as any other entry permit: GDRFA Dubai's Visa Status tool for a Dubai-issued visit visa, by file number, or ICP's File Validity service for one issued elsewhere, by passport number or file number, with "Visa" selected as the file type.

How do I check my UAE visa validity, or its expiry date?

Run the File Validity check (ICP) or Visa Status check (GDRFA Dubai) for the visa. The result gives the issue and expiry dates GDRFA or ICP hold on file, which is more reliable than counting the days yourself.

Plan ahead

A validity check is often the first step before deciding what comes next: extending a visit visa, changing it by exiting and re-entering, or simply booking the return flight with confidence. Browse our UAE visa services for the visit visa and visa change options we arrange, see our guide to extending a UAE visit visa if the current one is running out, or talk to us about your dates. If you would rather we look for you, our free UAE visa check confirms a visa's validity within 24 hours and sends WhatsApp and email reminders before it expires.

Related guides

• UAE visa guide: types, rules and status check
• UAE visit visa extension: process and deadlines
• UAE overstay fines: rates, grace periods and how to pay
• UAE transit visa: 48 and 96 hour permits

Last checked 9 October 2026 against ICP's File Validity, Fines Inquiry and Application Tracking services at smartservices.icp.gov.ae, GDRFA Dubai's Status Tracking, Fines Inquiry Service and Unified Number Inquiry Service, GDRFA Dubai's service page for the single-entry tourist visa, MOHRE's inquiry.mohre.gov.ae, and u.ae's pages on tracking a visa application and validity, types of visas, and visa fees and fines. This guide is general information, not immigration advice. Confirm your own visa's status directly with ICP, GDRFA Dubai or our team before you travel.