I particularly found it important to write this article because I myself struggled a lot to understand the process and now that I have got my Parents' Visa , I want to share my experience with you.
At a high level, there are 4 steps to getting a residency visa stamped on the passport viz.
1) Obtaining an Entry Permit - It is an electronic visa that allows parents to enter the country of United Arab Emirates. This is the very first and the most important step in getting a Residency visa for parents. All the required documents by the UAE government have to be submitted at this step itself. It may take upto 1 to 2 weeks to obtain an entry permit approval after you submit all your documents. After getting approval, you need to make a refundable security deposit of 2500 AED per parent in order to get the actual entry permit (Note: This security deposit gets refunded only after you cancel the Residency visa for your parents).
Pro Tip: Usually the committee which approves the Humanitarian visas sits every Thursday and for you to increase your chances of getting an Entry Permit within 1 week, try to submit the documents by Monday or Tuesday, so that the same can be reviewed by the committee on Thursday of the same week.
Alternatively, you can bring your parents on the Tourist Visa and while they are inside the UAE, you can apply for the Entry Permit followed by a Change Status request. Opting for this option will certainly cost you more (~ 1100 AED extra per parent) because Entry Permits have got different costs for In-Country and Out-Country and there is also a cost involved for Change Status Request.
You get 60 days to complete other 3 steps after your parents enter the UAE.
2) Getting Medical Test - The second step in the process is to get the Medical Test done. This is an important requirement where your parents need to undergo a blood and X-ray test to screen for communicable diseases such as hepatitis, HIV and Tuberculosis. The report for this comes within 24 hours and is valid for 3 months.
3) Doing Bio-metrics for Emirates ID - The third step in the process is to do the Bio-metrics where finger prints and eye prints are taken to issue an Emirates ID. Emirates ID is an identity document issued to all the Residency Visa Holders and Citizens of the UAE. It usually takes around 7-10 days to receive an Emirates ID by post and you need to apply for the Visa stamping within 10 days of typing an application for the Emirates ID.
Usually, there is a good waiting period for getting an appointment for Bio-metrics and Visa stamping process gets completed before you even appear for Bio-metrics. This is completely fine as Visa stamping can be done purely based on the application of Emirates ID.
4) Visa stamping on the passport - The final step in the process is to get the visa stamped on your parents' passport. This usually gets done within 1-2 days in a fast-track process. In a normal process, it might take upto 8-10 days. So, you can choose whatever option suits you, depending upon the urgency of getting a visa stamped.
Update: Since April 11 2022, residency applications have been unified and residents do not need to go through separate processes for visa and Emirates ID. Emirates ID has replaced the visa sticker stamped on to passport. This holds true for all other Emirates except for Dubai. For Dubai, you still need to get a visa stamped on the passport.
Documents Required:
Entry Permit:
- Salary Certificate- You need to have a minimum salary of 20000 AED to sponsor your parents and a valid salary certificate needs to be produced to reflect the same.
- Tenancy Contract - In Dubai, you need to have a minimum 2 bedroom apartment to sponsor parents and a tenancy contract (Ejari) needs to be produced to reflect the same.
- Sponsor's Passport Copy
- Sponsor's Visa
- Sponsor's original Emirates ID
- Parents' Passport Copy
- Parents' digital photo
- Sworn Affidavit - This is an affidavit stating that you are the sole support for your parents and there is no one to take care of them back home. You can get it done at IVS global services in Oud Metha Business Atrium building within 2-3 hours and it costs around 115 AED per parent. Sponsor's passport, visa , Emirates ID and parents' passport are needed as documents for this.
- Personal Bank Account Statement - This is a sponsor's bank account statement reflecting his personal details and stamped by the bank. So, online statements wouldn't be accepted in this.
All the above mentioned documents have to be given to the typing center which will then raise an application on your behalf to get you an entry permit.
Medical Test:
- Parents' Passport
- Parents' Entry Permit
- Parents' digital photo with white background
- Medical application typed by a typing center
Bio-metrics for Emirates ID:
- Parents' Passport
- Parents' Entry Permit
- Parents' digital photo with white background
- Sponsor's original Emirates ID
- Application for Emirates ID typed by a typing center
- Medical Test Result
Visa Stamping:
- Parents' Passport
- Parents' Entry Permit
- Parents' digital photo with white background
- Application for Visa Stamping typed by a typing center
- Application for Emirates ID typed by a typing center
Cost:
Entry Permit:
500 AED - Typing Center (For people outside UAE)
2500 AED - Security Deposit
114 AED - Typing Center (For depositing security amount)
OR
~1600 AED - Typing Center (For people inside UAE. This is the combined amount for Entry Permit and Change Status)
2500 AED - Security Deposit
114 AED - Typing Center (For depositing security amount)
Medical Test:
315 AED - Typing Center
40 AED - Medical Center
Emirates ID:
170 AED - Typing Center (Cost for 1 year)
200 AED - Typing Center (Top-up cost for 2 Additional years)
Visa Stamping (*):
365 AED - Typing Center (Cost for 1 year)
OR
565 AED - Typing Center (Cost for 3 years)
Usually, the visa for parents is approved for only 1 year, irrespective of what the sponsor's visa validity is. But in some scenarios, Parents' visa also get approved for the same duration as that of the Sponsor's. You can save yourself a lot of money by trying out for extended validity of Parents' Visa. If you need any help regarding this or need assistance in Visa Application, you may reach out to me at rajat.gupta05@gmail.com
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