Border control at United Arab Emirates airports: what happens to travellers and their data

Arriving: the steps at the border

Arriving passengers at UAE airports go through passport control before baggage and customs. At Dubai the General Directorate of Identity and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA Dubai) handles entry and exit. It was formerly known as the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs ^2,4.

Travellers clear passport control at a staffed counter or at a smart gate. GDRFA Dubai's open data for 2025 lists 61,530,701 passengers and 26,374,304 smart gate transactions ².

In 2026 GDRFA Dubai piloted a mobile service called Click & Travel. Officers carry devices linked to GDRFA systems and check passengers by biometric verification in about 12 to 15 seconds. The first phase covers all departing passengers and arriving UAE citizens and residents. Gulf Business reported 31,373 transactions from the start of the pilot in May to 31 August 2026 ⁵.

Entry permission: visa on arrival and visas in advance

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sets which nationalities need a visa before travel. Gulf News reported in March 2024 that citizens of 87 countries could enter without a pre-entry visa and nationals of 110 countries had to get one before arrival ¹.

Eligible travellers get a 30-day entry visa on arrival with a 10-day grace period. Citizens of some countries get 90 days. Citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council states need no visa and can enter with a GCC passport or identity card ¹.

Indian citizens with ordinary passports can get a 14-day visa on arrival if they hold a US visit visa or green card, or a UK or EU residence visa valid for at least six months. The stay can be extended once by 14 days ¹.

Other visitors apply before travel. GDRFA Dubai lists services such as single-entry tourist visas and entry visas for residents of GCC states. Its site has a calculator for Schengen nationals that tracks days in the UAE within a 180-day period ². The Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) warns of fake calls and websites that use its name and logo. It tells people to use only its official smart services platform and app ¹¹. Visa fees were not confirmed for this guide.

Biometrics and smart gates

GDRFA Dubai installed 120 new-generation smart gates across all Dubai International terminals in 2018. Gulf News reported that the gates took a 3D scan of the face and checked it against a digital passport. That digital passport combined passport chip data with fingerprints, iris scans and face data. GDRFA said a crossing took nine to 20 seconds. Children under 15 used the staffed counters ⁴.

A 2022 Gulf News guide listed UAE and GCC nationals, UAE residents and visa-on-arrival nationalities as eligible for the Terminal 3 smart gates. Travellers under 15 or under 1.2 metres tall could not use them. The gates used face and iris recognition, with no exit stamp. Residents who had been outside the UAE for more than six months could not use them ³. These rules may have changed after 2022.

GDRFA Dubai's website offers a service to check the status of a smart gate registration ².

Passenger data and checks

Aviation Week reported in November 2015 that the UAE's advance passenger information system was going live at Dubai International. A General Civil Aviation Authority official said the system had been built in two years. Sharjah was due to follow in 2016 ⁶.

This guide could not find an official UAE page that sets out current API or PNR rules or names the agency that receives the data, as of 19 October 2026. The UAE did not appear in the summary of the ICAO Middle East regional seminar on API and PNR held in Cairo in June 2024 ¹².

GDRFA Dubai says its Click & Travel devices are linked to its systems and databases ⁵. Published sources reviewed here do not describe which watch lists UAE border systems check.

Your data: the federal law and its limits

Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data came into force on 2 January 2022. The official UAE government portal says it lets people ask for inaccurate data to be corrected and ask to restrict or stop processing ⁷. DLA Piper lists rights of access, portability, erasure and objection to automated decisions. It says controllers must reply within one month, extendable by two months ⁸.

A separate law, Federal Decree-Law No. 44 of 2021, created the UAE Data Office as federal data regulator ⁷. DLA Piper reported that the Data Office had not been set up and that the executive regulations were unpublished as of 6 January 2025 ⁸.

The law firm Addleshaw Goddard wrote in December 2021 that the law does not apply to government data or to government authorities that control or process personal data. It excludes personal data held by security and judicial authorities ⁹. On that reading, immigration records held by ICP or GDRFA sit outside it. Financial free zones such as DIFC and ADGM keep their own data protection laws ⁸.

Who runs the systems

ICP is the federal authority for identity, citizenship, customs and port security ^1,11. GDRFA Dubai runs entry and exit procedures and the smart gates at Dubai's airports ^2,4. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces the visa exemption list ¹. The General Civil Aviation Authority took part in building the advance passenger information system ⁶.

Official UAE sources reviewed for this guide do not name the contractors behind the smart gates or passenger data systems ^2,11.

Security screening on departure

Gulf News reported in August 2025 that each liquid container in hand luggage at Dubai International must hold no more than 100ml. Passengers can carry up to 10 such containers, one litre in total, in a clear bag ¹⁰.

Items barred from hand luggage include tools, scissors with blades longer than 6cm, firearms, ropes and toy weapons. Only one lighter is allowed. Medicines need a prescription ¹⁰.

Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths said in July 2025 that trials were under way with new Smiths Detection scanners. These could remove the need to take out liquids and laptops. No rollout date was given ¹⁰.