UAE over the recent years is witnessing an increasing number of expat workers in the country making above 90% of the country’s population occupied by the expat citizens.
The increased number of visitors to the UAE also helped the economy of the country and there are a huge number of overseas visitors to Dubai alone on the tourist Visas.
What is E-channel Immigration system?
In order to manage the increasing number of Visa applications and soothe the procedure of applications, the UAE Government has introduced E – Channel Immigration system helping the people to carry out their applications of Visa and residence online without the need to physically visit the Visa centers and this system is undertaken by General Directorate Of Residence And Foreign Affairs.
E-channel immigration system is launched as a part of the mission “Smart services with future vision”. The ministry in collaboration with the Tahaluf Al Emarat Technical Solutions has developed this online portal to initiate ease in application procedures of Visa and naturalization among individuals, businesses, and companies.
The most astounding feature of this online immigration system is that both individuals and businesses can proceed with their applications of Visa and residence using a single online portal without the need of any hard copies of the documents during the process as the whole procedure including the payment can be carried out online.
Registration process
The main purpose behind the launch of E-channel immigration System is to integrate all the application services like establishment service, employment Visa, residence Visa and renewal process for the companies under one online portal.
So, in order to utilize the services offered by this online portal, one needs to get registered to this site and below stated are various steps involved in the registration process
- If you are a free zone entity, then you must include all the free zone details as your login credentials. To do this first you have to get registered with the portal using free zone agents or other typing centers.
- You can also start the process of registration by visiting the E channel website and choose either establishment or individual option followed by clicking the registration button.
- As soon as you click on the registration button, your email id details will be asked and once you provide email id, the details regarding your complete registration process will be sent to your email.
- After receiving the mail of confirmation from the Ministry Of Interior, you need to click on the “ Complete Registration “ link to complete your registration process and create your profile accordingly.
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Services provided
Being the most amicable mode of dealing with applications, E channel provides the following services
Individual services
Individual services are the services offered to UAE residents, citizens and to the visitors of UAE.
They include
- Allowing UAE Nationals to apply for sponsored individual services.
- Allowing residents to apply for new services, renewal or cancellation of services.
- Allowing GCC Nationals to apply for sponsored individual services.
- Allowing GCC residents to apply for a new Visa permit.
- Allowing visitors to apply for a new Visa permit.
Documents required to be attached for individual services
- Sponsored passport with a minimum validity of 6 months.
- Original medical report
- Sponsors passport
- Insurance card
- Health insurance
- Colored photograph
- Copy of trade license
Note: The attachment size should not exceed 2MB.
Establishment services
In order to have access to this service and proceed with the registration process, one must have a commercial license issued and which is valid for the establishment in the UAE.
Establishment services are the services designed to help public and private institutions with their transactions.
The establishment services usually include
- Applying for visas and residencies related to establishments.
Documents to be attached for establishment services
- Sponsored passport with a validity of 6 months.
- Original medical report.
- Insurance card.
- Colored photograph.
Note : Attachments size should not exceed 2 MB.
Typing center services
Typing center services include
- Providing the establishment card and other services
Documents to be attached for typing centers
- Sponsored passport with validity of 6 months
- Original medical report.
- Sponsors passport.
- Insurance card.
- Colored photograph.
Note : The attachment size should not exceed 2 MB.
How the E-channel immigration works?
- To avail the services of the E-channel immigration system, one should first select the service to which he wants to get registered. After selecting the service, the user needs to click the registration button followed by entering a valid email id in the next page.
- After entering the mail id, the link to complete the registration process will be sent to the mail id.
- Once you are done with the registration, the logged in users can utilize the eSmart services to start submitting the new applications and to initiate new service requests.
- From the smart services drop-down list that appears you can select the module, service, sub service and the service action that has to be performed.
- In order to submit a new service request, you have to click on the start service button. After that fill the details in the new service request form that appears.
- As soon as you fill the details, you will be moved to the next step of uploading the required attachments for the service request where the required documents are to be uploaded.
- Now before moving on to the payment step, you can review the application and check if any modifications are to be made.
- The next step is payment of the application and this can be done via credit card.
- After the payment is done, a confirmation message will get displayed on the screen and after each registration process, the user will be sent a message to the phone and email id.
Fees and charges involved
| Service | Fees |
| New application request | AED 2,300 |
| Security deposit | AED 5,025 |
| E-Services fees | AED 5,025 |
| MOI fees | AED 22 |
| Electronic payment fees | AED 98 |
| Typing fees | AED 150 |
Benefits of E-Channels Immigration
- With the help of the E-channel immigration system, all the Visas and resident permit applications can be applied online without the hassle of visiting the immigration office.
- All the required documents for the application process like passports, IDs can be scanned and uploaded to the online portal without the need to provide the hard copies of the documents.
- From the application of visa and residence to the payment of fees, everything is done online.
- In addition to all these, you can check and keep track of your visa application even by sitting at your home.
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E channel immigration is a progressive step taken by the UAE government and the E Smart services are certainly one of the best ways that might aid you with a variety of immigration services.