Visas & immigration
Entry permits, visit visas and residence — the difference
Three things people call a visa, doing three different jobs. Getting the vocabulary right is not pedantry — it decides which process you are actually in.
What it is
Who this is actually for.
An entry permit is authorisation to enter the country for a defined purpose — employment, residence, a mission, a job search. A visit or tourist visa permits a short stay without the right to work or reside. A residence visa is the stamped permission to live here, issued after entry, after the medical and alongside the Emirates ID. The sequence for a new resident is: entry permit, arrival or status change, medical fitness test, Emirates ID biometrics, residence stamped. Each step gates the next and none can be run out of order.
The vocabulary matters because different rules attach at each stage and the wrong assumption is expensive. Someone on a visit visa is not permitted to work, however informal the arrangement. An entry permit has its own expiry, distinct from the residence it leads to, and lapsing it means starting again rather than continuing. A residence has a grace period on cancellation which a visit visa does not. When somebody says their visa is being processed, the useful question is which of the three they mean, because the answer determines whether they can open a bank account, sign a lease, enrol a child, or lawfully invoice anybody.
The conditions, precisely
- Entry permit
- Authorises entry for a defined purpose; has its own expiry
- Visit or tourist visa
- Short stay; no work, no residence rights
- Residence visa
- Stamped permission to live here; issued after entry
- Order
- Entry permit → medical → Emirates ID → residence
- Status change
- Substitutes for exit and re-entry where available
- Grace period
- Attaches to residence, not to visit visas
How long it takes
The sequence
How it runs, in order.
- Identify which document you actually holdThe rights attached to each differ substantially, and so do the deadlines.
- Watch the entry permit's own expiryIt is distinct from the residence and lapsing it restarts the process.
- Do not work on a visit visaNot informally, not while paperwork is pending. It is a violation for both parties.
- Complete the residence sequence in orderMedical, then biometrics, then stamping. Each gates the next.
- Confirm what each counterparty needsBanks, landlords and schools have different requirements about which stage is sufficient.
Related
Questions
No. An entry permit authorises you to enter; the residence visa is issued afterwards, inside the country, once the medical and Emirates ID are done.
No. Working before the work permit is issued is a violation for you and for the employer.
It carries its own validity, and entering after it expires is not possible — a new one must be issued.
Often not. Status change performs the same function in-country where it is available.
One question
Where has this actually got stuck?
Then the order is the thing to get right: entry permit, medical, Emirates ID, then stamping. Each gates the next and none can be run early. Most delay comes from starting a step before the one before it finished.
The sequence, explainedOr just ask usAn overstay, an uncancelled previous visa or an absconding report will each freeze everything until resolved, and they are cleared at source by different routes. The block is rarely held by whoever delivered the bad news.
What blocks a fileOr just ask usCancel properly rather than letting it lapse. An uncancelled visa stays active on the record, blocks the next employer's permit, and leaves the company carrying a liability it will find at renewal.
Cancelling properlyOr just ask us