Abu Dhabi Is Covering UAE Visa Costs For Some Indian Tourists. Here's How It Works

Planning a trip to the UAE this year? Maybe DCT Abu Dhabi can help you secure your entry visas. Here's everything you should know about the new scheme introduced by the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) that's active from August 1 to October 31, 2026, and will cover up to 20,000 visas.

However, there is a catch to it all. This isn't a blanket visa waiver.

Indian passport holders still need a UAE entry visa to travel, and the offer only applies to bookings that meet specific conditions, not to Indian citizens as a whole.

The offer is aimed at Indian passport holders flying out of India, and it only kicks in when the trip is booked as a package through a travel agency or online platform that DCT Abu Dhabi has signed on. Unfortunately, independent applications don't qualify.

To be eligible, the booking needs a return flight from India and a stay of at least three consecutive nights at an Abu Dhabi hotel, so a quick layover or a one-night stopover wouldn't count.

The visa itself normally costs AED285, about $77, and DCT Abu Dhabi is picking up that cost for every qualifying traveller, up to a ceiling of 20,000 visas. How the money moves depends on how the travel agency operates. Agencies working through a destination management company that DCT Abu Dhabi has appointed get the visa paid for upfront. Agencies that stick with their own existing DMC partners instead get reimbursed AED285 for each visa they issue under the programme.

"India continues to be one of our most important international markets, and we remain committed to working closely with our travel partners to make Abu Dhabi even more accessible for Indian travellers," said Abdulla Yousuf, DCT Abu Dhabi's director of international operations.

The programme follows a strong year for Indian arrivals. India was Abu Dhabi's largest international hotel source market in 2025, with 436,124 hotel guests, 13 percent of the total and a 22 percent increase over 2024. DCT has linked part of that growth to expanded air connectivity, including three new IndiGo routes and an Air India Express service. The visa offer builds on that, aimed at converting existing interest into longer, hotel-based stays instead of day trips from Dubai.

Abu Dhabi recorded 26.6 million total visitors in 2025, a record, with 5.9 million hotel guests and a 10 percent rise in international hotel arrivals. Hotel revenue grew 19.5 percent to AED9.1 billion. The visa programme sits within Abu Dhabi's Tourism Strategy 2030, which targets 39.3 million annual visitors and AED90 billion in annual tourism-linked economic output by 2030.

The offer is only useful if the trip already involves a multi-night Abu Dhabi hotel stay booked through the formal travel trade.

Confirm with the agency that the specific package qualifies and that the visa fee is being waived before paying. The programme also runs on a fixed allocation of 20,000 visas, so it could close out before October if uptake is high.