UAE Visit Visa Demand Report 2026: What 5,415 Applications Show

A quarter of all UAE visit visa applications processed through govr.ae come from Saudi Arabia: over ten times the number that come from inside the UAE. Between 1 May and 31 July 2026 we processed 5,415 UAE visit visa applications from 87 countries, 5,189 through this website and 226 through our mobile app. Half of them were for the shortest visa on offer.

What follows is our own application data, published in full. It is not a national statistic. It is what one licensed private platform sees, and as far as we can tell nobody has published a breakdown like it before.

What This Data Is, and What It Is Not

Every number here comes from applications submitted to govr.ae between 1 May and 31 July 2026: 5,415 applications across 87 countries. govr.ae is a licensed private visa platform (GOVR L.L.C F.Z, Meydan Free Zone licence 2528000.01), not a government body. You can verify our licence independently.

Three things to note up front:

• Two channels. Of the 5,415 applications, 5,189 arrived through this website and 226 through the govr.ae mobile app, available on the App Store and Google Play. The country and visa-type breakdowns below cover the 5,174 website applications recorded in our analytics. App applications are counted in the total but are not broken down.
• This is a sample, not a census. It shows who finds and uses one platform. Anyone who applied directly through ICP or GDRFA, or through a typing centre or travel agent, is not in it.
• No revenue figures appear here. Application counts and percentages only.

We are publishing it because the UAE visit visa market gets discussed constantly and almost never with numbers attached.

Where Do UAE Visit Visa Applicants Actually Come From?

Saudi Arabia, by a wide margin. It accounted for 1,315 of the 5,174 website applications, or 25.4%, nearly three times the next largest market.

The five GCC states together came to 2,032 applications, 39.3% of the total. Two in five UAE visit visas we issue go to someone living in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman or Bahrain.

That changes the picture of who the applicant is. UAE visit visa demand is usually discussed as long-haul tourism from Europe and Asia. In our data the largest group by far is people already in the Gulf, mostly expatriates living there on a residence permit while holding a passport that requires a UAE visa. For them it is a short regional trip, not a holiday flown in from another continent.

If that describes you, the 30-day visit visa for GCC residents is usually the relevant route. Eligibility turns on the profession printed on your residence permit, so it is worth checking whether your profession qualifies before you pay for anything.

Why Do So Few Applications Come from Inside the UAE?

Only 123 applications, or 2.4%, came from inside the UAE. Saudi Arabia outnumbers the UAE by 10.7 to one.

This was the figure that surprised us most. A UAE visa platform might reasonably be expected to serve residents arranging visas for visiting relatives. Almost nobody does. Applications come overwhelmingly from the traveller’s own country before departure, rather than from a host inside the Emirates.

If you are in the UAE arranging a visa for family abroad, you are in a very small minority, and the rules that apply depend on their passport rather than yours. Check the rules for your passport before assuming a visa is needed at all. A number of nationalities enter without applying.

Which UAE Visit Visa Do People Actually Buy?

The 14-day single entry: 2,591 of 5,173 website visas, or 50.1%. More than the other six types put together.

Public conversation about UAE visas leans heavily on the long options: the 5-year multiple entry tourist visa, the Golden Visa, long-stay residency. Our visit visa data says the opposite. The shortest and cheapest option is what most people buy, and it fits the Gulf-resident pattern above. A weekend from Riyadh or Doha does not need sixty days.

The 14-day single entry visa is the single most common choice. The 30-day single entry visa is second among non-GCC applicants, and the 96-hour transit visa accounted for 4.8%, a small but steady group breaking a long flight.

Single Entry or Multiple Entry?

Single entry outsells multiple entry by roughly nine to one: 69.8% against 7.6%. The rest is the GCC-resident category and transit.

Multiple entry is marketed hard across this industry, ours included. Most travellers do not need it, and the data shows most of them work that out. If you are making one trip, single entry is cheaper and correct. The 60-day multiple entry visa earns its extra cost only if you will genuinely come back inside its validity.

We would rather say that than sell you the wrong product.

What This Means If You Are Applying

• Living in the Gulf on a residence permit? Check the GCC-resident route first. It is 17.9% of the visas we issue and often the cheapest option open to you.
• Visiting for under two weeks? The 14-day single entry is what half of all applicants choose, and it is the least expensive.
• Do not buy multiple entry for one trip. It costs materially more and 92.4% of applicants do not take it.
• Not sure which visa you need? ICP and GDRFA are the official channels, and applying yourself costs only the government fee if you already know which visa applies and what it requires. What we add is the step before submission: we check your eligibility and every document, and flag problems while they are still fixable. Most refusals come from avoidable errors.

If you would rather we handled it, you can compare all UAE visit visa types and prices or apply online in a few minutes.

Source: govr.ae application records, 1 May to 31 July 2026. 5,415 applications in total (5,189 website, 226 mobile app) across 87 countries. Country and visa-type breakdowns based on the 5,174 website applications recorded in analytics. Published 3 September 2026.