An ordinary passport from the People's Republic of China is all you need for a visit to Dubai. There is no visa to apply for: mainland Chinese visitors are admitted free of charge and may remain for 90 days, with every visit added together, during the 180 days that follow their first arrival. Make sure the passport has six months or more before it expires. If you want a day-by-day explanation of how those 90 days add up across several trips, our detailed guide for Chinese citizens walks through the arithmetic.
The 90-day allowance replaced an older 30-day arrangement, and China's diplomatic missions in the Emirates announced the change to Chinese travellers. Some travel websites and older booking guides still quote 30 days for mainland passports, so it's worth knowing that the longer allowance now applies.
Mainland, Hong Kong or Macao Passport?
Chinese families and business teams may travel on more than one kind of passport, and the UAE treats each one differently. For ordinary passports used on holidays, family trips and short business visits, the picture looks like this:
| Passport | Arranged in advance? | Stay on arrival |
|---|
| People's Republic of China, ordinary passport | No | 90 days within 180 days of first entry |
| Hong Kong SAR passport | No | 30 days |
| Macao SAR passport | No | 30 days |
The difference matters most when a family travels together. A parent on a mainland passport may stay three months, while a child or spouse holding a Hong Kong SAR passport has 30 days from the date stamped on arrival. If the trip is longer than a month, plan the dates around the shorter allowance, or arrange for the Hong Kong or Macao traveller to leave and return separately. According to UAE government guidance, those 30 days can be lengthened by another 10, which can bridge a short gap if the request goes in before the original stay ends.
Children's passports deserve a separate check. A mainland passport issued to a child under 16 is valid for five years rather than ten, so it can expire long before a parent's. If a child is flying with just one parent, or with grandparents, carry a consent letter in English signed by whichever parents are staying behind, with copies of their passports, because the UAE asks for written permission in those situations.
Pick one passport and stick with it: the same document should appear on the booking, at check-in in China and at both immigration counters in Dubai. Airlines transmit passenger data ahead of departure, so a booking that doesn't match the passport you're holding is an avoidable source of trouble.
Names on the Ticket
Chinese passports print the surname first, followed by the given name in pinyin. Booking sites in other languages sometimes reverse the order or join the two parts together, and airlines expect the ticket to match the passport. Enter the surname exactly as shown in the surname field, check the spelling of the pinyin given name, and fix any error before check-in, not at the counter. Children's names follow the same rule, so check each name in a family booking.
Buying Trips and Trade Fairs
If you're coming for trade rather than tourism, perhaps sourcing and selling at the wholesale markets around International City and Dragon Mart, meeting distributors from across the Middle East and Africa, or staffing a stand at one of the city's large exhibitions, you're still a visitor, and the 90-day allowance covers the trip. Keep your exhibitor confirmation or a list of the firms you're seeing to hand, in case an officer wants to know why you've come.
Regular traders need to watch the count. Every day on UAE soil is deducted from the 90, whether it's part of one long stay or a string of week-long trips, and the 180-day period runs from your first entry. Someone who flies in for ten days every month will use around 60 days in six months, which leaves room, but a trader who stays three weeks at a time can reach the limit sooner than expected. A note on your phone listing each entry and exit makes the count much easier.
Once the 90 days are used, the next visit has to wait until the 180-day period has run its course, so plan the final trip of each cycle with care. Overstaying the allowance leads to daily fines when you leave.
Cash and Samples at the Airport
Traders who pay suppliers in cash should know the declaration rule. Cash above AED 60,000, or its value in another currency, has to be declared to the UAE authorities when you arrive; the declaration can be made online or in the Afseh app, and it also covers precious metals, valuable stones and financial instruments. Declaring is straightforward; failing to declare is what causes trouble.
Product samples need similar thought. Personal luggage and gifts enter free of duty when their value stays within AED 3,000, the quantities aren't commercial, and the traveller isn't someone who regularly brings in goods. A suitcase of samples for buyers can fall outside that exemption, so keep invoices with them and be ready to declare them.
Running a business in Dubai is a different matter from visiting one. If your company asks you to manage a showroom, a warehouse or a sales office for months at a time, that is employment, and it needs a work and residence visa arranged by the employing company in the UAE before you start. The visit allowance is for buying, selling, meetings and exhibitions, not for taking up a job.
Travelling With Colleagues and Family on Other Passports
When a Chinese company sends a mixed team to Dubai, or a family includes a spouse or relative of another nationality, the passports need checking one by one. A colleague from Pakistan, the Philippines or Nigeria who works with you in Guangzhou or Yiwu must have a visa issued ahead of the trip, even though you don't.
Indian colleagues need particular care. Indian nationals can use a special entry route if they hold certain visas or residence permits from the United States, the United Kingdom, EU member states and a short list of other countries, but a Chinese residence permit is not one of them. Our guide to the routes for Indian passport holders explains which documents qualify.
For a colleague attending meetings or an exhibition, the 14-day business visa fits most short trips. For a relative joining a holiday, a 30-day single entry visa is usually enough; for someone staying alongside a longer business trip, a 60-day single entry visa allows the longer stay they'll need. Each listed price is final and already contains the government fee, and one application can include several travellers. We take payment on Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Discover cards only, which rules out a UnionPay card set up for domestic use.
Pick a visa long enough for their whole stay, and only go for multiple entry if they'll be leaving the Emirates and returning during the trip. With flights booked, start the visa application for your colleague or relative using a scan of the passport's data page and a recent photo, then track it with our online status checker until the approved visa lands in your inbox. Submit it a few weeks ahead rather than months ahead, since the window for entering, printed on every visa, can't be moved.
Visiting Relatives Who Live in Dubai
If you're visiting family who work in Dubai, their UAE residence doesn't change your own entry: you still arrive on the 90-day allowance, and the address of the relative you're staying with is all that the airline or immigration might ask about. Relatives who are residents can't extend your allowance, but they can sponsor longer family visits through their own residence if needed, subject to the UAE's conditions.
Travelling With a Tour Group
On a group tour from China, each traveller is admitted individually on their own passport, even though the tour leader handles the paperwork at check-in. Mainland passport holders in the group receive the 90-day allowance, while anyone holding a Hong Kong or Macao passport receives 30 days, and any member of another nationality needs their own visa. Their visas can all go into a single application through us. Tell the operator early if your passport is new or has changed since you booked, so the details on the group list match the document you'll carry.
Flying From China
Non-stop Emirates services link Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou with Dubai, and Chinese airlines add direct flights from other cities, so most travellers can reach Dubai without changing planes. Flights from other cities may connect through one of these gateways or through another Gulf hub; either way, the 90-day allowance applies only from the moment you pass immigration in the UAE.
Travel demand from China peaks around the Spring Festival in January or February and the National Day holiday that begins on 1 October. Flights and hotels fill early in both periods, and the October holiday falls while Dubai is still very hot, so plan outdoor sightseeing for the early morning and evening. Trips around the Spring Festival, by contrast, enjoy much milder weather.
Check the passport's expiry date before you book. Airlines in China check passport validity at the counter, and a passport with less than six months left is likely to be stopped there rather than in Dubai. Renewing early at your local exit-entry administration office can save a cancelled trip later.
Changing Planes in Dubai
Dubai is a natural stopover for journeys on to Africa, Europe or elsewhere in the Middle East. Remain airside and immigration never sees you, so the 90-day count is untouched. Step out into the city between flights, though, and you're admitted like any other visitor, with those days counting toward the allowance, which matters for traders who pass through Dubai often on their way to customers elsewhere.
Help in Chinese When Something Goes Wrong
Chinese citizens in the Emirates can turn to the embassy in the capital or the consulate general in Dubai for consular protection. A lost or stolen passport should be reported at a Dubai police station; take the police report to the consulate, which can issue a travel document for the journey home.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' global consular hotline, 12308, answers in Chinese around the clock. From abroad, dial +86 10 12308, or the backup line +86 10 6561 2308; the service can also be reached through the ministry's WeChat channels. Save the numbers before you leave, since a lost phone is often lost at the same time as a passport. A photo of your passport's data page, stored separately from the passport, speeds up an emergency travel document.
China's embassy and consulate also publish safety reminders for Chinese citizens in the UAE, and they have issued several this year. Read the latest one before you travel, and follow any guidance it gives on security precautions.
Staying Longer or Moving to Dubai
Ninety days in every 180 suits most visits, but it isn't designed for living in Dubai. Chinese professionals who move to the city for a job receive a residence visa through their employer and shouldn't start work until it's approved. Families can usually join once that residence is in place, subject to the sponsor's income. Investors, property owners and company founders have longer-term options too, which our overview of the Dubai Golden Visa sets out.
Enrolling at a UAE university means switching to a student residence visa, which the university sponsors and its admissions staff help arrange; the visit allowance isn't meant for study. Not sure which route suits you? Contact our visa team and describe your plans.
For most mainland Chinese travellers, preparation is simple: a passport with six months of validity, a ticket that matches it exactly, and a note of your entry dates if you visit often. If a colleague or relative with a different passport is joining you, get their application moving once the dates are settled.
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