A multi-country visa update published on 3 July by news portal Archynewsy confirms Kenya’s inclusion in the UAE’s visa-on-arrival (VoA) programme and codifies documentation tweaks for Indian, Filipino, South African, Thai and Vietnamese citizens. Kenyan travellers may now obtain a 30-day VoA at Dubai or Abu Dhabi airports provided their passport is valid for six months and they hold proof of onward travel. The same policy round granted pre-approved 14-day entry permits for qualified Filipino passport-holders (detailed separately) and tightened the evidence requirements for Indian nationals: return ticket and confirmed accommodation are now mandatory at the immigration desk. All changes took effect 1 March 2026 but were only formally consolidated into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ public guidelines in July.
![UAE widens visa-on-arrival list to Kenya and streamlines rules for multiple nationalities]()
If your organisation needs assistance navigating these evolving UAE entry policies, VisaHQ’s dedicated UAE portal offers real-time eligibility checks, application support, and automatic alerts on future amendments, helping travel coordinators keep teams compliant without administrative lag.
For businesses, Kenya’s addition is noteworthy: Nairobi–Dubai is a major logistics and tech corridor, and VoA removes a typical 5- to 7-day consular wait. Travel-policy teams should, however, update traveller briefings to reflect stricter document checks; failure to show a hotel booking can lead to refusal on arrival. The ICP also announced that the expanded VoA scheme will be reviewed quarterly and may be suspended for any nationality “in the event of security or public-health concerns,” echoing the temporary pauses applied to certain African states in 2022–23. Mobility managers should therefore continue to verify eligibility on the ICA Smart Services portal within 72 hours of departure. Airlines have integrated the new lists into Timatic, but manual overrides are still possible at check-in.
If your organisation needs assistance navigating these evolving UAE entry policies, VisaHQ’s dedicated UAE portal offers real-time eligibility checks, application support, and automatic alerts on future amendments, helping travel coordinators keep teams compliant without administrative lag.
For businesses, Kenya’s addition is noteworthy: Nairobi–Dubai is a major logistics and tech corridor, and VoA removes a typical 5- to 7-day consular wait. Travel-policy teams should, however, update traveller briefings to reflect stricter document checks; failure to show a hotel booking can lead to refusal on arrival. The ICP also announced that the expanded VoA scheme will be reviewed quarterly and may be suspended for any nationality “in the event of security or public-health concerns,” echoing the temporary pauses applied to certain African states in 2022–23. Mobility managers should therefore continue to verify eligibility on the ICA Smart Services portal within 72 hours of departure. Airlines have integrated the new lists into Timatic, but manual overrides are still possible at check-in.
