Family Visa process for residents staying in hotel apartments

Following is the latest information on obtaining a family residence visa in Dubai for residents staying in hotel apartments. The documents requirements for expatriates who wish to bring their families to live in Dubai on new residence visa or renewal of existing remains same. While there is some procedures for tenancy contract in the case expatriate sponsor residing in hotel apartments.

Normal flat residents will be issued with an Ejari certificate from the Land Department that will have a serial number which will bear the details of the resident’s tenancy contract.


Legal procedure for Family visa application

Residents of hotel apartments in Dubai should submit their tenancy documents at the GDRFA-D, as the Land Department in Dubai is no longer issuing tenancy contract registration certificates or Ejari letters for such cases.

An Ejari customer service representative told that residents living in hotel apartments and wanting to sponsor a family member must submit their tenancy contracts, along with other required documents, for verification at the GDRFA Dubai.

Ejari only register tenancy contracts for residents of residential flats when they make visa application for a family member. Regarding the residents who live in hotel apartments they should submit their tenancy contract for verification at the GDRFA.

The applicant must also get a letter from the hotel stating that he is the tenant of a particular room at the hotel and is paying a specified yearly rent amount. The letter should have the hotel manager’s signature and should be sealed using the hotel’s official seal.

The forging and submitting of forged tenancy contracts registration certificates will be caught and be held legally responsible. Using fraudulent techniques to apply for visas to sponsor the relatives will generate legal action against the sponsor. The resident sponsor must posses a rented flat or own property so that they could supply the necessary papers in order to sponsor their relatives.

The Ejari programme in Dubai verifies the genuineness of the tenancy contracts and then issues tenancy contract registration certificates for the visa applicants. Ejari offices are available to you at the Residency and the Land departments as well as in a number of other branches across Dubai.

Penalty for forgery


According to article 217 of the Federal Penal Code, whoever forges an official document shall be sentenced to a period not exceeding five years in prison. According to article 121 of the Federal Penal Code, the courts, both Criminal and the Misdemeanours, may order the deportation of the accused, if found guilty, in forgery cases.