I thought I’d write about my own experiences of applying for VISA for Dubai as an Indian national and applying for Indian VISA for my fiance’s family who are all British. I couldnt find much information on official embassy websites so I had to figure my own way out. I found other people’s posts on discussions boards really useful and hopefully this information can help someone one day.

VISAs for Dubai:

Dont call up the UAE embassy on their premium number where you have to pay per minute and I only got an automated answering machine! urgh. 

If you fly Emirates Airlines, they process a VISA for you. However, they need 10 working days not including the day it takes for you to post your documents to them and the day it takes for them to post it back. 

Another alternative is to get the Hotel to sponsor you. I called up a lot of hotels in Dubai and most of them were not able to do this for me. One of the hotels (Marco Polo Hotel, I think) said they sponsor VISAs but only if I am a corporate client. I read on one of the travel discussion boards that someone had stayed at the Hyatt and they processed a VISA for a Jamaican. So my fiance and I bought our flight tickets to Dubai and booked four nights at the Hyatt (which is ridiculously three times more expensive than a normal hotel). They called us back the next day to say that they could not process the VISA for me as I’m under the age of 30 and not married to my British partner. We faxed them a copy of our Certificate of Approval to get married from the Home Office and the Southwark Registrar’s confirmation that we will legally get married this 8th of August. I think it helped a little bit because they said they submitted my documents to immigration. I’m really glad that we registered our wedding date in time for our travel plans. We will hear back from them on wednesday. If it doesnt work out, you can always cancel your hotel reservations 24 hours before arrival and you can postpone your flight. The VISA costs 400 Dhiram which is about 55 pounds and they take a further guarantee of 500 pounds which they refund when you leave. You have to ensure you stay at their hotel during the entire duration of your trip as they are ’sponsoring’ you. 

VISAs to India

I’ve been doing the paperwork for my fiance’s family to come to India with us to celebrate our engagement. We couldnt find much information on the Indian embassy website but there was an option to submit the application online. I decided to wake up early and go to the Indian embassy at Aldwych. Its right near the BBC office. Ensure that you arrive before 8.30 AM because the line is very long. After standing in line for a while, I saw a sign that says that the VISAs are not given at the Indian embassy, it operates from two offices in Old Street and at Victoria. I took the bus to Old Street, only to find that the systems are down. I’m not sure if the systems are working again. I finally ended up at Victoria around 10 and had to take a slip with a number and stand in line to submit my forms. I was also given a new form to sign as they only had an older form on the internet to download. Dont panic if you do not have the signatures on the new form. I actually saw someone forge signatures but since Im going to be a lawyer, I really dont want to do anything illegal. You can simply fill the new form and attach the old form at the back. They are quite understanding. 6 hours later, my number was finally called and I submitted all the passports. The wait can be even longer so after getting your piece of paper with the number of your position in the line, you can go for lunch/coffee/bookstore/shopping. The VISA costs 30 pounds but the service charge is 9 pounds. You can pay in cash or by credit card or debit card. They check all your documents and give you a yellow reciept which has a tracking number. VISAs usually take 48 hours to process and you can check on the internet when your VISA is ready for collection. You simply enter your passport number on the website address given on the yellow receipt. I submitted the passports on friday, the 4th of July and it was ready for collection today, tuesday the 8th of July. The collection time is from 11 AM- 2 PM. Due to my past experiences, I arrived really early and had to spend some time stalling around. At around 10.45 AM, you can go to the 1st floor and ask the official for a slip of paper for collecting passports. You then proceed to the 2nd floor and wait in line. It only took me about 30 minutes this time to collect the passports but it may be because I was one of the firsts to arrive. They hand your passport back to you in brown envelopes and take the yellow receipt. You can insist on photocopying the receipt if you need to prove the 39 pounds you paid. 
Hope that was useful. I wish the world had no VISAs, but then again, the world would be maniac!

Oh, I almost forgot, the comments above are my personal experiences and are not to be relied on. I only intend for them to be taken as a useful idea of how the VISA process works and how long it takes. 

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