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The Gulf Expat

My UAE visa was cancelled: what happens to my family's visas?

Your family's permits are linked to yours. If your visa is cancelled, theirs have to be cancelled too. Cancel their visas first, then yours, unless you arrange a guarantee.

Checked 7 November 2026

If this is you

You sponsor your spouse or children, and your own residence visa is ending or has been cancelled.

If you miss it

If you do not renew or cancel your dependants' visas, u.ae says you could be liable to pay a fine. It gives no amount.

Official page: ICP residence cancellation service. In Dubai, ask GDRFA Dubai at gdrfad.gov.ae.

What to do now

  1. List the expiry date of your own visa and each family member's visa.
  2. Ask your employer or sponsor which route they will use: cancel the family first, a hold, or a guarantee.
  3. Ask ICP or GDRFA which grace period covers your family before you fix a travel date. Until then, plan around the shortest period.
  4. If you are moving to a new employer, ask the new employer whether the guarantee route is open to you.
  5. Keep the cancellation receipts for every family member.

This also affects

How long your family can stay

Outside Dubai, ICP sets the grace period by group: 30 days for residents not in the longer groups. Longer periods apply to named groups. The grace period page lists each group.

u.ae says dependants get 6 months from the date of expiry or cancellation to obtain a new residence permit.

That differs from ICP's periods. The ICP card and u.ae do not say which one governs the family of an ordinary employee.

Plan around the shortest period. Ask ICP before you count days.

In Dubai, GDRFA's family renewal card states 60 days. Ask GDRFA which period applies to you.

Cancel your family's visas first

As the sponsor, you must cancel your dependants' visas before your own. ICP says family permits can be cancelled first, or put on hold for a limited period with fees.

The card gives no length for a hold and no fee. Ask ICP before you choose it.

Keeping your family's visas when yours ends

You can cancel your own permit and keep your family's permits only with a guarantee. The ICP card sets these conditions:

  • Your move to another employer has been approved.
  • You meet the salary and occupation conditions for every family member.
  • Your own permit is valid, or inside its legal grace period.
  • Each family member's permit is valid for at least three months.

Guarantee fees: AED 5,000 guarantee fee plus an AED 20 financial guarantee deposit fee.

Fees to cancel

ICP charges to cancel a residence permit: AED 50 application fee and AED 100 smart services fee, plus AED 100 if the exceptional cancellation route is used.

Outside Dubai, ICP's overstay fine after the grace period is AED 50 a day. In Dubai, ask GDRFA for the amount.

My residence visa has expired explains it.

If you are a divorced or widowed woman on your husband's visa

The UAE gives you an extension of one year on your residence visa. It starts from the date of your husband's death or the divorce.

It can be renewed once, and it needs no substitute sponsor. A condition: your visa and your children's visas were valid at the time of the death or the divorce.