GDRFA Fines and Non-Compliance: What You Need to Know

In February 2026 the UAE unified its visa overstay penalty at AED 50 per day across all emirates and all visa types, replacing the old patchwork of rates that differed between visit and residence visas. It is a simpler regime, but simplicity cuts both ways: the fine now starts accruing cleanly and automatically, and in our PRO work we see the bills land on people who genuinely believed they were still within their grace period. The legal foundation is Federal Decree-Law No. 29 of 2021 on the Entry and Residence of Foreigners and its Executive Regulations under Cabinet Resolution No. 65 of 2022, with the fine schedules administered by ICP federally and by GDRFA for Dubai-issued visas.

How the AED 50 daily fine actually accrues

The rate is flat, but the start date is not the same for everyone. Visit and tourist visa holders now receive no additional grace — the meter starts the day after the visa expires, and the old buffer days that many travellers relied on have gone. Residence visa holders get a grace period after expiry or cancellation, and the fine only begins once that window closes. Where an overstay runs long, the authorities will in practice also require an exit permit — typically around AED 250 — before departure, on top of the accumulated daily fines.

Grace periods: 30, 60, 90 or 180 days depending on category

The grace period attached to a cancelled or expired residence visa depends on the holder's category, and the authorities grant it at their discretion under the Executive Regulations:

The question clients ask most is "which band am I in?" — and the honest answer is that you should never guess. The classification depends on how your file is coded, and the only reliable confirmation is a status check on ICP Smart Services or, for Dubai files, the GDRFA Dubai portal. The u.ae official portal sets out the general provisions if you want the framework in the government's own words.

A worked example

Take a standard employment case we see in some form most months. An employee's residence visa is cancelled on 1 March 2026 when his contract ends. His category carries a 30-day grace period, which runs to 31 March. He stays on hunting for a new role, does not secure one, and finally books a flight out on 16 May. From 1 April to 16 May inclusive is 46 chargeable days; at AED 50 per day that is AED 2,300 in overstay fines, plus roughly AED 250 for the exit permit — call it AED 2,550 before he boards. Had he checked his file in early April and either exited or had a new sponsor file a status change, the bill would have been zero. If a new job was genuinely in the pipeline, the cleaner route is a work permit application lodged inside the grace window — our guide to the UAE work permit process and costs covers the timeline.

Absconding reports, false reports and fictitious employment

Overstay fines are the mild end of non-compliance. An absconding report — filed by an employer through MOHRE and reflected in the immigration system — flags a worker as having abandoned employment, and its consequences for the worker include arrest risk, deportation and entry bans, which we unpack in our guide to the UAE labour ban. What employers often underestimate is the liability flowing the other way. Filing a false absconding report attracts a fine of AED 5,000, and the authorities have become noticeably more willing to test whether a report was genuine — a pattern we see constantly is a report filed in the heat of a dispute that later collapses and rebounds on the company file. More serious still is fictitious employment: under Article 60 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations, hiring workers in a fictitious manner — including sham Emiratisation hires — carries a fine of AED 100,000 to AED 1,000,000, multiplied by the number of workers involved, with prosecution initiated at the Minister's request. Sponsors also remain responsible for cancelling visas promptly when employment ends; unpaid fines and unresolved reports sit on the establishment's immigration file and will block new work permits, which is why keeping the company file clean is a core part of the MOHRE services work we do for clients.

How to check and pay — and the airport trap

Both portals let you check accrued fines against a passport or file number and pay online by card; Amer centres handle Dubai files in person, and typing centres can process ICP payments in the other emirates. Fines can also be settled at the airport on departure, but in practice this is where things go wrong. Airport fine counters do not always sync same-day online payments, so a fine paid at 9am can still show as outstanding at the immigration desk that evening. Our standing advice, learned the hard way alongside clients:

• Pay online at least 48 hours before flying, and carry the payment receipt
• Re-run the status check after payment to confirm the fine shows as cleared
• If you renewed your passport recently, check fines against the old passport number too — a broken passport link can hide an accruing fine entirely

One further edge case: if your renewal was submitted before expiry and the file shows "under process", fines should not accrue while the authority holds it — but keep the submission receipt, because it is your proof if the dates are ever questioned.

Whether it's an overstay bill you didn't expect, an absconding report you need to resolve, or a company immigration file that's blocking new hires, Auxilium's PRO team deals with GDRFA, ICP and MOHRE daily. Contact us and we'll help you resolve outstanding fines and reports through the official channels.