Do Icelandic passport holders need a visa for the UAE?
By Saurabh Pathare · Travel Writer, Tripmojo · Updated · Reviewed by Simran Raheja
No. Icelandic citizens do not need a visa for the UAE. Iceland is on the UAE’s list of countries whose ordinary passport holders are stamped with a free visit visa at the airport, with no application before travel, for up to 90 days within any 180-day period. Your passport must be valid for at least six months.
Quick facts
Visa-free- Visa required
- No, free visit visa stamped on arrival
- Length of stay
- Up to 90 days in any 180-day period
- Purpose covered
- Tourism, visiting family, business meetings
- Apply in advance
- No, nothing to file before you fly
- Passport validity
- At least 6 months
- Cost
- Free
Entry requirements
- An ordinary Icelandic passport valid for at least six months. Temporary and emergency passports are not accepted for travel to the UAE, and neither are travel documents other than a passport.
- A return or onward ticket. The UAE lists this as something every visitor should hold.
- Evidence of where you are staying and enough money for the visit, if the immigration officer asks.
- Stays must fit inside the cap: no more than 90 days in total within 180 days, counted from your first entry.
What happens on arrival
There is nothing to do before departure. No form, no fee and no online pre-approval applies to Icelandic passport holders.
At immigration in any UAE airport, present your passport and it is stamped with the visit visa. Note the entry date, because the 90-in-180 count starts from it.
The stamp covers a maximum of 90 days. Both MOFA pages describe the allowance as 90 days within a 180-day period and neither describes an extension of it, so plan around that limit. Anything longer is a matter for the ICP (icp.gov.ae) or GDRFA Dubai (gdrfad.gov.ae), not the airport.
Good to know
- The 90 days is a rolling cap, not a fresh allowance per trip. The UAE words it as 90 days within 180 days counted from the first entry, so a 60-day winter stay followed by a 40-day return inside the same six months is over the limit even though each trip on its own was fine. Count the days across trips.
- Iceland is not in the EU, and some UAE pages describe the 90-day group as EU or Schengen countries. That does not exclude you: the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists Iceland by name in the 90-day group, not in the 30-day group that covers Britain, Ireland, Australia and the United States. If a third-party site shows 30 days for Iceland it is wrong.
- An emergency or temporary passport is no use for the UAE. The MOFA page says holders of temporary and emergency passports are not eligible to travel there, so if your ordinary passport is lost or has under six months left, you need a full replacement before you fly, not the short-term document.
- Check the six months against the whole trip. The Hague mission counts passport validity from the date of departure from the UAE, not arrival, so a passport that scrapes past six months on the way in can fall short by the end of a long stay.
Frequently asked questions
Do Icelandic citizens need a visa for Dubai?
No. Iceland is on the UAE’s free visit-visa-on-arrival list, so Icelanders are stamped in at Dubai, Abu Dhabi or any other UAE airport without applying in advance.
How long can Icelanders stay in the UAE without a visa?
Up to 90 days within any 180-day period, counted from the date of first entry. The UAE does not describe an extension of this stamp, so the 180-day cap is the limit.
Is the UAE visa on arrival free for Icelandic passport holders?
Yes. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes it as a free entry visa, stamped into the passport at immigration, with no application before travel.
Does Iceland get 30 or 90 days in the UAE?
90 days. Iceland is listed with the Nordic, EU and Schengen countries in the 90-day group, not in the 30-day group that covers the UK, Ireland, Australia and the US.
Can I enter the UAE on an Icelandic emergency passport?
No. The UAE states that holders of temporary and emergency passports are not eligible to travel there. You need an ordinary passport valid for at least six months.
Do Icelanders need a visa to leave the airport during a layover in Dubai or Abu Dhabi?
No. The same free visit visa is stamped at immigration whether you are staying a week or a few hours between flights. A day entered counts as a day used for the 90-in-180 count, so note it.
Related pages
Other passports for the UAE
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against the official sources below on .
- UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassy in Oslo - Visas: Iceland is named among the countries whose ordinary passport holders, valid for at least 6 months, are granted a free entry visa for a maximum of 90 days; stay must not exceed 90 days within 180 days from first entry; temporary and emergency passports are not eligible. Read 2026-08-21.
- UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassy in The Hague - Visas: Iceland is listed among passport holders granted a free of charge visit visa on arrival, no application in advance, 90 days within a period of 180 days; passport validity 6 months from the date of departure; a valid return ticket is expected. Read 2026-08-21.
- u.ae (Official Portal of the UAE Government) - Tourist visa: a tourist visa is only for those not eligible for visa on arrival or visa-free entry. Read 2026-08-21.
Entry rules change without notice and the official source is always the authority. Confirm with the embassy or immigration portal before you book.
