JAKARTA - The United Arab Emirates made eligible Filipino passport holders qualified for visa-on-arrival access on June 25, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said in a June 24 advisory.
The facility applies to Filipino citizens travelling on Philippine passports with a valid visa, residence permit or Green Card issued by the United States, European Union member states, Australia, Japan, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Canada or New Zealand, according to the DFA advisory reported by the government-run Philippine News Agency.
Eligible travellers may choose between two visa-on-arrival options. A 14-day visa costs AED100 and may be extended once for another 14 days for AED250. A 60-day visa costs AED250 and is not extendable, according to the DFA details carried by Philippine news outlets citing the advisory.
“The visa-on-arrival privilege extended to Filipino citizens by the UAE was in view of the excellent bilateral relations between the Philippines and the UAE,” the DFA said.
The arrangement does not, however, create blanket visa-free entry for all Philippine passport holders. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs list still categorises the Republic of the Philippines among countries requiring visas.
The policy affects a major Filipino labour and family-travel corridor. The Philippine Statistics Authority said 2.19 million overseas Filipino workers worked abroad in 2024. The UAE accounted for 12.4 percent of the total, ranking second after Saudi Arabia at 21.9 percent.
The corridor also carries economic weight for the Philippines. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data show cash remittances from overseas Filipinos in the UAE reached USD522.7 million from January to April 2026, up from USD498.7 million in the same period of 2025.
