The United Arab Emirates woke up to scenes more typical of a South-Asian monsoon than a Gulf winter on Saturday, 20 December 2025. A slow-moving low-pressure system unleashed 75-120 mm of rain over large parts of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and the Northern Emirates in less than 18 hours, the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) confirmed. Flash-flooded streets left motorists stranded, while video clips of submerged Sheikh Zayed Road dominated social media feeds. Dubai Police urged residents to stay indoors unless travel was essential, and municipal teams deployed tanker trucks to pump water from critical junctions.
Aviation was the first business-mobility casualty. Dubai-based Emirates and several foreign carriers cancelled or delayed dozens of departures after standing water closed two taxiways at Dubai International Airport (DXB) for almost four hours during the morning peak. Passengers reported immigration queues in Terminal 3 stretching into the retail concourse as Smart-Gate e-channels intermittently went offline. Sharjah International diverted three inbound flights to Muscat and Doha, while Abu Dhabi International advised travellers to arrive “not less than four hours before departure.”
At times like these, having a flexible, digital-first visa partner becomes invaluable. VisaHQ’s UAE portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) lets companies and individual travellers submit, track and amend visa applications online, and its customer-care team can quickly re-book biometric appointments or courier renewed passports when sudden weather or operational closures disrupt plans.
![UAE battered by rare torrential rains; airports, roads and visa processing face major disruption]()
Road freight and business commuting were equally affected. Heavy goods vehicles bound for Jebel Ali Free Zone were re-routed via Emirates Road after parts of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road became impassable, delaying just-in-time deliveries for electronics and automotive firms. Free-zone authorities activated remote-work protocols, and several multinational employers—including DHL, Microsoft Gulf and Nestlé Middle East—switched client meetings to video calls.
Beyond immediate inconvenience, the storm exposed systemic gaps in contingency planning for the UAE’s growing expatriate population. Many residence-visa holders reported that appointments at General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) centres were automatically rescheduled, but biometric sessions for new work permits were simply cancelled. Immigration advisers warned that missed slots could push onboarding of new hires into early January, compounding end-of-year head-count targets.
For mobility managers the take-away is clear: severe weather—even in a desert hub—can ripple through every stage of cross-border travel, from flights and last-mile ground transport to immigration appointments and payroll start dates. Global mobility teams are urged to review business-continuity plans, ensure travellers have travel-insurance clauses covering “acts of nature,” and keep contingency inventory of dated entry permits in case electronic visas expire while assignees are stuck abroad.
Aviation was the first business-mobility casualty. Dubai-based Emirates and several foreign carriers cancelled or delayed dozens of departures after standing water closed two taxiways at Dubai International Airport (DXB) for almost four hours during the morning peak. Passengers reported immigration queues in Terminal 3 stretching into the retail concourse as Smart-Gate e-channels intermittently went offline. Sharjah International diverted three inbound flights to Muscat and Doha, while Abu Dhabi International advised travellers to arrive “not less than four hours before departure.”
At times like these, having a flexible, digital-first visa partner becomes invaluable. VisaHQ’s UAE portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) lets companies and individual travellers submit, track and amend visa applications online, and its customer-care team can quickly re-book biometric appointments or courier renewed passports when sudden weather or operational closures disrupt plans.
Road freight and business commuting were equally affected. Heavy goods vehicles bound for Jebel Ali Free Zone were re-routed via Emirates Road after parts of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road became impassable, delaying just-in-time deliveries for electronics and automotive firms. Free-zone authorities activated remote-work protocols, and several multinational employers—including DHL, Microsoft Gulf and Nestlé Middle East—switched client meetings to video calls.
Beyond immediate inconvenience, the storm exposed systemic gaps in contingency planning for the UAE’s growing expatriate population. Many residence-visa holders reported that appointments at General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) centres were automatically rescheduled, but biometric sessions for new work permits were simply cancelled. Immigration advisers warned that missed slots could push onboarding of new hires into early January, compounding end-of-year head-count targets.
For mobility managers the take-away is clear: severe weather—even in a desert hub—can ripple through every stage of cross-border travel, from flights and last-mile ground transport to immigration appointments and payroll start dates. Global mobility teams are urged to review business-continuity plans, ensure travellers have travel-insurance clauses covering “acts of nature,” and keep contingency inventory of dated entry permits in case electronic visas expire while assignees are stuck abroad.
