The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the U.S. Consulate-General in Dubai have confirmed that all public-facing services—including non-immigrant and immigrant visa windows, American-citizen services, and document legalisations—will be suspended from Wednesday 24 December through Friday 26 December 2025. Because the suspension straddles the regular UAE weekend (Saturday–Sunday) the net effect is a five-day shutdown, with normal operations resuming on Monday 29 December.
For mobility managers the timing is awkward: the missions usually open new blocks of non-immigrant visa interview slots every Friday morning. With Friday 26 December falling inside the closure period, no fresh appointments will be released this week. Applicants who were counting on the Friday drop—typically 300-400 slots across B-1/B-2, F-1 and H categories—will need to monitor the embassy’s social channels for ad-hoc “top-up” releases once staff return.
If tracking embassy slot releases and sudden closures feels like a full-time job, VisaHQ can step in: the company’s UAE platform (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) provides real-time appointment alerts, document pre-screening, and secure courier services for passport hand-offs, helping employers and individual travelers avoid surprises such as the 24–26 December shutdown.
![U.S. Embassy and Consulate in the UAE close for five-day Christmas break, pausing visa appointments]()
Corporate assignees already in the UAE awaiting passport return will not be able to collect visas until at least 29 December. Companies should therefore adjust on-boarding dates, travel insurance coverage and, where relevant, Dubai Municipality start-work notifications. Emergency assistance for U.S. citizens will continue via on-call duty officers, but routine consular envelopes left in drop-boxes will not be processed during the closure.
Practical tips: (1) reschedule biometrics or interview appointments that clash with 24-26 December immediately in the ustraveldocs portal; (2) warn travellers that the automatic visa-slot alert e-mails will also be paused; (3) if you need an expedited appointment in early January, prepare documentary evidence of business urgency now so it can be uploaded as soon as the expedites function re-opens next week.
The episode is a timely reminder that the U.S. diplomatic calendar follows both American and local public holidays, often resulting in multi-day closures that are longer than private-sector breaks. Mobility teams should build these black-out windows into hiring timelines for early 2026 assignments.
For mobility managers the timing is awkward: the missions usually open new blocks of non-immigrant visa interview slots every Friday morning. With Friday 26 December falling inside the closure period, no fresh appointments will be released this week. Applicants who were counting on the Friday drop—typically 300-400 slots across B-1/B-2, F-1 and H categories—will need to monitor the embassy’s social channels for ad-hoc “top-up” releases once staff return.
If tracking embassy slot releases and sudden closures feels like a full-time job, VisaHQ can step in: the company’s UAE platform (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) provides real-time appointment alerts, document pre-screening, and secure courier services for passport hand-offs, helping employers and individual travelers avoid surprises such as the 24–26 December shutdown.
Corporate assignees already in the UAE awaiting passport return will not be able to collect visas until at least 29 December. Companies should therefore adjust on-boarding dates, travel insurance coverage and, where relevant, Dubai Municipality start-work notifications. Emergency assistance for U.S. citizens will continue via on-call duty officers, but routine consular envelopes left in drop-boxes will not be processed during the closure.
Practical tips: (1) reschedule biometrics or interview appointments that clash with 24-26 December immediately in the ustraveldocs portal; (2) warn travellers that the automatic visa-slot alert e-mails will also be paused; (3) if you need an expedited appointment in early January, prepare documentary evidence of business urgency now so it can be uploaded as soon as the expedites function re-opens next week.
The episode is a timely reminder that the U.S. diplomatic calendar follows both American and local public holidays, often resulting in multi-day closures that are longer than private-sector breaks. Mobility teams should build these black-out windows into hiring timelines for early 2026 assignments.
