In a decisive move to ease the mounting pressure on the thousands of tourists, business travellers and residents unable to leave the country, the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) announced on 5 March 2026 that it is cancelling all visa-overstay fines incurred since the region-wide flight suspensions began on 28 February. Under normal rules, visitors who exceed their permitted stay pay AED 50 per day, plus exit-penalty fees, and risk being black-listed for future entry.
![UAE waives all visa-overstay fines for travellers stranded by airspace closure]()
For travellers unsure how to navigate these changes, VisaHQ can help. Its dedicated UAE page (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) provides real-time visa updates, personalised document checklists and filing assistance, offering both individuals and corporate mobility teams a reliable way to stay compliant as regulations evolve.
The ICA’s new Policy Circular No ICA/2026/03/001 instead allows anyone who can show proof that they were prevented from departing because of cancelled flights or closed airspace to regularise their status at no cost. Acceptable evidence includes airline notifications, cancelled tickets and airport advisories; applications may be filed at any ICA service centre or through the authority’s call-centre and smart-app channels. Travellers who have already paid fines can request a full refund within 30 days. The humanitarian measure follows six days of rolling airspace restrictions triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran that forced UAE carriers Emirates, Etihad, flydubai and Air Arabia to ground most services. With some 300,000 passengers still waiting for seats out of the Gulf hub, the decision removes a significant financial and psychological burden, particularly for small-business owners and short-term assignees whose visas were due to expire. Immigration lawyers note that the waiver also protects employers from inadvertent compliance breaches: staff whose residence visas lapsed after leaving the UAE will not be treated as having broken stay-requirements, and companies will avoid the stiff corporate fines that normally apply for sponsoring overstayers. Nevertheless, mobility managers are being urged to keep records of disrupted itineraries and to submit waiver requests promptly, as the policy’s discretionary nature still requires documentary proof. In the longer term, the episode could accelerate planned reforms to the UAE’s visa-fine framework, including calls to replace daily penalties with flexible grace periods during force-majeure events. For now, however, stranded travellers have a clear, immediate path to legal certainty while they wait for commercial flights to normalise.
For travellers unsure how to navigate these changes, VisaHQ can help. Its dedicated UAE page (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) provides real-time visa updates, personalised document checklists and filing assistance, offering both individuals and corporate mobility teams a reliable way to stay compliant as regulations evolve.
The ICA’s new Policy Circular No ICA/2026/03/001 instead allows anyone who can show proof that they were prevented from departing because of cancelled flights or closed airspace to regularise their status at no cost. Acceptable evidence includes airline notifications, cancelled tickets and airport advisories; applications may be filed at any ICA service centre or through the authority’s call-centre and smart-app channels. Travellers who have already paid fines can request a full refund within 30 days. The humanitarian measure follows six days of rolling airspace restrictions triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran that forced UAE carriers Emirates, Etihad, flydubai and Air Arabia to ground most services. With some 300,000 passengers still waiting for seats out of the Gulf hub, the decision removes a significant financial and psychological burden, particularly for small-business owners and short-term assignees whose visas were due to expire. Immigration lawyers note that the waiver also protects employers from inadvertent compliance breaches: staff whose residence visas lapsed after leaving the UAE will not be treated as having broken stay-requirements, and companies will avoid the stiff corporate fines that normally apply for sponsoring overstayers. Nevertheless, mobility managers are being urged to keep records of disrupted itineraries and to submit waiver requests promptly, as the policy’s discretionary nature still requires documentary proof. In the longer term, the episode could accelerate planned reforms to the UAE’s visa-fine framework, including calls to replace daily penalties with flexible grace periods during force-majeure events. For now, however, stranded travellers have a clear, immediate path to legal certainty while they wait for commercial flights to normalise.
