With West Asia’s airspace still partially closed, the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi released a fresh advisory at 12:26 p.m. on 6 March urging the 3.5 million-strong Indian community in the United Arab Emirates to "remain calm, stay vigilant and avoid non-essential travel." The mission confirmed that both the embassy and the Consulate-General in Dubai remain fully operational and that all outsourced passport, consular and visa counters are open. Importantly for stranded tourists, the UAE’s identity authority has waived overstay fines for travellers whose visas expired during the disruption—removing a key financial worry for Indian visitors waiting for flights home. For travelers struggling with visa questions of any kind, VisaHQ can step in with rapid, online support: its India portal (https://www.visahq.com/india/) provides up-to-date requirements, extension options and document-filing assistance, helping both individuals and companies keep immigration paperwork compliant during periods of disruption. Dedicated 24×7 helplines—including a toll-free number inside the UAE and a WhatsApp hotline—have been activated. Officials are also posting real-time updates on the embassy’s social-media accounts to counter misinformation. Travel-risk consultancies say the advisory is significant for corporate mobility managers because it confirms that employment-visa processing and document attestation services continue, allowing assignment start-dates to hold even as commercial aviation remains disrupted. Companies have been asked to keep travellers registered with the embassy’s MADAD portal so that evacuation assistance can be arranged if the security situation deteriorates further.
