Lost passport in the UAE

ByKhalid Bin Rashid Published: Last Updated:

ICP covers all emirates except Dubai. Dubai residence and visa services sit with GDRFA Dubai. Emirates ID is federal, and it always sits with ICP. That separation matters, because the only departure-permit route stated in full is a Dubai route, and nothing in it may be read as a route for another emirate.

A departure permit, in the wording GDRFA Dubai uses, is a permit that enables a foreigner inside the country to leave the country. If your passport is lost and you need to leave, the departure permit is the exit document described on the GDRFA Dubai card. The police-report service, the consulate procedure, the ICP exit-permit route, and any residence re-stamping step are not stated on official pages. The verified Dubai departure-permit route, plus one embassy-channel sentence, plus a plain statement of what is not verified, is the scope. It is not a complete lost-passport procedure, and it must not be read as one.

Lost passport in the UAE verified limits

Only two official wordings state the position. The first is the GDRFA Dubai departure-permit card, which names a lost-passport case, states a 4-step sequence, states a fee and a departure window, and states one exceptional-cases line about a police report and a consulate travel pass. The second is a single u.ae sentence about expatriate residents applying through embassies and consulates. Everything else that a lost passport usually raises, the fee and steps for a police report, the procedure at a consulate, the exit-permit route outside Dubai, and any step to move a residence to a replacement passport, is unstated on the official wording used. Each of those gaps is stated in its own section, so that no gap is filled by borrowing a line from another case.

Police report wording

The only police-report wording stated sits inside the exceptional-cases line on the GDRFA Dubai departure-permit card. GDRFA Dubai states:

“In exceptional cases involving the loss of a passport or travel document, a police report may be filed, and a travel pass can be issued by the beneficiary’s consulate. The individual may then proceed with the required procedures to obtain the exit permit.”

Note the words “may be filed” and “can be issued”. The card does not state that a police report is mandatory. It does not name the police authority. It does not state any police procedure, any document to take to the police, any fee, any timeline, or any validity period for a police document. No sequence linking a police report to any other office is stated on the official wording used.

The police step cost, timeline, and form produced are not stated on official pages. Confirm the police position on the live Dubai Police service screen for your exact case before you act, and do not assume that a police report alone completes any later step.

Consulate and embassy wording

The consulate step is stated only as a possibility in the same exceptional-cases line quoted above: a travel pass “can be issued” by the beneficiary’s consulate. No consulate procedure is stated. No document list, fee, timeline, or nationality-specific rule for any consulate is stated. The line does not state that a consulate will issue a document on any single document alone, and it does not state the difference between an emergency travel document and a full replacement passport.

The only other official wording on this step is a single sentence from u.ae, stated for passport services generally. u.ae states:

“Expatriate residents can apply through their embassies and consulates in the UAE.”

That sentence is passport-channel-only. It states that embassies and consulates in the UAE are a channel for expatriate residents’ passport applications. It states no lost-passport wording, no procedure, and no document list. It says residents, and it does not cover visitors. Do not extend it into a consulate procedure, and do not read it as a rule for a visitor whose passport is lost.

The documents, charges, and timeline for any consulate are not stated on official pages for any nationality. Confirm them with your own embassy or consulate directly, and keep this step separate from the departure-permit step: the consulate wording and the departure-permit wording come from different authorities and describe different actions.

Dubai departure permit and other emirates

This section states the Dubai route only. GDRFA Dubai states the purpose of the service as follows:

“This service allows the possibility of issuing an Departure permit for a foreigner within the country to enable him to leave the country.”

For a lost passport, GDRFA Dubai states the following sequence exactly:

“In case of lost passport: 1- Personal presence 2- Submit the application to the service officer 3- Pay the fees due 4- Receipt of the print of departure permit”

The same 4-step sequence is stated for other cases on the same card. The steps are not lost-passport-specific beyond the lost-passport heading. Do not read extra lost-passport steps into them.

The document list on the card is shared across cases. It is not a lost-passport-specific list, and it must be read as shared. GDRFA Dubai lists:

  • Passport
  • Personal Photo
  • Issuance of Birth Certificate for Newborns
  • A travel ticket with a departure date within 7 days from the date of issuance

The list does not include a police report or a consulate travel document among its document lines. The only mention of a police report or a consulate travel pass is the exceptional-cases line quoted in the first two sections above. Do not add a police report or a consulate document to this list as if the card required it, and do not remove the lines as listed: the list is shared, and the newborn line belongs to the newborn case on the same card.

The fee for the departure permit is AED 241. The card states no breakdown of that fee, and no breakdown is stated. The permit requires departure from the country within 7 days from the date of permit issuance. GDRFA Dubai states: “The regular exit permit requires the payment of all outstanding fines.” That fines-paid line is the only fines line stated for this route. No other fine consequence for a lost passport is stated. If the individual does not depart within the validity period of the exit permit, GDRFA Dubai states that the previous permit must be cancelled and a new application must be submitted.

Channels differ by applicant type.

  • Establishments apply through the GDRFA website, by logging in, registering, selecting the service, attaching documents, paying, and submitting.
  • Individuals apply through an AMER Centre, by visiting, selecting the service, submitting documents, verification, paying, and submitting.
  • The locations named on the card are: Public Services Section – Al Aweer; Airport Service Center Terminal 3; AMER Centers; Hatta land port.
  • The processing time stated on the card is 48.0 hours.

Outside Dubai, the position is unstated. No ICP exit-permit fee, step list, or document list for a lost passport is stated, and the Dubai fee of AED 241 and the Dubai 7-day window must not be read as an ICP rule. No residence re-stamping or transfer step after a replacement passport is stated either. If you hold a residence and you receive a replacement passport, do not assume that any ICP or GDRFA step follows automatically. Confirm the position for your emirate on the live service screen that covers that emirate, before you act.

Points to confirm before acting

Confirm the following as separate confirmations, in no implied order:

  • The police-report position on the live police service screen for your emirate.
  • The procedure, documents, fee, and timeline at your own embassy or consulate.
  • For Dubai, the departure-permit details on the live GDRFA Dubai screen, including the fee, the 7-day departure window, and the fines-paid rule.

For an emirate outside Dubai, confirm the exit-permit route on the live ICP screen for that emirate, and confirm separately whether any residence step is needed after a replacement passport. If a live screen does not state an item, treat that item as unstated. Re-check the live wording before you act, because a lost passport touches three separate authorities, and a line from one of them does not settle the other two.

Related guides

Sources

Senior Expert in UAE Visa and Emirates ID

Khalid Bin Rashid is a Dubai native and Senior Expert in UAE Visa and Emirates ID. He writes the UAE guides covering Emirates ID status, renewal, tracking and changes, as well as UAE visa rules, bans and fines, through ICP and GDRFA Dubai.

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