Key takeaways
- You have one month. Under Federal Law No. 9 of 2006, an ID card holder must report any change in their card details within one month from the date of change. A new passport is such a change.
- Nothing is physically moved between passports. The residence record is amended in the system and re-linked to the new passport number. The old visa page is not transferred, cut out or re-pasted.
- Two different authorities, two different processes. ICP handles it federally; GDRFA Dubai handles Dubai residents, through its own website or an Amer centre.
- ICP fees: AED 150 + AED 100 smart services = AED 250. The AED 150 is published as the fee for replacing the Emirates ID card to update the displayed information — which tells you what the service actually does.
- GDRFA Dubai publishes AED 100 urgent service fee, AED 10 innovation fee, and AED 100 printing fee if submitted through ZAJEL Courier.
- Do not use ICP’s “Data Update” service. At AED 50 it looks like the cheap option. It only covers phone number, email and address — it will not touch your passport data.
- Keep the old passport. It carries the residence page and the entry stamps, and you will be asked for it.
You have renewed your passport. The new book is blank, the old one holds your residence visa, and every piece of advice you can find uses the word “transfer” — which is precisely the word that causes the confusion.
Nothing is transferred. Your residence permit is a record held by the immigration authority, linked to a passport number. When the passport number changes, the record is amended so that it points at the new one. That is the entire substance of the task, and understanding it correctly tells you why the service is called Amendment of Residency Permit Data rather than a transfer of anything.
This guide covers both authorities in full — requirements, steps, fees, documents, timing, terms and conditions — along with what goes wrong, what it means for travel, and what happens to your Emirates ID.
Every figure and requirement here is taken from the published service specifications of the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) and the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai (GDRFA).
The obligation, and where it comes from
This is not a housekeeping task you can leave until your next renewal, and it is worth knowing the basis for that rather than taking anyone’s word for it.
ICP publishes the duties of an ID card holder under Federal Law No. 9 of 2006 regarding the Population Register and ID Card System and its executive regulation. Among them, the holder must:
| Duty as published | Timeframe |
|---|---|
| Report any change in the details of the card to the competent department | Within one month from the date of change |
| Abide by the dates and legal procedures required for renewing, replacing or delivering the card | As required |
| Report the loss of an ID card | Within 7 days |
| Notify if the card is partially or entirely damaged | Within 7 days |
| Carry the card at all times and produce it whenever required by law | Ongoing |
| Not tamper with, erase, amend or distort the card | Ongoing |
“Within one month from the date of change” means from the date your new passport was issued — not from when you returned to the UAE, not from when you first tried to use it, and not from when someone told you it needed doing.
Most people miss this window without knowing it exists, because a new passport does not feel like an event that starts a legal clock. It feels like a document you now carry instead of the old one.
Start the amendment in the same week the new passport arrives. It is the single piece of advice in this guide most likely to save you trouble, and it costs nothing to follow.
What “change in the details of the card” covers
A new passport changes several things that appear on or behind your Emirates ID record: the passport number, the issue date, the expiry date, and the issuing authority. On some renewals it also changes how your name is rendered, particularly where a passport authority has altered spacing, transliteration or the split between given and family names.
That last one matters more than it looks. If your name on the new passport differs from your name on the UAE record — even by a space or a hyphen — you are dealing with a name discrepancy as well as a passport change, and the two are not the same problem. Our guide to Emirates ID name correction covers that case.
The two authorities
Where you go depends on where your residence was issued, and this is the first fork in the road.
| ICP | GDRFA Dubai | |
|---|---|---|
| Who | Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security | General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai |
| Service name | Amendment of Residency Permit Data | Data Amendment of Residency Visa — Amendment of all types of residence permit data |
| Channels | ICP Smart Services website; ICP Smart App | GDRFA website; Amer centres |
| Login | Requires UAE Pass | GDRFA account, or attend an Amer centre |
| Published completion | 2 days | Not stated on the service page |
| Support | Call centre 600522222 | Toll free 8005111; international +971 4 313 9999; amer@gdrfad.gov.ae |
Dubai runs its own residency directorate, which is why Dubai residents deal with GDRFA and Amer centres while residents of most other emirates deal with ICP and its customer happiness centres.
The distinction confuses people constantly, because both authorities are legitimate, both publish services with near-identical names, and search results mix them freely. Working through the wrong one wastes a trip or a login session and tells you very little about why nothing is happening.
If you are unsure which centre type handles what, our guide to Amer vs Tasheel sets out the split.
The ICP route, in full
ICP publishes this as Amendment of Residency Permit Data, service code 377-006-003-005, under Residence permit services. Its own description is one line: a service through which residence permit data is modified.
Fees
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Fee for replacing the Emirates ID card to update the displayed information | AED 150 |
| Smart services fees | AED 100 |
| Published total | AED 250 |
ICP does not describe the AED 150 as a visa transfer fee. It describes it as a fee for replacing the Emirates ID card to update the displayed information.
That is the mechanism, stated plainly by the authority itself. Amending your residence data for a new passport produces a new Emirates ID card, because the card displays information that has now changed.
Two useful consequences follow. First, expect a new card — this is not a background database edit you will never see. Second, it explains why the fee sits where it does: you are paying for a card, plus the smart service that requests it.
Required documents
| Document | Note |
|---|---|
| Emirates ID | Your current card |
| Passport | The new one |
| Personal photo | A current photograph |
A short list, and deliberately so — ICP’s process is built to retrieve most of what it needs by system integration rather than by asking you to upload it.
The steps ICP publishes
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | Submit the application through the selected channel |
| 2 | Review the application form and make necessary adjustments to the retrieved data if required |
| 3 | Attach the required documents in case data retrieval through integration fails |
| 4 | Pay the required fees |
| 5 | Receive a notification on the status of the request — approved or rejected |
ICP pre-fills the form from data it retrieves automatically, and asks you to review it and adjust where required.
A pre-filled form invites confirmation rather than inspection. But this is the moment your new passport number, issue date, expiry date and issuing authority enter the national record, and an error accepted here becomes a mismatch that surfaces later — at an airport, at a bank, at a visa application for a family member.
Read every retrieved field against the new passport in front of you, character by character, before you pay. Correcting a field at this stage costs nothing. Correcting it afterwards is a separate transaction.
Terms and conditions, as published
ICP publishes two conditions on this service:
| Condition | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| The new Identity Card is issued with the same validity period as the card being replaced | The amendment does not extend your Emirates ID or your residence — you get the remaining validity, not a fresh term |
| The application will be cancelled if procedures are not completed, or if required amendments to returned applications are not made within the specified period | A returned application is a live deadline. Left alone, it is cancelled and your fees and effort go with it |
People sometimes time the passport amendment expecting it to refresh their residence or their Emirates ID validity. It does not. The replacement card carries the same validity period as the one it replaces.
The amendment and the renewal are separate transactions doing separate things. If your residence is also close to expiry, you are looking at two pieces of work, not one — see residence visa renewal in Dubai for that side.
Channels, timing and access
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Channels | ICP Smart Services website; ICP Smart App |
| Service provision hours | Smart services 24/7; customer happiness centres as per working hours |
| Service completion duration | 2 days |
| Access control | Requires login using UAE Pass |
| Structure and type | Auxiliary / procedural |
| Support | Call Centre 600522222; Customer Voice Gateway |
ICP also lists categories on the service — resident; accredited educational institutions in the UAE for the foreign student category; and government, private or free zone establishments applying for an employee — each with its own terms, fees and document list. Select the one that matches your situation rather than defaulting to the first.
The service will not proceed without it. Setting up UAE Pass while halfway through a time-sensitive application, possibly from abroad, is an avoidable irritation.
It is also worth having for its own sake — a growing number of federal services are gated behind it, and this will not be the last one you meet.
The service you must not use by mistake
ICP runs a separate service called Data Update, and it is a trap for exactly this task — because it is cheaper, faster, requires no documents, and sounds like what you want.
| Data Update | Amendment of Residency Permit Data | |
|---|---|---|
| Service code | 377-004-001-008 | 377-006-003-005 |
| Covers | Non-essential data only — phone number, email and address | Residence permit data |
| Fee | AED 50 smart service fee | AED 150 + AED 100 |
| Documents | None | Emirates ID, passport, personal photo |
| Use it for a new passport? | No | Yes |
Someone renews a passport, searches ICP’s services, finds “Data Update”, completes it in minutes for AED 50 with no documents at all, and reasonably concludes the job is done.
It is not. ICP’s own description of Data Update is explicit: it updates non-essential data, namely phone number, email and address. Your passport details are not in that set.
The consequence is the worst kind: you believe you are compliant, the one-month window closes, and the mismatch is discovered months later by someone else — an airline, a bank, an immigration officer. If you have already done a Data Update thinking it covered your passport, treat the real amendment as still outstanding.
Data Update has its own useful conditions worth noting while we are here: family members’ personal information must be updated through the sponsor’s or head of family’s personal account, and at least one of mobile number, address or email must be updated to proceed with the request.
The GDRFA Dubai route, in full
If your residence was issued in Dubai, this is your process. GDRFA publishes it under Data Amendment of Residency Visa, with the operative service titled Amendment of all types of residence permit data.
Requirements
| Requirement as published |
|---|
| 1. A recent personal photo with a white background for the sponsored person |
| 2. The sponsored person’s passport |
Photograph rejections are among the most common reasons an otherwise complete application comes back, and they are entirely avoidable.
Use a recent photograph taken against a plain white background. A holiday photo cropped to the head, a photo against a cream wall, or a scan of an old print will be rejected — and a rejection here costs you days, not minutes, because it puts your application into the returned queue.
Every Amer centre and typing centre can take a compliant photograph on the spot. If you are attending in person, have it taken there rather than bringing one.
Terms and conditions
| Condition as published | Who it applies to |
|---|---|
| Passport must be valid for more than six months | Everyone |
| Establishment card must be presented | Investors and partners |
| A letter of change of profession must be submitted | Where the sponsor is a government sector entity |
| A labour contract or Employment ID must be submitted | Where the sponsor is a private sector employer |
“Valid for more than six months” is a condition on the passport you are amending onto, and it is normally satisfied comfortably by a newly issued passport.
Where it bites is the opposite case: someone who did not renew, whose existing passport is now inside six months of expiry, and who is trying to amend something else on the record. If that is you, renew the passport first — the amendment will not proceed against a passport that fails this test.
The requirements list refers throughout to the sponsored person — the photo and the passport are theirs, not the sponsor’s.
The terms and conditions then split by sponsor type: an investor or partner presents the establishment card; a government-sector sponsor provides a letter; a private-sector sponsor provides a labour contract or Employment ID.
So before you start, be clear which side of the relationship you are on. An employee amending their own passport needs their employer’s document. A business owner amending their own record needs the establishment card. A husband amending his wife’s record needs her passport and photo, and his own sponsorship documents.
The steps: GDRFA website
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Log in to the website |
| 2 | Register a new user account, if you do not have one |
| 3 | Select the required service |
| 4 | Attach the required documents |
| 5 | Pay the fees due for the service |
| 6 | Submit the application |
The steps: Amer centre
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Head to one of the Amer service centres |
| 2 | Select the required service at the receptionist |
| 3 | Submit the required documents to the service employee |
| 4 | Pay the fees due for the service |
| 5 | Submit the application |
| 6 | Receive approval by SMS |
| 7 | Visit one of the GDRFA branches to stamp the visa |
The Amer route does not finish at the Amer centre. GDRFA’s published steps end with approval by SMS and then a visit to one of the GDRFA branches to stamp the visa.
This surprises people who assumed that paying at the counter completed the transaction, and it is a real failure mode: the application is approved, the applicant considers the matter closed, and the final step never happens.
When the approval SMS arrives, treat it as an instruction rather than a receipt. Take the new passport to a GDRFA branch and complete the stamping. Do not file the SMS and move on.
The notification rule, and the 30-day deadline inside it
GDRFA publishes a note on how you are kept informed, and it contains a deadline that is easy to read past:
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Documents missing from the application | You are notified of the need to attach them within 30 days. If they are not attached, the application will be cancelled |
| No documents missing | You are notified of the approval |
Notification is by SMS and email in both cases.
The legal duty to report a change within one month under Federal Law No. 9 of 2006, and GDRFA’s 30 days to supply missing documents before the application is cancelled.
They can overlap badly. Submit on day 25 of your month, get a missing-documents notification, and you are now outside the reporting window while still inside GDRFA’s document window — with a cancelled application at the end of it if you do not respond.
The defence is simple and it is the same one as before: start early. An application submitted in week one has room for a document request. One submitted in week four has none.
It also means keeping the mobile number and email on your GDRFA record current, because that notification is the only thing standing between a fixable request and a cancelled application.
Fees
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Urgent service fee | AED 100 |
| Innovation fee | AED 10 |
| Printing fee | AED 100 — where submission is through ZAJEL Courier Center |
Read it carefully. GDRFA publishes an urgent service fee, an innovation fee, and a printing fee for one particular channel. It does not publish a standard base fee for the service on that page.
We are not going to invent one. What we can tell you is what that means practically: the figure you are quoted at an Amer centre will not match the sum of the numbers above, because it will include the centre’s own service charge and any government fee not itemised on the service page.
So ask for the breakdown — government fees on one line, centre charges on another. Any provider unwilling to separate them is not a provider worth using. That is how we quote, and our PRO services cost reference publishes the government figures we work from.
Channels and availability
| Channel | Availability |
|---|---|
| GDRFA website | 24/7 |
| Amer centres | During normal Amer centre operating hours |
GDRFA’s contact channels: toll free 8005111, international +971 4 313 9999, email amer@gdrfad.gov.ae. The head office is in Al Jaffliya, next to Bur Dubai Police Station, opposite Al Jafiliya metro station; postal address P.O. Box 4333, Dubai. A video call service is also offered to speak directly with GDRFA officers.
GDRFA publishes a list of approved Amer service centres on the service page itself — there are a great many of them across Dubai. Our overview of Amer centre services in Dubai covers what they handle.
Documents, A to Z
Combining both authorities’ published requirements with the situational documents that the terms and conditions introduce.
| Document | ICP | GDRFA Dubai | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| New passport | Required | Required | Must be valid for more than six months (GDRFA) |
| Old passport | Keep it | Keep it | Carries the residence page and entry stamps |
| Emirates ID | Required | — | Current card |
| Personal photo | Required | Required | GDRFA specifies a white background |
| Establishment card | — | Investors and partners | Must be presented |
| Labour contract or Employment ID | — | Private sector sponsor | From the employer |
| Letter of change of profession | — | Government sector sponsor | As published |
| UAE Pass | Required for login | — | Not a document, but a gate |
Some passport authorities cancel the old book by clipping a corner or punching it and return it to you. Others retain it. If yours is returned, keep it.
It holds the residence permit page and your record of entries and exits, and you may be asked to produce it — during the amendment itself, at immigration while the record catches up, and later for any process that needs your travel history.
If your issuing authority retained the old passport, say so at the outset rather than discovering the gap at the counter. It is a normal situation and there are normal ways to evidence what the old book contained — but it is a conversation to have at the start, not in the middle.
What actually changes, and what does not
| Item | Effect of the amendment |
|---|---|
| Passport number on your residence record | Updated to the new passport |
| Emirates ID card | Replaced to update the displayed information (ICP’s own description of the AED 150 fee) |
| Emirates ID number | Your 784 number is a permanent identifier, not a passport-linked one |
| Emirates ID validity | Unchanged — the new card carries the same validity period |
| Residence expiry date | Unchanged — an amendment is not a renewal |
| Sponsor | Unchanged — this is not a sponsorship transfer |
| Old passport’s visa page | Remains in the old book. Nothing is cut out or moved |
Everyone searches for this as a transfer, so we have written the guide in that language — but the model misleads once you start the process.
A transfer implies something being moved from one place to another, and invites the question “what happens to the old one?”. In reality you are correcting a record. The immigration system holds a residence permit attached to a passport number; the passport number has changed; the record is amended to reflect that.
Hold that model and the rest of the process makes sense — why it is called an amendment, why it produces a new Emirates ID, why the old visa page stays where it is, and why your residence expiry does not move.
Timing and sequencing
The order in which things happen matters more here than the individual steps.
| When | Do this |
|---|---|
| Before the passport renewal | Check how much residence validity remains. If your residence expires soon, plan both pieces of work together |
| The week the new passport arrives | Start the amendment. The one-month clock is already running |
| Same week | Confirm your mobile number and email on the record are current — notifications go there |
| Before travelling | Complete the amendment, or carry both passports and understand the risk |
| On approval (GDRFA/Amer route) | Visit a GDRFA branch to stamp the visa — the process is not finished until you do |
| Afterwards | Update employer records, bank, telecom, landlord, insurer, school |
The dependants question
If your own passport has been renewed, the amendment concerns your record. If a family member’s passport has been renewed, it concerns theirs — and each person needs their own amendment.
This trips up families who renew several passports on the same trip home. Four new passports means four separate amendments, each with its own photograph, its own application and its own fee. There is no household transaction that covers everyone at once.
A child’s passport is renewed more frequently than an adult’s, often on a shorter validity, and typically while the family is abroad on holiday.
The renewal happens, the family returns, and life resumes — and nobody thinks of a child’s residence record as something that needed touching. The mismatch then surfaces at a school enrolment, a medical registration, or the next time the family flies.
Treat every renewed passport in the household as a task, whoever it belongs to. Note that under ICP’s Data Update conditions, family members’ personal information is handled through the sponsor’s or head of family’s account — so the sponsor is the one who has to act.
If you are outside the UAE when the passport is issued
A common situation, since many people renew their passport while visiting their home country.
Both authorities offer digital channels — ICP’s smart services website and app run 24/7 and require UAE Pass; GDRFA’s website is available 24/7. So starting the amendment from abroad is possible in principle.
What you cannot do from abroad is the in-person step at the end of GDRFA’s Amer route — the visit to a GDRFA branch to stamp the visa. Plan for that on your return, and be aware that travelling back on a new passport whose record has not yet been amended is exactly the situation described in the next section.
Travelling before the amendment is complete
The question people most want a confident answer to, and the one where a confident answer would be irresponsible.
Here is what can be said accurately. Your residence permit is recorded against a passport number. Until the amendment is processed, the record points at the old passport, while the document you are carrying is the new one. Airlines check travel documents against residence records at check-in, and immigration checks them on entry and exit.
We will not tell you that travelling on the new passport before the amendment is fine, and we will not tell you that you will definitely be stopped.
Outcomes in that window depend on the airline, the route, the systems in use and the officer in front of you, and nobody publishing a guide can promise you a result. Anyone who states it flatly either way is guessing on your behalf.
What we can say plainly: the risk is avoidable. Complete the amendment before you travel where you have any choice about timing. Where you do not, carry both passports — the old one holds the residence page the record still refers to — and allow substantially more time at the airport than usual.
If the trip cannot move and the amendment cannot be finished first, call the authority before you fly. GDRFA is on 8005111 and offers a video call service; ICP is on 600522222. A five-minute call with the body that holds your record is worth more than any article, this one included.
Why the Emirates ID does not solve it
People reasonably assume a valid Emirates ID covers them, since it is the card that proves residence.
The difficulty is that the card and the passport are two halves of one identity, and they have to agree. If your Emirates ID record still carries the old passport number while you present a new passport, the two do not match — and the mismatch is precisely what the amendment exists to fix. A valid card is necessary; on its own it is not sufficient.
Our guide on Emirates ID and visa linking covers why a perfectly valid card can still fail a check.
Costs, side by side
| Item | ICP | GDRFA Dubai |
|---|---|---|
| Emirates ID replacement to update displayed information | AED 150 | Not itemised on the service page |
| Smart services fee | AED 100 | — |
| Urgent service fee | — | AED 100 |
| Innovation fee | — | AED 10 |
| Printing fee (ZAJEL Courier Center submission) | — | AED 100 |
| Published total | AED 250 | Not published as a single figure |
Because neither authority publishes one, and inventing one would be the easiest way to make this page more satisfying and less true.
ICP’s AED 250 is a genuine published total for its two listed lines. GDRFA lists an urgent fee, an innovation fee and a channel-specific printing fee, and does not publish a standard base fee on that page.
On top of either, a service centre or provider adds its own charge, and centre charges are not government fees.
So the practical guidance is a method rather than a number: ask for the split. Government fees itemised, service charge itemised. You can check the government side against the figures above, and you can judge the service side on its merits.
What you are actually paying a provider for
Worth being straight about, since we are one.
The digital channels are open to you directly, 24/7, at both authorities. If your case is simple — your own passport, no name discrepancy, documents in order, no travel pressure — doing it yourself is entirely reasonable and this guide contains what you need.
What a provider is for is the cases that are not simple: a name rendered differently on the new passport, an old passport retained by the issuing authority, several family members at once, an approaching residence expiry that turns one transaction into two, a rejection you cannot interpret, or a travel date that makes the sequencing tight. That, and knowing which counter resolves which problem without a second wasted trip.
Being clear about which situation you are in is worth more than any fee comparison. If it is the first, proceed. If it is the second, get help early rather than after a rejection — that is what our Dubai PRO services team spends most of its time on.
After the amendment: everyone else who holds your passport number
The government record is the important one, and it is not the only one. Your old passport number is stored in a surprising number of places, and each mismatch surfaces at an inconvenient moment.
| Who | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Your employer / HR | Payroll and personnel records; needed for any future immigration transaction |
| Bank | Identity verification; accounts can be restricted where documents are stale |
| Telecom provider | SIM registration is tied to identity documents |
| Landlord and tenancy registration | Contract details reference identity documents |
| Insurance — health and motor | Policy holder identification at claim time |
| Schools and nurseries | Student records reference passport data |
| Airline loyalty and travel bookings | A booking made under an old passport number can fail at check-in |
| Driving licence and vehicle records | Identity documents on file |
The morning your amendment is confirmed, work down that list and send the new passport copy to every entity on it that applies to you.
It takes under an hour. Spread across the following year, discovered one institution at a time as each one fails, the same work takes far longer and always arrives at the worst moment — a bank query on a day you need a transfer, a check-in desk on a morning you cannot miss a flight.
Do it while the passport copy is still open on your desk.
What goes wrong
| Problem | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Used ICP’s Data Update instead | The AED 50 service only covers phone, email and address | The real amendment is still outstanding — do it |
| Photograph rejected | Not a recent photo, or not a white background | Have one taken at the centre |
| Application cancelled | Missing documents not supplied within GDRFA’s 30 days | Reapply, and keep contact details current so you see the notification |
| Approved but never completed | Amer route: the GDRFA branch stamping visit was never made | Take the new passport to a GDRFA branch |
| Name mismatch on the new passport | Transliteration, spacing or name-order change by the passport authority | A name discrepancy as well as a passport change — raise both |
| Wrong authority | Dubai resident using ICP, or vice versa | Dubai residence goes through GDRFA |
| Data accepted with an error | Pre-filled fields confirmed without checking | Correcting it afterwards is a separate transaction — check before paying |
| Passport inside six months of expiry | GDRFA requires more than six months validity | Renew the passport first |
| Old passport unavailable | Retained by the issuing authority | Raise it at the outset, not mid-process |
Believing it is done when it is not. Either because the wrong, cheaper service was used, or because an approval SMS was treated as a completion rather than an instruction to attend a GDRFA branch.
Both share a shape: the applicant is not aware there is a problem, so nothing prompts them to act, and the mismatch is eventually found by a third party under time pressure.
Verify, do not assume. When you believe the amendment is complete, confirm that your record now shows the new passport number rather than concluding it from the absence of bad news.
Scenarios
Employee, Dubai residence, straightforward renewal
Get a compliant photograph, obtain your labour contract or Employment ID from HR, and apply through the GDRFA website or an Amer centre. If you use Amer, watch for the approval SMS and complete the GDRFA branch stamping. Start in the week the passport arrives.
Investor or partner
Same process, but the establishment card must be presented. Confirm the card is current before you start — it runs on its own clock, separate from your trade licence, and an expired card is a separate problem to solve first.
Residence issued outside Dubai
Use ICP’s Amendment of Residency Permit Data through the smart services website or app, with UAE Pass. Emirates ID, passport and personal photo; AED 150 plus AED 100; published completion two days. Review the pre-filled fields carefully before paying.
Whole family renewed passports together
One amendment per person, each with its own photograph and fee. The sponsor handles dependants’ records. Budget the time accordingly — four people is four transactions, not one.
Passport renewed and residence expiring soon
Two separate transactions. The amendment does not extend anything — the replacement Emirates ID carries the same validity as the card it replaces. Sequence them deliberately rather than hoping one covers the other, and check where you stand on residence visa grace periods if the expiry is close.
Confirming it actually worked
Earlier this guide said to verify rather than assume. That is easy advice to give and less obvious to act on, so here is what verification actually consists of.
| Check | What you are confirming |
|---|---|
| The approval notification arrived | Both authorities notify on status. No notification is itself information |
| The final step was completed | On GDRFA’s Amer route, the visit to a GDRFA branch to stamp the visa |
| The record shows the new passport number | The substance of the whole exercise |
| The replacement Emirates ID was produced | ICP’s fee is for replacing the card to update the displayed information — so a card should follow |
| The details on the new card are correct | Name, and everything you reviewed at the pre-filled stage |
Both authorities let you check your own status through the channels you applied on — ICP’s smart services website and app, and GDRFA’s website. Log in and look at the residence record rather than looking for an email that says it worked.
If you cannot resolve it on screen, call. GDRFA is on 8005111 and offers a video call service with an officer; ICP is on 600522222. Both are quicker than a second trip to a centre, and both are talking to the system that actually holds your record.
Our guide on Emirates ID status checks explains what each status actually means, which is useful here because the statuses are not self-explanatory.
When to check
ICP publishes a service completion duration of two days, so a check after two to three working days is reasonable on that route. GDRFA does not publish an expected completion time for this service, which makes the approval SMS your primary signal rather than the calendar.
What you should not do is wait for a natural prompt. There is rarely one. Nothing in daily life asks you to prove your passport number matches your residence record — until something does, usually at an airport or a bank, and usually on a day when you have no time to fix it.
Every serious problem described in this guide shares the same structure: the applicant believes the task is complete, no signal contradicts that belief, and the mismatch is discovered later by a third party.
Whether the cause was the wrong service, an unmade stamping visit, a cancelled application after an unseen notification, or an error confirmed on a pre-filled form — the outcome is identical, and so is the defence.
One deliberate check, once, a few days after you think you have finished. Five minutes, against a problem that otherwise surfaces at the worst possible moment.
Keep the paperwork together
When it is done, put the application reference, the payment receipt, the approval notification and a copy of both passports in one place.
If a question arises later — a bank querying a document, an immigration record that looks inconsistent, a future transaction asking when the change was made — that folder answers it in a minute. Reconstructed from memory eighteen months on, the same question takes an afternoon and a phone call.
Frequently asked questions
How do I transfer my UAE residence visa to a new passport?
You apply for an amendment of your residence permit data. If your residence was issued in Dubai, use GDRFA’s Amendment of all types of residence permit data through the GDRFA website or an Amer centre. Elsewhere, use ICP’s Amendment of Residency Permit Data through the ICP smart services website or app with UAE Pass.
Nothing is physically moved between passports. The record is amended so it points at the new passport number.
How long do I have to do it?
ICP publishes, under Federal Law No. 9 of 2006 regarding the Population Register and ID Card System, that an ID card holder must report any change in the details of the card to the competent department within one month from the date of change.
The clock runs from when the new passport was issued.
What does it cost?
ICP: AED 150 for replacing the Emirates ID card to update the displayed information, plus AED 100 smart services fees — AED 250 in total as published.
GDRFA Dubai: an urgent service fee of AED 100, an innovation fee of AED 10, and a printing fee of AED 100 where submission is through the ZAJEL Courier Center. GDRFA does not publish a single all-in figure on that service page, and a service centre will add its own charge on top.
What documents do I need?
ICP: Emirates ID, passport and a personal photo.
GDRFA Dubai: a recent personal photo with a white background for the sponsored person, and the sponsored person’s passport. Investors and partners must also present the establishment card; where the sponsor is a private sector employer, a labour contract or Employment ID; where the sponsor is a government entity, a letter of change of profession.
How long does it take?
ICP publishes a service completion duration of 2 days. GDRFA does not state an expected completion time on that service page.
Note that GDRFA’s Amer route includes a final in-person step — visiting a GDRFA branch to stamp the visa after the approval SMS — so plan for that as well as the processing time.
Does my Emirates ID change?
Yes, in the sense that a new card is issued. ICP describes its AED 150 fee as the fee for replacing the Emirates ID card to update the displayed information.
The new card is issued with the same validity period as the one it replaces — the amendment does not extend your card or your residence.
Can I just use ICP’s Data Update service? It’s only AED 50.
No. ICP describes Data Update as a service through which non-essential data, namely phone number, email and address is updated. It does not cover passport data.
If you have already completed a Data Update believing it handled your new passport, the amendment is still outstanding.
Do I need to keep my old passport?
Yes, if it was returned to you. It carries the residence permit page and your entry and exit stamps, and you may be asked to produce it.
If your issuing authority retained it, raise that at the start of the process rather than at the counter.
Can I travel before the amendment is done?
We will not give you a blanket yes or no, because the outcome depends on the airline, the route and the check in front of you, and nobody can promise you a result.
What is clear is that until the amendment is processed, your residence record points at the old passport while you are carrying the new one. Complete the amendment before travelling where you have any choice. Where you do not, carry both passports, allow extra time, and call GDRFA on 8005111 or ICP on 600522222 before you fly.
Does it renew my residence visa?
No. An amendment and a renewal are separate transactions. The amendment updates your passport data; it does not extend your residence, and the replacement Emirates ID carries the same validity as the card it replaces.
My whole family renewed passports. Is it one application?
No — one amendment per person, each with its own photograph and fee. Dependants’ records are handled through the sponsor’s account.
Children are the ones most often overlooked, because a child’s passport is usually renewed abroad during a family trip and nobody thinks of it as a UAE task.
My name is spelled differently on the new passport. Does that matter?
Yes. A change in spelling, spacing, transliteration or the split between given and family names is a name discrepancy in addition to a passport change, and the two are different problems.
Raise both at the outset rather than submitting a straightforward amendment and hoping the name difference passes unnoticed.
What if my application is returned for missing documents?
GDRFA notifies you by SMS and email of the need to attach the missing documents within 30 days. If they are not attached, the application will be cancelled.
ICP similarly states that an application will be cancelled if procedures are not completed, or if required amendments to returned applications are not made within the specified period.
This is why the mobile number and email on your record must be current — that notification is the only warning you get.
Can I do it online, or must I attend in person?
Both authorities offer digital channels. ICP’s smart services website and app run 24/7 and require UAE Pass login. GDRFA’s website is available 24/7; Amer centres operate during their normal hours.
Note that GDRFA’s published Amer route ends with an in-person visit to a GDRFA branch to stamp the visa.
My passport is close to expiry. Can I still amend?
GDRFA’s terms require the passport to be valid for more than six months. If yours is inside that window, renew it first.
Who do I call if something goes wrong?
GDRFA Dubai: toll free 8005111, international +971 4 313 9999, email amer@gdrfad.gov.ae. A video call service is offered to speak directly with GDRFA officers.
ICP: call centre 600522222, plus the Customer Voice Gateway on the ICP website.
Passport amendments, Emirates ID, residence renewals and establishment records all run on separate clocks and separate systems. Keeping them aligned — and knowing which counter fixes which problem — is the everyday work of PRO services in Dubai.
Official sources
- Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) — Amendment of Residency Permit Data, service code 377-006-003-005: service steps, channels, terms and conditions, fees (AED 150 and AED 100), required documents, service completion duration and access control. icp.gov.ae
- ICP — Data Update, service code 377-004-001-008: scope limited to non-essential data (phone number, email, address), AED 50 smart service fee, and family-member conditions. icp.gov.ae
- ICP — ID Card Holder’s Duties, published under Federal Law No. 9 of 2006 regarding the Population Register and ID Card System and its executive regulation: the duty to report any change in card details within one month from the date of change. icp.gov.ae
- General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai (GDRFA) — Data Amendment of Residency Visa: Amendment of all types of residence permit data: requirements, service steps for the GDRFA website and Amer centres, fees, terms and conditions, service availability channels and the missing-documents notification rule. gdrfad.gov.ae
- GDRFA Dubai — Contact Information: toll free 8005111, international +971 4 313 9999, amer@gdrfad.gov.ae, head office Al Jaffliya, P.O. Box 4333 Dubai. gdrfad.gov.ae
- The Official Platform of the UAE Government, u.ae — visa and Emirates ID framework
All fees, documents, steps and conditions above are reproduced as published by ICP and GDRFA. Where an authority does not publish a figure — such as a single all-in total for the GDRFA service — none has been supplied here.
Please note. This guide is general information, not legal advice, and reflects the published position of ICP and GDRFA Dubai at the time of writing. Fees, documents and procedures change, and requirements can differ by residence category, sponsor type and emirate. Confirm your own position directly with the authority that issued your residence — GDRFA Dubai on 8005111 or ICP on 600522222 — before acting, particularly where travel dates are involved.
