Refused by Canada while living in the UAE?

IRCC now sends the officer's decision note with most refusals: temporary-resident applications refused since 29 July 2025 (visitor visas, super and transit visas, visitor records, study and work permits and their extensions) and permanent-residence applications refused since 26 May 2026. It does not send them for eTAs, temporary resident permits or humanitarian and compassionate applications.

UAE citizens need an eTA (electronic travel authorization) to fly to Canada, not a visitor visa. If you live in the UAE on another passport, mostly your passport decides, not where you live. Indian and Pakistani citizens need a visitor visa. British citizens need an eTA. Filipino citizens need a visa, but they may be able to get an eTA instead to fly to Canada, if they meet IRCC's conditions.

IRCC lists two visa application centres (VACs) in the UAE: Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

These are IRCC's yearly counts for “United Arab Emirates”: visitor visas, study permits and work permits. eTAs are not in them. IRCC does not say if the counts are for UAE citizens or for everyone who applied from the UAE. If you are not a UAE citizen, these figures may not include you. Each line shows the applications IRCC finished, how many it approved, and how many were not approved (refused or withdrawn):

• 2023: 405 finished, 330 approved, 75 not approved.
• 2024: 310 finished, 240 approved, 70 not approved.
• 2025: 355 finished, 305 approved, 50 not approved.
• January to July 2026: 205 finished, 170 approved, 35 not approved.

Canada lifted the visa requirement for UAE citizens on 5 June 2018. IRCC's notice says that from then on, UAE citizens need an eTA to fly to Canada or to change planes there.

IRCC's officer decision notes do not cover eTAs. So if you are a UAE citizen and IRCC refused your eTA, no decision note will come. Asking for your own IRCC records is how you see what IRCC recorded on your eTA file.

IRCC's list of visa offices outside Canada shows Abu Dhabi as the office that serves the UAE. IRCC says its visa offices process applications such as visitor visas, study permits and work permits.

If your passport needs a visitor visa, IRCC says most people must apply online. Its guide for paper applications adds a rule for people who apply from a country that is not their own, such as the UAE: they must send proof of their legal status in the country they live in. The paper form asks what that status is, for example worker, student or visitor.

Biometrics means your fingerprints and a photo. UAE citizens who come to Canada only to visit, with an eTA, do not give them. People who need a visitor visa do give them, and so do people who apply for a study or work permit, unless an exemption applies, for example for children under 14. IRCC's biometrics fee is CAN$85 for one person. It is charged on applications such as a visa or a permit. A request for your GCMS notes has no biometrics fee.

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Our office hours are Mon–Sat, 10am–7pm IST. In the United Arab Emirates that is 8:30am–5:30pm. Send a WhatsApp message any time and we reply in office hours.

We file within 24 hours of receiving your payment, documents and signed consent form (1 hour on Premium, during office hours). For a file without its application number there is no set hour, because it can need extra steps first. The law gives IRCC 30 days from receiving a request to reply, and lets it extend that by sending a notice.