Dummy ticket in Dubai for UAE residents applying for a visa abroad

If you live in the UAE and need a flight reservation for a visa application, you can order a dummy ticket in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah online and pay about US$8.50 per passenger by PayPal or card. Dummy Tickets Visa (DTV) books the reservation in the airline's system and sends it as a PDF with a PNR you can look up yourself. It is a reservation, not a paid ticket.

Check first whether your application needs one. Schengen consulates in the UAE list a flight reservation. The UK and the US do not ask for a flight booking, and Canada lists flight details only as a recommended document. The sections below take each in turn. If you are applying for a visa to enter the UAE, you want our UAE visa guide instead.

Ordering a dummy ticket in Dubai: price and payment

From the UAE you pay in US dollars: about US$8.50 per passenger for a one-way or return reservation. Pay by PayPal, or by debit or credit card through PayPal's card checkout. Your card issuer converts the charge into dirhams at its own rate, so the AED figure on your statement depends on your bank.

A hotel reservation is about US$8.50 per hotel, per passenger, and a multi-city itinerary is about US$8.50 per two flights, per passenger. The price page works through examples.

The form asks for each traveller's name exactly as in the passport, date of birth, nationality, route and travel dates, plus an email address or WhatsApp number. We do not need a passport scan or an account. The PDF typically arrives 10–20 minutes after payment is confirmed, or on the date you pick under "When do you want to receive it?". Weekends, holidays and busy periods can slow it down.

How long a reservation stays live depends on the airline, so we do not publish a fixed validity. Ask to receive it the day before you need it, and look up the PNR on the airline's website before it goes into your file.

Schengen visa from the UAE

A UAE resident applies to the consulate responsible for the UAE, not in India. The European Commission's guidance on applying for a Schengen visa sends you to the consulate for the country where you legally live, whatever passport you hold. Your main destination decides which country's consulate that is.

Each consulate appoints its own visa application centre in the UAE, and the provider is not always the one it uses in India. Take the centre's name and address from the consulate's own UAE page. The Portuguese Embassy in Abu Dhabi, for example, takes files through VFS Global.

The flight item on these checklists is a reservation, not a paid ticket. Portugal's UAE checklist lists a "Flight reservation including return ticket". Our Schengen visa guide covers the fee, insurance and the full document list.

One rule works differently for Indians living in the UAE. The 2024 EU decision that gives a two-year multiple-entry visa after two lawfully used visas covers Indian nationals who live in India and apply there. If you apply from the UAE, the standard EU cascade applies instead. Multiple-entry Schengen visas sets out both.

The NOC and residence visa: extra papers for UAE residents

Your consulate may ask for two papers tied to your UAE status: a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from your employer or sponsor, and a UAE residence visa that stays valid well past the trip. The tourism checklist of the Portuguese Embassy in Abu Dhabi (undated; read in September 2026) shows how specific these rules can be.

Other consulates set their own period and letter format, so treat this as one example, not a UAE-wide rule. For the letter itself, see how to write an NOC letter for a visa.

UK, US and Canada: a flight booking is optional

None of these three countries asks for a flight booking with a visitor visa application. Some UAE residents still include an itinerary so the dates on the form, the cover letter and the leave letter match.

UK Standard Visitor visa

Indian nationals need a Standard Visitor visa even when they live in the UAE, because the UK's ETA goes by passport, not residence. GOV.UK's guide to supporting documents (updated 25 February 2026) lists "flight bookings (unless transiting)" among documents that are less useful as evidence, and GOV.UK tells applicants not to book travel before a decision. The same guide asks for "confirmation of legal residence" from anyone who is not a national of the country they apply in, so include proof of your UAE residence.

GOV.UK's centre finder names VFS Global as the UK's visa centre operator in the UAE; check VFS's UAE site for current locations. Our UK visa guide covers the fee and the online form.

US B1/B2 visitor visa

UAE residents can interview at the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi or the Consulate General in Dubai. The State Department tells applicants to book in their country of nationality or residence, and you must be able to show that you live here. The wait is the hard part. On the State Department's wait-time table updated 17 September 2026, the next B1/B2 appointment was about 11.5 months away in Dubai and 12.5 months in Abu Dhabi.

The State Department also says not to buy tickets until you have a visa, and the officer decides at the interview, not from a flight booking. If you want an itinerary for the DS-160 dates, order it close to the interview rather than a year ahead. Our US visa guide has the details.

Canada visitor visa

Canada's apply page lists "flight details" under a recommended "Itinerary" document, so it can help but is not mandatory. You give biometrics at a visa application centre run by VFS Global in Abu Dhabi or Dubai, the two UAE cities on IRCC's centre list (updated 24 August 2026). IRCC's processing estimate for a visitor visa applied for from the UAE was 56 days on 22 September 2026, against 32 days from India. Our Canada visa guide covers the fee and biometrics.

Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah: where each application goes

Abu Dhabi and Dubai host the US posts and both of Canada's visa centres. Sharjah has neither, so Sharjah residents travel to Dubai or Abu Dhabi for those appointments.

For UK and Schengen applications the centre depends on the provider, not the emirate. Check VFS Global's UAE site for the UK, and your consulate's UAE page for a Schengen visa.

Typical routings for a UAE resident

Start and end the reservation at the UAE airport you would really use, because the consulate expects you to return to the country where you live and work. For most people that means a return from Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah to the city of their main destination, on the dates in the application form.

• A simple return, such as Dubai to Paris and back, suits a trip to one Schengen country.
• Flying into one city and out of another, such as Abu Dhabi to Rome and Paris to Abu Dhabi, is two flights, so it costs the same as a return.
• A route with more legs is a multi-city itinerary, at about US$8.50 per two flights, per passenger.

Our booking desk chooses the airline and flight. You can name a preferred airline in the notes box, but that is a request, not a promise.

Before you order from the UAE: a checklist

• You have read your own consulate's UAE checklist, including any NOC and residence-validity rule.
• Your residence visa covers the period that checklist asks for.
• For the UK, US or Canada, you know the itinerary is optional and have decided it helps your file.
• The route starts and ends at the UAE airport you would really use.
• The dates match your form, insurance, any hotel booking and your leave letter.
• Every name is typed exactly as in the passport.
• If anyone asks, you describe the document as a flight reservation, not a ticket.

Indians living in other countries will find their pages in our guide for Indians abroad. When your file is ready, place your order.

Frequently asked questions

Last reviewed 27 September 2026 by the DTV Editorial Team. Visa requirements change, so confirm the current checklist with the embassy, consulate or official application centre before you apply. A reservation supports a visa file and cannot guarantee a visa decision.