Arrivals at Dubai International Airport

Arrivals at Dubai Airport will either land and disembark at one of the air-conditioned walkway bridges leading directly into the terminal building or in an area some distance away from the terminal building where a bus will be provided to transport passengers to the arrivals terminal at Dubai Airport.

Passengers being transported by bus from Dubai Airport after landing will be directly transported to customs and passport control which is in a separate building from the main Terminal 1 building.

If you are required to collect an entry visa for Dubai, you should find that it will be waiting for you at the counter once you enter the passport control zone at Dubai Airport and before walking up the stairs to join the passport control queue.

The nationalities which are allowed visas on arrival to Dubai are the majority of European, North American, Australasian, and Asian passengers. As you might expect, delays can be experienced at passport control although these queues can be avoided by obtaining an e-gate card prior to travelling. The worst case scenario could mean a wait of up to an hour in the normal passport control queues, however, this will of course depend on what day and at what time you arrive at Dubai Airport.

For more information on obtaining a Dubai Visa, visit our dedicated page on Dubai Visa requirements.

Once you have cleared passport control you can proceed to the baggage reclaim area to collect your luggage and then head through the relevant zone at customs which will either be the green zone (nothing to declare) or the red zone if you do have something to declare. You will find that customs is generally the same as in any other international airport with customs officers picking the occasional random passenger to check.

Facilities for passengers arriving at Dubai Airport include a wide and varied selection of products at Dubai Duty Free which you will find just after the passport control security checkpoint.

On average you can get from the plane to the terminal exit in around 15-30 minutes, especially if you have a e-gate card and are only travelling with hand luggage. Evenings and early mornings tend to be the busiest times at Dubai Airport and there are many flights from Asia and Europe that operate through Dubai Airport in the middle of the night. There are no noise control restrictions in place so Dubai airport operates 24 hours a day.