A change to the UAE visa system will save people “effort and time”.

Both visit and residency visas are about to get a lot easier to sort out, as the government has introduced a system that means everything needed to get a visa – end to end – can be done at authorised typing service centres.

Yes, this means you won’t have to visit any government offices (also, there are hundreds of authorised typing centres, dotted all around the city. Here’s a list of them).

The new process launched by the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFA) is called the “UAE Vision” system, and it means the public can apply for all kinds of visas, including getting their residency visa renewed and cancelled, at typing centres.

After the application forms are given into the centre, visit visas will be sent by email and residency visas will be couriered through the Zajel service.

There hasn’t been any change announced in visa fees. Also, people will only be asked to visit an immigration office if there’s a discrepancy or problem, a government spokesperson told Gulf Business.

*HOW TO: Alcohol licenses in Dubai*

“The ‘UAE vision’ is a new system where members of the public will be able to visit any of the typing service offices and submit their transactions all without having to visit the GDRFA building or any of the centres to complete their transactions as everything will be done at the typing centre only,” explained Colonel Hussein Ibrahim, the GDRFA assistant of the director-general for administrative support.

Colonel Ibrahim stressed that people need to make sure to provide accurate information to the typing centre – such as a valid phone number and email address – to ensure the new system can run smoothly.