Overstayed more than 30 days? You can't just book a flight.

What the exit permit is, and who needs one

An exit permit (GDRFA and ICP call it a departure permit; typing centres and PROs call it an out pass) is a one-off document that authorises a person without valid status to leave the country legally. You need one if:

• Your overstay has passed 30 days — the usual trigger.
• Your passport was lost or expired while you were out of status, and you are travelling on an emergency document.
• Your residence was cancelled and the grace period ran out while you were still here.

You do not need one for a short overstay. Under 30 days you pay the fine and depart normally — the fine is AED 50 for each day, and that is the whole transaction. The permit is the extra layer that appears once the overstay becomes substantial.

The permit does not cancel the fine. They are two separate payments. You settle the accrued AED 50-per-day amount and pay for the permit. Anyone telling you the out pass "covers" the overstay is selling something.

Where to apply — the split that wastes people's time

The UAE runs two immigration authorities, and applying to the wrong one is the most common delay in this whole process:

• Visa issued in Dubai → GDRFA. Apply at an Amer centre or through GDRFA's own channels. Amer centres handle this daily and most cases are processed same day.
• Visa issued in any other emirate → ICP. Apply through ICP Smart Services or an ICP-authorised typing office. ICP quotes roughly two days of processing on its fine and permit services.

The deciding factor is where the visa was issued, not where you currently live or which airport you are flying from. A resident of Sharjah on a Dubai-issued visa goes to GDRFA.

What it costs

• The overstay fine: AED 50 per day, every day past the grace period. This is the official published rate and it is usually by far the largest number.
• ICP smart-services fee: AED 100 on the transaction, per ICP's published fee schedule.
• The exit permit itself: commonly reported at AED 200–350 depending on emirate, channel and whether a typing centre adds a service charge. Neither authority publishes a single headline figure for it, so treat this as a budgeting range rather than a quoted price — confirm the exact amount when you apply.

To put it in proportion: someone 90 days over is looking at roughly AED 4,500 in fines, and a few hundred more in permit and service fees. The permit is not what makes this expensive. The days are.

Step by step

1. Check the real number first. Fines Inquiry at gdrfad.gov.ae for Dubai-issued visas, or ICP Smart Services → Public Services → Fines for everywhere else. Case-specific items can sit on a file that no calculator can see. Do this before you buy a ticket.
2. Settle the fine — several days before you fly. Both portals accept card payment; ICP also processes through its app. Payment records can take time to propagate, and travellers are routinely advised to pay at least 48 hours ahead so a stale record doesn't block you at the counter.
3. Apply for the permit. Amer centre (Dubai) or ICP channel (other emirates), with your passport, the fine payment receipt, and your travel booking. If your passport is lost or expired, bring the emergency travel document or the consulate's letter — you'll need your embassy in that path before immigration.
4. Collect it and check the validity window. The permit is short-lived — it is issued for a specific departure, typically valid on the order of a week to ten days, not indefinitely. Requesting it two weeks ahead of a flight is how people end up applying twice.
5. Travel with the paperwork. Permit, fine receipt, passport. Do not assume the counter can look it all up — carry the documents.

Three ways this goes wrong

• Trying to settle everything at the airport. It occasionally works for a small fine. It fails badly for a 30-plus-day overstay, because the exit permit is not issued at the departure gate, and a missed flight adds a ticket to the bill.
• Waiting for someone else to fix it. A former employer that has stopped answering is not going to resolve this. The fine is against your file and grows daily whether or not the dispute over who caused it is fair. Chase the employer for money in the MOHRE process, separately and in parallel — that claim survives your departure; the fine only gets worse.
• Assuming a fine is the same as a ban. It usually isn't. Overstays resolved by paying up and leaving voluntarily are ordinary administrative matters. Long overstays that end in deportation are the ones that attach entry bans. The gap between those two outcomes is largely a question of who acted first — you or the system.

After you leave

An overstay that was settled and exited on a permit does not, on its own, block a future visa. What sits on the file matters more than the fact of the overstay: paid or unpaid, voluntary exit or deportation. If you plan to return, keep the fine receipt and the permit — proof that it was closed properly is worth more than the memory of it.

If your residence is still technically valid and the issue is a long absence rather than an overstay, that is a different rule entirely — see the 180-day absence rule.