It is quite common for companies to ask you to go about the initial process of Emirates ID (residency visa) renewal on your own and it ideally shouldn't take you more than two days to complete this.

Here's what we did to renew our ID online:

Renewal application form

Usually most people use typing centres for this process. You can complete the application online in English or Arabic from the comfort of your home or office. You can also use their app to apply for new IDs, and renewal or replacement of cards.

Have these documents ready for reference

Current Emirates ID card, original passport, visa page on your passport (the orange visa stamp on your passport) and your credit cards

Have these documents in soft copies for uploading

You need a scanned soft copy of the current Emirates ID (front and back), scan of your passport (personal details and family details) and a scan of the work visa page on your passport.

If you want to change the photo on your new ID card, keep soft copies of a passport photo with a white background handy. These should ideally have been taken within the last three months.

Login or register

Go to the official Emirates ID services website here and register yourself as a new user. Your user name is the email address you chose. You will also be asked for your UAE phone number to which an OTP will be sent for verification. After this, an email with a randomly created password will be sent to the registered email address.

Use this password to log in to your account and don't forget to change the password to something that you can remember easily. All you need to do is hover above the profile tab on the right of the page and click on 'Edit Profile' to change the password. 

Start your application

As you will see, you have various options from new ID applications to replacing lost cards. For the purpose of this guide, we will only be tackling renewal. Click on 'Renew your ID card', and a new application will open (shown below).

Application tips

• Enter in your details carefully and make sure your numbers, expiry dates, name details are accurate.
• IDN number is the one on your card itself, while UID or Unified ID number is on your visa page in the passport. While entering each of these numbers, spaces or hyphens will appear automatically.
• Residency file number is on your visa page as well. While entering this, the format in the form requires you to put in a zero that is not there in your number - like this xxx-xxxx-0-xxxxxxx. Count out the digits to make sure you're entering this correctly.
• While giving your name details, if you don't have a family name, your last name becomes your family name. The family name is a required field, so this makes sure your name appears as it should.
• You can save your application to come back to it later. After the first time you hit 'Save', you will get a unique application number which can then be used as reference for all the queries you have.
• In case you made a mistake and submitted, immediately call 600530003 and let them know. They will return the application to you in 24 hours to enable updates or changes for free. Once your card is issued, changes become harder and more expensive.

In case of any doubt at any point, call 600530003 and talk to the customer representative. Make sure each required field is completed correctly. 

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