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New UAE Visa Requirement 2026: Good Conduct Certificate Now Mandatory for 45 Nationalities

If you’re applying for a UAE visa — or sponsoring someone who is — there’s an important update you need to know about.

Starting 16 June 2026, the UAE’s Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) is introducing a new requirement for visa applicants from 45 specified nationalities. Applicants from these countries will now need to submit a Good Conduct Certificate, also known as a Police Clearance Certificate, issued by their home country and properly attested by the relevant UAE Embassy or Consulate.

This isn’t a small administrative tweak. It affects new visa applications, it’s being rolled out in three separate phases through to November 2026, and depending on your nationality, the attestation has to be obtained from a specific country — which isn’t always the applicant’s home country.

Here’s everything you need to know, broken down clearly.

What Is a Good Conduct Certificate (Police Clearance Certificate)?

A Good Conduct Certificate — interchangeably called a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) — is an official document issued by the police or relevant law enforcement authority in a person’s country of nationality. It confirms whether that person has a criminal record, or provides details of one if it exists.

For UAE visa purposes, simply holding the certificate isn’t enough on its own. Under the new ICP requirement, the certificate must also be duly attested by the relevant UAE Embassy or Consulate before the visa application is submitted. That attestation step is what makes the document officially recognised by UAE authorities — and it’s also the step that trips people up most often, since it can take time and isn’t something most people deal with regularly.

Why Is the UAE Introducing This Requirement?

This update is part of the UAE’s broader push to strengthen immigration compliance and security screening across new visa applications. By requiring a verified, embassy-attested criminal record check upfront, authorities get a clearer picture of an applicant’s background before a visa is even issued — rather than relying solely on checks carried out after someone has already arrived in the country.

It’s a similar direction to what several other Gulf and international jurisdictions have moved toward in recent years: shifting background verification earlier into the visa process itself.

The Three-Phase Rollout

Rather than applying to all 45 nationalities overnight, ICP is rolling this out gradually, in three phases:

Each phase applies to a different set of nationalities. So depending on which group an applicant falls under, the requirement may already be in effect, or it may not kick in until later this year.

Full List: Affected Nationalities, Attestation Country & Effective Date

This is the part that matters most for employers and applicants — and it’s also where things get a little more nuanced than people expect. For most nationalities on this list, the attestation must be obtained from the UAE Embassy or Consulate in that same home country. But for a number of nationalities, it has to be obtained in a different country entirely — often because the UAE doesn’t maintain an embassy in that applicant’s home country.

Phase 1 — Effective 16 June 2026

Phase 2 — Effective 15 August 2026

Phase 3 — Effective 15 November 2026

Notice the mismatches? Applicants from Cameroon, Gambia, Lithuania, Tonga, Albania, Mauritius, Fiji, Nicaragua, and Slovenia all need to get their attestation done in a different country from their nationality. This is one of the most overlooked details in the entire requirement, and it’s exactly the kind of detail that can derail an otherwise straightforward visa application if it’s missed.

What This Means for Employers

If your business sponsors employees from any of the nationalities above, this is now a mandatory step in the visa process — not optional, and not something that can be fast-tracked around.

A few practical implications worth planning for:

Lead time matters more than ever. Obtaining a Good Conduct Certificate from a home country, then getting it attested by the correct UAE Embassy or Consulate — sometimes in a third country — can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks depending on the nationality and current processing volumes. If you’re hiring someone from an affected nationality, build this into your onboarding timeline now.

Know your phase. If you’re recruiting someone from a Phase 1 nationality, this requirement is already active. Phase 2 and Phase 3 nationalities have a bit more runway, but it’s worth preparing early rather than scrambling closer to the effective date.

HR and PRO teams need updated checklists. Visa application checklists that don’t yet account for this requirement will need to be updated, especially for businesses hiring across multiple nationalities.

What This Means for Individual Applicants

If you’re applying for a UAE visa yourself — whether for employment, family sponsorship, or another category — and your nationality appears on this list, you’ll need to start the Good Conduct Certificate process well before submitting your visa application.

The general sequence looks like this:

1. Apply for the Good Conduct Certificate through the relevant police or law enforcement authority in your home country.

2. Identify the correct UAE Embassy or Consulate for attestation — checking carefully whether it’s your home country or a different designated country (see the tables above).

3. Submit the certificate for attestation at that embassy or consulate.

4. Include the attested certificate as part of your UAE visa application documents.

Each of these steps can carry its own processing time and, in some cases, fees — so starting early gives you the best chance of a smooth visa process without delays.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Assuming attestation happens in your home country. As the tables above show, that’s not always the case. Always confirm the designated attestation country before starting the process.

Leaving it too late. Police clearance certificates and embassy attestations are not same-day services in most cases. Factor this into your overall visa timeline.

Submitting an outdated certificate. Good Conduct Certificates often have a limited validity window. If too much time passes between issuance and visa submission, you may be asked to obtain a fresh one.

Incomplete attestation. A Good Conduct Certificate that hasn’t been properly attested by the correct UAE Embassy or Consulate won’t be accepted — even if the certificate itself is genuine and valid.

How Nexture Can Help

This is exactly the kind of regulatory shift that creates confusion — not because the rule itself is complicated, but because the details (which country, which phase, how long it takes) vary by nationality and are easy to get wrong.

At Nexture Corporate Services LLC, our Attestation and Document Legalization team handles exactly this type of process daily, alongside our broader visa processing and PRO services. If you’re an employer managing visa applications across a multinational team, or an individual trying to figure out where your Good Conduct Certificate needs to be attested, we can manage the entire process for you — from coordinating the certificate request to handling embassy attestation and incorporating it into your visa application.

Rather than trying to track 45 different country-specific rules yourself, you get a single point of contact who already knows the process and stays current as ICP rolls out each phase.

Need help figuring out what this means for your specific visa application or hiring plans? Reach out to our team at nexture.ae — we’ll walk you through exactly what’s needed for your nationality and phase.

Conclusion

This new ICP requirement adds an extra step to the UAE visa process for applicants from 45 specified nationalities — but it’s a manageable one, as long as you know exactly what’s required, when it applies to you, and which country your attestation needs to go through.

For employers managing visa sponsorships across diverse teams, and for individuals navigating this for the first time, getting ahead of the requirement now — rather than at the last minute — makes all the difference.

If you’d rather have an experienced team handle the certificate coordination and attestation process for you, Nexture is here to help.

Get in touch with our team today at nexture.ae to make sure your visa application stays on track.

Nexture Corporate Services LLC — Your trusted partner for business setup, PRO services, visa processing, attestation, and compliance in the UAE since 2013.

How to Create an Amazon Seller Account in UAE

What Is an Amazon Seller Account in the UAE?

Amazon.ae has been growing like crazy over the last few years, and a lot of people are jumping on it. An Amazon seller account in the  UAE lets any business list and sell products on the platform, managed through Amazon Seller Central. It works for UAE residents and even non-residents, as long as the right business setup is in place first.

Do You Need a Trade Licence to Sell on Amazon UAE?

Short answer, yes. A lot of first-time sellers skip this part and then hit a wall during verification. To sell on Amazon UAE as a business, a valid trade licence is needed, and the activity on that licence should match e-commerce or trading. Free zone and mainland licences both work. (Non-residents who want to get in on this need to sort out a UAE business setup before anything else. That is the actual first step, not the Amazon registration.)

Amazon Seller UAE Requirements

Pull these together before even opening the registration page:

• Valid UAE trade licence

• Emirates ID or passport

• UAE bank account

• Phone number and email address

• Business address

• Tax information, if applicable

Individual vs Professional Amazon Seller Account

Two options, and the difference is pretty straightforward.

Individual accounts are for people selling fewer than 40 items a month. No monthly fee, but there is a per-item charge of around AED 3.67 on every sale. Tools are basic.

A professional account is for anyone selling regularly or planning to grow. Around AED 146.90 a month, but it opens up the full set of selling tools, advertising features, and all product categories. (Most sellers who are serious about it find that the monthly fee pays itself back fast enough that it is not really a debate.)

How to Create an Amazon Seller Account in the UAE

Step 1: Prepare Your Business Documents

Trade licence, Emirates ID or passport, and bank details. Confirm the business activity covers trading or e-commerce before starting. Finding out it does not match halfway through registration is frustrating.

Step 2: Visit Amazon Seller Central UAE

Head to sell.amazon.ae and kick off the Amazon UAE seller registration. Pick individual or professional, and fill in the business details as the form asks for them.

Step 3: Complete Identity and Business Verification

Upload the documents, verify the phone and email, and put in the bank account details. Amazon goes through all of this before the account is approved. Every detail needs to match exactly because even small mismatches cause rejections.

Step 4: Add Product and Tax Details

Pick the product categories and fill in tax details if needed. Some categories need extra approval before selling in them. Worth checking this early rather than after the account is already live.

Step 5: Choose a Fulfilment Method

FBA means Amazon handles storage, packing, and shipping. Seller-fulfilled means doing all of that personally. FBA is popular with new sellers because it keeps operations simple. Seller-fulfilled makes more sense when there is already a logistics setup running.

Step 6: List Products and Start Selling

Write product titles and descriptions, upload good photos, set pricing, and choose delivery options. The listing quality genuinely affects how much visibility a product gets, so it is worth spending time on this part.

Amazon Seller UAE Fees

• Individual plan: around AED 3.67 per item sold

• Professional plan: around AED 146.90 per month

• Referral fees: 5% to 15%, depending on the product category

• FBA fulfilment and storage fees if using Amazon's warehouses

• Refund admin charges where applicable

Conclusion

Amazon UAE is genuinely one of the better opportunities out there for product-based businesses right now. The setup is not complicated, but the licence, verification, and account type decisions need to be right from the start, or things get delayed. If the business setup side needs sorting first before jumping into the Amazon registration, Nexture takes care of trade licences and all the paperwork, so the focus stays on actually building the store.

ICP Smart Services UAE: Complete Guide for Residents & Visitors

What are ICP Smart Services?

ICP Smart Services is the UAE government's digital platform for handling visa, residency, Emirates ID, and immigration services online. Instead of queuing at a government office, most things can now be done from a phone or laptop. (Honestly, for anyone who has sat in a government waiting room for two hours, this platform feels like a genuine gift.) It is available through the official ICP website and mobile app, and it works for residents, visitors, citizens, and businesses alike.

Who Can Use ICP Smart Services?

Pretty much anyone connected to the UAE in some way.

• UAE residents

• Visitors and tourists

• GCC citizens

• Business owners and investors

• Sponsors and their dependents

Key ICP Smart Services in the UAE

Here is what the platform actually lets people do:

• Check visa status

• Renew or extend a visa

• Apply for or renew an Emirates ID

• Apply for entry permits

• Handle residency services

• Pay immigration fines

• Track application progress

How to Access ICP Smart Services

Step 1: Visit the Official ICP Platform

Open the ICP website or download the ICP UAE mobile app. Pick the service needed and either log in or continue as a guest, depending on what the service allows.

Step 2: Enter Your Details

Depending on the service, the details needed could be a passport number, Emirates ID number, application number, or visa file number. Have these ready before starting because the portal times out, and nobody wants to start over.

Step 3: Submit the Request

Upload the required documents, go through the information once to check everything is correct, and pay the applicable fees. (Skipping the review step is where most people introduce errors that come back to bite them later.)

Step 4: Track Application Status

Once submitted, use the request number to check for updates. If the portal flags missing documents or needs something extra, respond to it quickly. Delays almost always come from slow responses on the applicant's side.

Documents You May Need

• Passport copy

• Emirates ID

• Visa or residency details

• Passport-size photo

• Sponsor details if the service involves a dependant

• Supporting documents specific to the service being used

Benefits of Using ICP Smart Services

• Government services are available online at any time, not just during office hours

• Applications can be tracked in real time without calling anyone

• Fewer trips to service centres

• Secure document upload and payment in one place

• Works for both residents and visitors, not just one group

Common Issues Users Face

These are the things that trip people up most often:

• Wrong passport or ID details entered

• Expired documents submitted

• Payment is failing at checkout

• Missing attachments that were not noticed before submitting

• Application status is stuck and not updating

• Picking the wrong service category to begin with

Important Things to Know Before Using ICP Smart Services

Only use the official ICP channels. There are third-party sites that look very similar and charge extra for no reason. Before starting, check whether the visa falls under ICP or GDRFA Dubai, since they handle different jurisdictions and using the wrong one wastes time. Keep all documents updated before logging in, and always save payment receipts and application reference numbers somewhere safe. Double-check everything before hitting submit because corrections after submission are a whole separate process.

Conclusion

ICP Smart Services takes what used to be a full day of office visits and turns it into something most people can handle in under an hour. Knowing which service to use, having the right documents ready, and double-checking details before submitting makes all the difference. If anything feels confusing or the application needs a second pair of eyes, Nexture is here to help get it done properly.