United Arab Emirates
UAE Pass
The UAE's national digital identity single sign-on. One face-scan unlocks ICP, GDRFA, MOHRE, DLD, RTA, and 15,000+ other federal, local and private services.
Overview
UAE Pass (uaepass.ae) is the national digital identity launched jointly by the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), Smart Dubai, and the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP). It binds your Emirates ID to a face-scan and a 6-digit PIN on your phone, then becomes the single sign-on key for almost every digital government service in the UAE: ICP Smart Services, GDRFA Dubai, MOHRE, DubaiNow, TAMM Abu Dhabi, Dubai Land Department (Ejari), RTA, Dubai Police, the Ministry of Health, DEWA, ADDC, and a long tail of private banks, insurers, courier companies and free-zone authorities. The published catalog now covers more than 15,000 services and is still growing month on month.
There are three account tiers: Visitor (mobile + email, very limited), Verified (Emirates ID linked, face-scan completed; this is the level you need for almost all government use), and Verified Plus (added at a kiosk for highly regulated services such as Dubai Land Department transfers). Most residents never need anything past Verified. Once Verified, the app stores a signed digital wallet that includes the Emirates ID, driving licence, vehicle registration (Mulkiya), and any documents you choose to add, and these are accepted as legal proof at traffic stops, hotel check-ins and many government counters without you having to carry physical copies.
Two operational facts matter day to day. First, UAE Pass replaces the older user-and-password logins on most portals; many services now refuse password login entirely and force you down the UAE Pass route. Second, signing PDFs through UAE Pass produces an electronically signed file with legal weight equal to a wet-ink signature under UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 46 of 2021, which is what makes lease addenda, employment-contract changes, no-objection certificates and many bank forms now go through entirely on the phone. Confirm any specific service's UAE Pass requirement on its own portal page before you assume it works.
Services offered
- Single sign-on to UAE government portals
- Digital document signing
- Verified digital wallet (Emirates ID, driving licence, vehicle registration)
- Document storage and sharing
How to access
1. Download the UAE Pass app
Install UAE PASS from the App Store or Google Play. The publisher is the UAE Government. Make sure you are downloading the official app and not one of the look-alikes that occasionally appear.
2. Register with Emirates ID and UAE mobile
Open the app, choose Register, enter your Emirates ID number and a UAE mobile number registered in your own name. The SIM must be in your name; SIMs in a company's or relative's name will fail the bind later. Set a 6-digit PIN and choose a recovery email.
3. Complete face verification
The app uses biometric face matching against the photo ICP holds on your Emirates ID file. Stand in good light, remove glasses, keep a neutral expression. The whole step takes about 30 seconds. If the match fails twice, you will be asked to visit a kiosk.
4. Verify at a kiosk if needed
If the face-match cannot complete (common for older Emirates ID photos), visit any UAE Pass kiosk at an ICP, Smart Dubai or TAMM centre with your physical Emirates ID. The agent re-captures a fresh photo and pushes the verified status to your account in about 5 minutes.
5. Add your wallet documents
Once Verified, open Wallet inside the app and link your driving licence, Mulkiya, vaccination record and academic certificates. The app pulls them automatically from ICP, RTA and the Ministry of Health once consent is granted. Sharing a wallet item generates a QR code that any verifier can scan.
FAQs
Yes. Registration, face verification, kiosk activation, document signing, and wallet sharing are all free. There are no UAE Pass platform fees for any transaction. The government or private service you are logging in to may charge its own fee, but UAE Pass itself never does.
No for full Verified status. UAE Pass requires an Emirates ID, which only residents and citizens hold. Tourists can sometimes create a Visitor tier account using their passport for very limited services (such as e-visa application), but the full single sign-on stack is residents only. Confirm on uaepass.ae if your specific use case fits Visitor tier.
Install the app on the new phone, choose Restore, enter your Emirates ID and UAE mobile, and complete the face-match again. The same SIM must be active in the new phone. If you also changed your SIM, you will need to visit a kiosk with both the new SIM and your physical Emirates ID to rebind. Plan ahead before travelling because you will need access to your registered UAE number to receive the verification SMS.
Yes for login, but the SMS OTP and biometric flow both work over an internet connection. The hard requirement is that your registered UAE SIM is still active and either roaming or replaced by an active eSIM on the same number. Many residents who travelled and let their UAE SIM lapse find themselves locked out and have to wait until they return to reactivate at a kiosk.
Yes. PDFs signed through the UAE Pass signature flow carry legal weight equivalent to a wet-ink signature under UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 46 of 2021. This is the legal basis for the wholesale move of property addenda, NOCs, employment contract amendments and many bank forms onto the app. Some highly regulated transactions (DLD property transfer, certain court filings) still require Verified Plus, so confirm on the relevant portal.
Functionally no, because UAE Pass is now the standard login for all three. The underlying file at each authority still exists in your name, but you reach it through UAE Pass. Many residents have not opened a direct ICP or GDRFA account in years.
Open the wallet, select Emirates ID, choose Share. The app generates a one-time QR code or link. The recipient scans or opens it and sees a verified copy with a UAE Pass authenticity stamp. This is preferred by most UAE banks now because it removes the photocopy step and the verification problem.
After two failed attempts the app asks you to visit a kiosk. Bring your physical Emirates ID. The kiosk agent captures a fresh photo and pushes a verified status back to your account. Common reasons for repeated failure are very old Emirates ID photos, significant weight change, beard or hijab change, and poor lighting. Kiosk activation takes about 5 minutes.
Related paperwork
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