The best way to get a Dubai Tourist Visa

Dubai as a tourist destination is on my radar since a long time. I am scouting for an affordable deal and as soon as I spot one, I will go ahead with the booking. Flydubai is a new budget carrier that is offering economic tickets to Dubai, but the budget fare includes only 7kg baggage - everything else is chargeable.
Dubai provides visa on arrival for Indians with valid US visa. Those who do not qualify for Visa On Arrival visiting Dubai/UAE must arrange their Dubai Visa well in advance. It is a fairly simple process. Below are the documents required:

Dubai Visa requirements
• Passport should have minimum validity of 6 months from the date of entry
• Passport should have minimum one empty page
• For minors, birth certificate/age proof is required
• UAE Embassy works from Sunday till Thursday. Friday and Saturday are off.
• Dubai tourist visa typically takes 4-5 working days under normal mode, 48 hours in case of emergency

One good thing about Dubai visa is that there is no need to visit Embassy or any office in person. One can apply online by uploading scanned copies of the passports and a photo.

For 90 days visa additional documents are required - such as invite from friend/relative, local residence proof etc. 

Also note that females below 30 years and males under 22 years are recommended to apply along with their father or husband to minimise chances of rejection. Some Middle East countries have this suspicion that visitors may stay back permanently or try to marry someone locally, so they take extra caution in case of single women, young adults etc. One of the fellow female blogger recently told me that she was asked to provide NOC from their parents for a tourist visa to Turkey and a range of other proofs.

Another luck based way to visit Dubai is to book your international flight that transits through Dubai, hope that you miss your connecting flight and the airline gives you a night's stay and a temporary visa. But that approach can't be planned. Let me see when I will be able to visit Dubai.

While there’re many agencies that provide visa assistance, one agency that specializes in Dubai Visa services is Musafir - a Mumbai based travel services company.  Musafir processes over 25,000 visa applications every month and its Dubai Visa fee includes ‘Ok to Board’ clearance service. (Ok to Board is a status tagged to your flight ticket PNR  after the airline checks the accuracy of your Visa, this is a security measure incorporated due to high rate of fake Visa in operation and Indians migrating to Gulf without proper work permits). Once visa is granted by UAE authorities, Musafir team will send a copy of your visa to the airline that issued the tickets, so that your status can be updated to ‘Ok to Board’. Some Indian airlines charge extra for this service - with Musafir, you get Ok to Board without extra cost irrespective of the airline you’re flying. I've recently booked economic tickets to Indonesia and Australia. As and when I spot a tempting ticket fare to Dubai, I am going to grab it and  approach Musafir for Visa service.

Musafir charges a nominal fee of Rs 4999 for Dubai 30 day tourist visa processing. I did some random checks and compared to what few other agencies charge, this is quite a nominal fee. There’re other types of visa such as Emergency Visa, Transit Visa, 90 day visa etc, the fee may vary accordingly. Do check Musafir's website for complete Dubai Visa details.