Why You Must Verify The Mobile Number Linked To Your Emirates ID

Visa applicants in the UAE commonly approach a typing centre or a corporate services agent to submit or renew their visa application. The form asks for a mobile number, and the agent enters its own so that the application can be completed without calling the client each time a code arrives. In other cases the number entered is simply invented, a string of digits belonging to no one. The visa is issued and the matter appears closed. What remains on the record is an identity file in the resident’s name attached to a number the resident does not hold.

Where the Registered Number Is Used

• Visa and immigration applications. Issuance, renewal, cancellation and any change of status are confirmed by a code sent to the number on the file.
• Court notification. Under the Civil Procedure Law, Federal Decree-Law No. (42) of 2022, a defendant may be notified of proceedings by text message, by electronic mail or through a smart application, and the Criminal Procedure Law, Federal Decree-Law No. (38) of 2022, permits a summons to be served in the same manner. This is the ordinary method of service rather than an exception to it.
• Government records and approvals. UAE PASS, ICP Smart Services and the police and municipal platforms each authenticate by the same code before an application is submitted or an approval is issued.
• Banking and telecommunications. The opening of an account, the reset of a password and the registration of a new line are confirmed in the same way.

The Consequence of an Incorrect Number

Two consequences follow. The first is that the applicant cannot act on his own file. A renewal cannot be completed, a document cannot be signed through UAE PASS, and the record cannot be corrected, because each of those steps requires the code.

The second concerns time. Where a court case is filed and the message is sent to the number held on the file, the record shows the defendant as notified, and the periods for objection and for appeal run from that date and not from the date on which he learns of the case. A person who discovers proceedings only when a travel ban appears is left to argue that service was not validly effected, which is a weaker position than arguing the claim itself. An invented number produces the same result. The message reaches no one, but the record shows it as sent to the number held on the file.

The Two Records That Should Be Checked

Contact details are held in three separate places, and the correction of one does not correct the others.

1. The identity file, amended through the ICP Smart Services portal. The change is confirmed by a code sent to the new number, which is why the correction becomes difficult once the previous number is no longer in the holder’s hands.
2. The digital identity. UAE PASS maintains its own contact details which ought to be updated. All three records warrant review after any change of number and at the conclusion of any engagement with an agent.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if someone uses my UAE mobile number for OTP verification?

Codes that arrive without being requested indicate that the line has been entered on another person’s application. The line remains registered in the name of the person to whom it was issued, and the use made of it may be attributed to him. The messages should be kept, and, where the number has been used to complete a transaction in another person’s name, the matter warrants a complaint to the police and the Public Prosecution.

Is a judgment valid if the person never received the message?

The judgment stands until it is set aside. It may be challenged on the ground that notification was not validly effected, and the court will examine the record. Where the number used was the number held on the file, that challenge is harder to sustain.

The number on the file is out of date and no longer in use. Is that still a problem?

Yes. No offence has been committed, but the position on notification is the same, and time runs from the date on which the message is sent.

Conclusion

The number registered against an Emirates ID is the means by which identity is confirmed and the address at which a person is reachable by the UAE authorities. Verification of that number on all three records warrants attention after any change of line and at the end of any engagement with an agent.