Does United Arab Emirates require proof of onward travel?

What to have ready

An onward flight is the safe answer — dated inside your permitted stay, with a booking reference the airline can verify · entry requirements (Gov. of Canada) ↗. Airlines carry the fines when a passenger is refused entry, so the strictest check usually happens at check-in, before you board.

Travelling one-way? Three legitimate fixes, safest first

1. A refundable real ticket — book a fully refundable fare out of United Arab Emirates and cancel it once you're through. Bulletproof; the only cost is having the fare tied up for a few days.
2. A cheap genuine exit flight — a budget one-way to a nearby country is often US$20–50 and is real proof by definition (you can even use it).
3. A rented onward reservation — a real, short-lived airline booking with a checkable PNR. Usually fine at airline check-in; riskier with strict immigration officers, who may re-check the PNR on arrival (an expired one can cause problems), and never appropriate for a visa application.

Whichever you choose, it must be a real booking — an edited PDF or an invented reference is document fraud, and officers can type the code into their system.

Airlines travellers report checking on United Arab Emirates routes

Any airline can ask — these are the carriers most consistently reported doing so.