ICA Smart Services was the online platform of the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship — abbreviated ICA — and is now known as ICP Smart Services, following the authority’s replacement in 2021 by the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security. It is the same system, handling the same UAE identity and citizenship work: Emirates ID cards, passports, family data, entry permits and residence visas, now at smartservices.icp.gov.ae.
If you have an old ICA bookmark, login or paperwork, none of it means your records have gone anywhere. The authority was restructured, not dissolved. What follows is what changed, what did not, and where each service sits now.
What happened to ICA
The sequence matters, because three different names are still in circulation and all three refer to the same institution.
The body began life on 29 September 2004, established under Federal Law No. 2 of 2004 as the Emirates Identity Authority. Its original job was narrow: build the UAE’s Population Register and run the Emirates Identity Card programme.
Federal Decree-Law No. 3 of 2017 renamed it the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship — ICA — and widened its mandate considerably, transferring responsibility for nationality, passports, and the entry and residence of foreigners to it from the Ministry of Interior. That is the point at which ICA became the authority most expatriates dealt with, because residence visas and entry permits were now its business.
On 25 August 2021, Federal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2021 was promulgated to replace the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship and the Federal Customs Authority with a single body: the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, abbreviated ICP. Customs regulation and management in the UAE came under the same roof as identity and residency.
So ICA is not a separate agency that sits alongside ICP. ICA is what ICP was called before August 2021.
Why the old name is still everywhere
Renaming a federal authority is faster than renaming every file it ever created, and the UAE did not pretend otherwise.
The ICA name persists in several places you will encounter. The authority’s current website serves documents from paths containing ica_files, and its site theme directory is named for ICA. Press releases on its own media centre from 2018 use “ICA” throughout, including an announcement of ICA’s new logo and a meeting held “under the umbrella of ICA”. Official service manuals published in 2022 still carry ICA in their filenames. The legacy ica.gov.ae domain still resolves, and the root of the smart services domain serves a redirect script routing some traffic to a login page on smartservices.ica.gov.ae.
None of this means you are on the wrong site. It means the migration was done by redirecting rather than by breaking old links. The practical rule: start from icp.gov.ae or smartservices.icp.gov.ae, and let any legacy ICA address redirect you.
The identity and citizenship services the platform covers
These are the services that were ICA’s core mandate from 2017 and remain ICP’s today. The groupings below follow the authority’s own published services guide.
Emirates ID
The Emirates ID is the UAE’s identity card for citizens and residents, issued by the authority, and its identity number has 15 digits that stay with the holder permanently. On the platform you can apply for a first card, renew, replace a lost or damaged card — which the authority states carries the same validity period as the original — update your phone number, email and address, request a refund where a service was not completed, and request exemption from delay fees where an approved exemption decision applies. The authority’s interactive services pages state that renewal is available when the card has expired or is nearing expiry, with under one year remaining for UAE nationals and under six months for non-UAE nationals.
Passports and family data
For UAE citizens, the platform covers issuance of a new passport, renewal, renewal for citizens living abroad, and replacement of a lost or damaged passport. It also handles Family Data — issuance of a record and modifications to it. Nationality matters, including acquisition, loss and restoration, sit within the authority’s statutory mandate.
Entry permits and residence
Entry permits run across visit categories — tourism including a five-year multiple-entry option, visiting relatives or friends, business assignment, exploring job or business opportunities, treatment, study and training, and courtesy visas — plus transit, sailors and aircrew, and emergency entry. Work and non-work entry covers work entry permits, Green Visa entry, residence without work, and GCC residents with companions. Residence permits cover employment residence, Green Residence, and residence without work for students, retirees, property owners, family members, virtual-work holders and humanitarian cases.
Establishments and follow-up
Registered companies can issue, renew, modify and cancel establishment cards, and use follow-up services including absconding reports and their removal, removing a ban on an individual’s or establishment’s file, and departure permits.
One thing that did not change: Dubai is separate
This was true under ICA and remains true under ICP, and it is the most common wasted journey in UAE residency.
The UAE Government portal u.ae states that the federal authority handles entry permits and visas for Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah. Dubai entry permits and residence visas go through the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai, via its own website and its Amer channel. Emirates ID is federal and stays with ICP in every emirate, Dubai included.
A smaller naming wrinkle: the Dubai directorate’s own homepage heading and title currently read “General Directorate of Identity and Foreigners Affairs-Dubai”, while the legal notice on the same page and u.ae both use “Residency and Foreigners Affairs”. The acronym GDRFA and the domain gdrfad.gov.ae are stable, so use those as your anchor.
Using the platform today
The authority’s smart app page states that its UAEICP app relies on UAE PASS, the UAE’s national digital identity, for login. UAE PASS was launched at GITEX 2018 and gives one login across government and private-sector services alongside a digital signature and document vault. The authority’s own smart app user manual separately documents a username-and-password login with optional biometric sign-in.
For companies, the establishment services guide sets out registration beginning with Establishments Registration, an email activation link the guide warns is valid for only 15 minutes, establishment details and a mobile one-time password, then activation by payment.
Support channels published in the authority’s services guide are the call centre on 600522222, Customer Happiness Centres, the website, the ICPUAE smart app, the Ask Hamad chatbot and accredited typing offices.
Common questions
What is ICA Smart Services?
ICA Smart Services was the online services platform of the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, the UAE federal body abbreviated ICA between 2017 and 2021. It handled Emirates ID, passports, family data, entry permits and residence visas. The same platform now operates as ICP Smart Services at smartservices.icp.gov.ae.
Is ICA the same as ICP?
Yes, in the sense that ICP is the successor to ICA. Federal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2021, promulgated on 25 August 2021, replaced the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship and the Federal Customs Authority with the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security. ICA is the former name; ICP is the current one.
Does my old ICA account still work?
The authority did not announce that accounts were discontinued, and legacy ICA web addresses still resolve and redirect. If a saved login does not work, use the password recovery option on the current smart services site rather than creating a second account, because duplicate accounts attached to the same person or company cause problems later. If recovery fails, the authority’s call centre on 600522222 is the route to take.
What does ICA stand for?
ICA stood for the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, the name given to the authority by Federal Decree-Law No. 3 of 2017. That decree also transferred responsibility for nationality, passports, and the entry and residence of foreigners to it from the Ministry of Interior. Before 2017 the same body was the Emirates Identity Authority, established in 2004.
Can I use ICA or ICP Smart Services for a Dubai residence visa?
No. The UAE Government portal states that the federal authority handles entry permits and visas for Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah, while Dubai applications go through the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai. Emirates ID remains federal and is handled by ICP in all emirates, Dubai included.
Help with UAE identity and residency filings
The renames are more than a branding footnote. Files opened under one authority name, with documents issued under another, are exactly the records that fail a cross-check years later when a renewal or sponsorship transfer depends on them matching.
Worldwide Formations has handled UAE company formation, residence visas and sponsorship for 20+ years, including the identity and immigration records that sit behind them. If your paperwork spans the ICA and ICP eras and no longer reconciles, speak to our team.
