United Arab Emirates

Salary in IT

$ 47 796 – $ 111 524

Median

$ 63 728

Visa speed

The work visa takes several weeks; the Golden Visa 1 to 8 weeks

Degree required

no

Language at work

English is the working language of business; Arabic is not required for work

Changing employer

Yes. Since the 2021 reforms an employer NOC is not required; a new work permit is issued instead

Visa types: The employment residence visa — 2 years, with a sponsoring employer · Golden Visa: 10 years, no sponsor · Green Visa: 5 years, self-sponsored · Freelance permit

Employers: Emirates Group, e& (Etisalat), Emaar, ADNOC, Careem, Noon, Talabat, Emirates NBD

Entering and staying in the UAE is a two-step business, and it is paid for twice. First comes the ENTRY PERMIT — valid for 60 days from the date of entry and needed for exactly one thing: to give the applicant time to obtain the second document, the RESIDENCE PERMIT itself. The entry permit costs AED 200 plus 5% VAT, the residence permit another 200 (1,100 for the golden one), and each carries small compulsory surcharges: the knowledge dirham 10, the innovation dirham 10, delivery 20, and 500 for processing if the applicant is already in the country. The issuance fee rises by AED 100 for every year beyond the two-year term. The tariff here is the EMIRATE'S, not the federation's: the rules on types of residence are common to the country and are set out in Law No. 29 of 2021 on the entry and residence of foreigners and its executive regulation, but permits are issued by the emirate's authority, and that authority sets the money. The amounts and processing times in these records are Dubai's, from the service catalogue of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA). That the divergence between emirates is not an invention is shown by the federal portal itself: a retiree needs an annual income of AED 180,000 across the country, but AED 240,000 when applying from Dubai. The UAE publishes processing times — which is rare. For most grounds the Dubai authority promises 48 hours; for the golden residence of investors, entrepreneurs, talents and top students, five days; for humanitarian cases, fourteen. The processing field is blank exactly once, for the residence permit for the families of GCC citizens. The federal portal u.ae and the Dubai authority DIVERGE in places, and not trivially: for real estate the portal gives the golden residence for five years, while the Dubai service page writes of ten, and of a ten-year ban on disposing of the property; for an entrepreneur the portal gives five years and the authority ten. Where that happens, the term recorded here is the federal portal's, and the divergence is named in the record itself. The authority also has outright errors: on the page for the residence permit for a foreigner's family the conditions carry someone else's text — nomination by the Dubai Future Foundation and a project income of a million dirhams a year, that is, the conditions of the entrepreneur's golden visa; on the page for the government-sector residence permit the description has been taken from the investor's green residence. And the link to the “general provisions for the residence visa” that the portal gives from its student visa page leads to a 404. The federal authority ICP, the Ministry of Human Resources MOHRE and the legal portal uaelegislation.gov.ae are unreachable from outside the country: the first two stay silent until timeout on every address, the third answers 403 on every path. So there are two sources here — the federal portal u.ae and the Dubai service catalogue; both are governmental and both open. **The Dubai authority's tariff prints the charge for the PERMIT, not for entry.** Every GDRFA Dubai service card carries one and the same add-on: the knowledge dirham 10, the innovation dirham 10, delivery 20 and 500 for filing from inside the country, while the issuance fee rises by 100 dirhams for each year beyond two. The entry permit itself is a separate service, and its price is on none of the route cards: until 06.09.2026 the records said «an entry permit costs 200 dirhams plus VAT», and the check silently confirmed that figure wherever 200 is the price of the permit itself (the green visa, the work visa, the family visa) and failed it wherever the permit costs 1,100 (the golden visa). The claim has been removed: the route pages do not print it.

Citizenship after

30 years

Language

Arabic (for naturalisation)

Dual citizenship

not allowed

Absence limits: An ordinary residence visa is cancelled after more than 6 consecutive months out of the country. The Golden Visa is exempt from this limit.

There is no classic permanent residence route to citizenship. The Golden Visa is renewable 10-year residence, but it does not lead to a passport. Naturalisation is formally possible after 30 years of residence but is unavailable in practice: citizenship is granted by decree for exceptional service.

Document certification

consular legalisation

The country does not accept apostilles: documents go through consular legalisation in three steps — ministry of justice, foreign ministry, consulate.

Limit

2

Quarantine

no

Antibody titre test

needed

Preparation

~3 months

Cost per animal

$ 797 – $ 3 983

Banned breeds: pit bull (American Pit Bull Terrier), American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier, American Bully, Tosa Inu, Cane Corso, Bullmastiff, fila brasileiro, Dogo Argentino, Tibetan mastiff, Neapolitan mastiff, Dogue de Bordeaux, Boerboel, Bully Kutta, Perro de Presa Canario

There is no quarantine if the requirements are met (microchip, rabies vaccination, an antibody titre for high-risk countries, Russia included). Usually up to 2 pets per person, on a MOCCAE permit. A shipping agent costs AED 5,000–15,000.

Situation

calm

A federation of seven absolute monarchies. Internally stable, but there are no political freedoms and no elections. Regional tension is close by (Iran, Yemen).

Crime: One of the safest countries for street crime. IMPORTANT: strict laws, with zero tolerance for drugs, restrictions on alcohol, and penalties for public indecency and insults; sharia law in family matters.

The main risks are extreme summer heat and flash flooding in rare heavy downpours. Seismic and storm risk is low.

Type

Tropical desert (BWh)

Sunny days

~350 a year

A desert climate: a very hot summer (+40…+48 °C, humid and stifling on the coast) and a mild warm winter. There is almost no rainfall apart from rare winter downpours.

Life expectancy

83.1 years

Migration

inflow

Healthcare: Modern medicine and a strong private sector. Health insurance is compulsory for residents (Dubai, Abu Dhabi); treatment without it is expensive.

Air: Periodic dust and sandstorms raise particulate levels (PM10).

Flows: A strong migration inflow: around 88% of the population are foreigners. The economy is built on imported labour.

Bread, 500 g

$ 1,41

Milk, 1 l

$ 1,81

Eggs, 12

$ 3,19

Chicken breast, 1 kg

$ 8,45

Cheese, 1 kg

$ 11,1

Rice, 1 kg

$ 2,03

Potatoes, 1 kg

$ 1,11

Apples, 1 kg

$ 2,40

Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 l

$ 2,18

Total

$ 33,6

The same set for every country, so the comparison is fair.

Rent, 1 bedroom

$ 1 662 a month

Rent, 3 bedrooms

$ 3 230 a month

Utility bills

$ 188 a month

Home internet

$ 91,1 a month

Monthly transport pass

$ 59,0 a month

Single transport ticket

$ 1,60

Petrol, litre

$ 0,82

Cold medicine

$ 7,53 for a week

Country averages. City prices, where collected, are shown above and are more precise.

Life expectancy

83,1 years2024

Homicides

0,5 per 100k2023

Road deaths

5,9 per 100k2021

Unemployment

2,2 %2025

Unemployment, ages 15–24

6,5 %2025

Inequality (Gini)

26,42018 · data lags behind

Health spending per person

$ 2 402 a year

Air pollution, PM2.5

57,2 µg/m³2023

Access to clean water

100 %2024

Internet, fixed line

378,6 Mbit/s2026

Internet, mobile

672,9 Mbit/s2026

Governance

Political stability

above average · 0,8

Control of corruption

high · 1,2

Rule of law

above average · 0,5

Government effectiveness

high · 1,3

World Bank estimates on a −2.5 to +2.5 scale, higher is better.

Natural hazards

Earthquakes

0,1 out of 10

River floods

0,6 out of 10

Coastal floods

8,4 out of 10

Tropical cyclones

0,4 out of 10

Droughts

5 out of 10

Tsunamis

6 out of 10

Policy towards newcomers

Migrant integration, overall score

24 out of 100 · 2019

Family reunification

52 out of 100 · 2019

Permanent residence

17 out of 100 · 2019

Access to citizenship

9 out of 100 · 2019

Access to the labour market

24 out of 100 · 2019

Measures how favourable the law is towards newcomers, not one person's chances of getting a visa.

Each value carries the year it refers to. “Data lags behind” means this country's figure was collected noticeably earlier than the rest. Natural hazards use one 0–10 scale and are meant to be compared against each other.

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