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What your first year in Dubai really costs

Housing, deposits, removals, school, car, insurance and what leaving home costs you. Six questions, then you see everything split into one-off and monthly. You can work out your company setup costs here.

Step two

And what does arriving cost?

The company is the smaller part. The expense is everything around it, in places that no quote mentions. Housing, removals, car, school, insurance. Figures as of 12 September 2026.

Where are you moving from?

The costs in Dubai are the same for everyone. Your home country only decides what leaving costs you there. We have researched 19 countries.

Where do you want to live, and how big?

Pick an area and a size. We use the typical annual rent according to Bayut (October 2026). The deposit, agent’s fee and municipality fee follow from the rent.

Size:

Already have an offer? Your own annual rent in AED:

How many people are moving?

Including you. We add a family visa for every dependant, plus health insurance, mobile phone and attestations per person.

Of whom adults with a driving licence:

How will you get a car?

Without an Emirates ID you can neither buy nor register a car. So at the start, renting is usually the only option.

Which of these apply to you?

Each tick changes the total noticeably.

We are moving into a villadouble deposit for electricity and water We pay for air conditioning separatelyCentral cooling billed on its own, the contract says “chiller paid”. With “chiller free” it is included in the rent, so leave this unticked. The flat is furnishedno furniture to buy, but the rent goes up Our belongings are coming by containercurrently with a war risk surcharge on sea freight

School for your children

How many children will go to school or nursery?

Real receipt: family visa for a wife 30 Sep 2026 · Amer centre in Dubai · translated, name and provider hidden

Item	AED
Opening the file	233.15
Entry permit for dependants, sponsor employed in the UAE	1,188.90
Change of status, family (already in the country)	738.90
Medical test, incl. VAT	322.50
Emirates ID for 2 years, incl. VAT	401.16
Visa for 2 years	646.65
Centre service charge, incl. VAT	84.00
of which VAT	8.75
Total	3,615.26

On top of that, also paid out of pocket:

Salary certificate from the free zone (IFZA), required for the sponsor	250.00
Marriage certificate attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, online with courier	193.37
Legal Arabic translation of the marriage certificate	approx. 190

Actually paid on 1 Oct 2026, by card link with a 2.5% card fee

3,705.64

Tip: paying the centre by bank transfer avoids the card fee, but takes a little longer. No deposit was asked for.

How it went, entirely over WhatsApp:

Send the documents: wife's passport and photo, the sponsor's visa and Emirates ID, salary certificate, attested marriage certificate with translation
Pay, by bank transfer or card link
Send the sponsor's visa page from the ICP app, mobile number, email and delivery address for the Emirates ID
Approve the immigration authority's request in UAE Pass
The centre opens the file and applies for the entry permit
Once approved: change of status, medical, fingerprints for the Emirates ID, visa

You only need to go in person for the medical and the fingerprints. Without health insurance. Children under 18 need no medical. If the family member enters from abroad, an outside entry replaces the status change.

Your first step

Get the guide. Everything else is up to you.

Enter your name and email, and the founder’s guide is yours, straight away as a PDF. Prefer to message us directly? Metin and Mo reply to you personally on WhatsApp, usually the same day.

A reply from a person, not a bot
The guide is yours to keep, even if you do everything on your own
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