Sponsoring Your Family In The UAE

This guide should help British expats negotiate the sometimes complex procedures involved with sponsoring family members to join them in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

While the guide is aimed mainly at male sponsors, the rules for female sponsors are also included.

What are the criteria for family sponsorship in the UAE?

A British expat can only sponsor their wife and children, stepchildren and dependent parents.

The main criteria for sponsorship are that the expat must be earning at least £1,800 per month or £1,440 with accommodation.

The sponsor must also have their own residence visa before beginning their application.

How do I sponsor my wife in the UAE?

To apply for sponsorship, the expat will first need to fill in an application form and supply their passport with their entry permit stamp, a photograph on a plain background and their certificate of medical clearance.

The applicant will also have to provide a copy of their employment contract along with an employer certificate confirming their monthly salary as well as their marriage certificate.

This marriage certificate will need to be issued by a registrar’s office in the UK and attested – which can be completed by contacting the Legalisation Office of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and then the UAE Embassy in London.

Once done, the certificate must be taken to the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I didn’t get married in the UK

For expats who didn’t get married in the UK, they will need to send their marriage certificate to the London embassy of the country in which they got married for attestation, as detailed above, before sending it on to the UAE Embassy.

My wife isn’t British

British expats can still sponsor their wife even if they are not a British subject but only if the British

Embassy in the UAE issues a letter of no objection. Staff will need to see a valid marriage certificate, which may have to be translated into English, and both partners’ passports.  This service carries a charge.

How do I sponsor my children to live in the UAE?

Unmarried daughters of any age can be sponsored by their father to live in the UAE, but sons can only be sponsored up until they are 18.

Authorities will accept applications for sons older than 18 if they are studying in the country but the applicant will have to provide the birth certificate for the child and the same documents detailed above for their wife.

If the applicant’s children was not born in the UK and their birth was registered at a British embassy and a birth certificate was issued then that certificate will have to be attested using the same process detailed above.

Sponsoring stepchildren

The procedure here is slightly different in that the UAE’s immigration authorities tend to look at these applications individually.

They are likely to ask for extra documents as well as those needed for the wife sponsorship category.

They may also ask for a death certificate if the child’s biological father has died.

Again this death certificate must be attested in the procedure detailed above and it must be translated into Arabic.

If the child’s biological father is separated from their mother, then he must make a declaration before a notary public in the UK about his agreement to the child moving to the UAE.  This declaration must be attested.

Should there be a reason that the declaration cannot come from the father, then the immigration authorities in the UAE may require evidence of the mother’s sole parental responsibility.

The stepfather will also be asked to sign an undertaking of his ability to support the child while living in the UAE.

How do I sponsor my parents to live in the UAE?

The UAE’s immigration authorities will allow an expat to sponsor his elderly parents to live in the country under certain circumstances, for instance should they be dependent financially on the sponsor.

In this situation, the applicant will need to provide proof that he is their only son and able to pay for his parents.  Extra documentary evidence may be demanded and a formal declaration may be asked for at the British Embassy, though there is a fee for doing so.

I am a woman expat wanting to sponsor

There are restrictions on female British expats being able to sponsor their husband and children.

In Abu Dhabi, a wife can do so if she is a residence permit holder declaring she is either a doctor, teacher, nurse, engineer or in a medically-related profession.  She must also meet the minimum income requirements and provide the documents as a male applicant would do.

In Dubai, the same restrictions apply though the female applicant may still get approval from the Department of Naturalisation and Residency Department if her employment is not in one of those categories and she earns more than £1,800 for a month.