Living, Working and Doing Business in the United Arab Emirates

Dubai holds the largest share of the international population, followed by Abu Dhabi; Sharjah is cheaper, at the cost of a longer commute. The absence of an income tax on individuals does not make the cost of living low: the budget is driven by housing, schooling and healthcare.

Housing is the dominant item. Rents are traditionally paid in advance by cheque, often one to four cheques covering the year, and have risen sharply since 2022. Monthly payment options have developed through private platforms, for a fee, but annual payment remains the norm.

Two further items weigh on family budgets. Schooling, because children of foreign residents attend fee-paying private international schools. And health insurance, which is a condition of issuing and renewing a residence permit: cover has long been mandatory in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and since January 1, 2025 the federal basic health insurance scheme has extended the same requirement to private-sector employees and domestic workers in Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah. Rather than reasoning in averages, the more useful exercise is to compare a current net position with a projected one:

Hiring is concentrated in finance, notably the Dubai International Financial Centre and Abu Dhabi Global Market, in technology and artificial intelligence, healthcare, construction and real estate, logistics and trade, and tourism, hospitality and aviation. Because the UAE levies no income tax on individuals, an advertised salary is not reduced by income tax withholding. Sector bands are set out below, in the Sectors and salaries section.

Private-sector employment is governed federally by Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, in force since February 2, 2022 and administered by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation. Three points are worth knowing:

Arabic is the official language, and English is the working language in most international companies and in the free zones. The financial free zones are a separate legal world: established under Federal Law No. 8 of 2004 and, since the 2004 amendment of article 121 of the Constitution, exempt from federal civil and commercial laws while remaining subject to UAE criminal law, the Dubai International Financial Centre and Abu Dhabi Global Market run their own civil and commercial frameworks, their own courts and their own employment regulations.

In the mainland private sector, Emiratisation targets set nationally by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation require establishments with 50 or more employees to raise the share of Emiratis in skilled roles by 2 per cent a year. Establishments with 20 to 49 employees in 14 designated economic activities were required to employ one Emirati by the end of 2024 and a second by the end of 2025. Financial contributions are payable where a target is missed, and the two bands are charged differently: establishments with 50 or more employees pay a monthly contribution of AED 6,000 for each Emirati not employed against the target, rising by AED 1,000 a year until 2026, while establishments with 20 to 49 employees pay an annual contribution, set at AED 96,000 collected from January 2025 for the 2024 target and AED 108,000 collected in January 2026 for the 2025 target. These are obligations on the employer, not on the employee.

The UAE runs its own entry policy, in nationality bands, administered federally by the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security and, in Dubai, by the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs. Citizens of the other Gulf Cooperation Council states, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, do not need a visa. Beyond that, a long list of nationalities is admitted without arranging a visa in advance. The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai publishes that list, and it includes Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Monaco, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States and the EU and Schengen member states, all in one undifferentiated list. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes a parallel classification of nationalities as visa-free or visa-required. How long the admission lasts is a different question, and the UAE does not answer it centrally: neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs classification nor the Dubai directorate's list states any duration, and the UAE government portal no longer carries a list of its own, stating that the arrangements may vary from time to time and directing travellers to the UAE mission accredited to them. Individual missions do publish durations and they contradict one another, including for the same nationality: the mission in Wellington states that New Zealand passport holders receive a multiple-entry visit visa for up to 90 days within any 180-day period, while other missions place New Zealand at 30 days, and South Korea appears in a 90-day list at one mission and a 30-day list at another. Several missions place Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States at 30 days or one month, but those pages are demonstrably out of date on other entries, so that figure is not stated here as the rule. One emirate-level authority does put a figure on the band as a whole: the Abu Dhabi Residents Office states that for the countries concerned an entry visa is issued automatically on arrival and is valid for 30 days, with a 10-day extension. It publishes no list of those countries alongside it, and a flat 30 days cannot be squared with the 90 days within 180 that the Wellington mission gives New Zealand or with the Russian agreement, so it is recorded here as what Abu Dhabi publishes rather than as the federal rule. One duration does rest on an instrument rather than on a mission page: nationals of the Russian Federation are admitted for 90 days within any 180-day period under the mutual visa exemption agreement in force since February 17, 2019. For every other nationality in this group, no permitted stay is stated on this page, because none could be established from a current central UAE source, and the mission pages that state one are not consistent with each other. Confirm it with the UAE mission accredited to your own country before booking. A conditional band runs alongside those. The Dubai residency directorate's own service card for it names nationals of India, Kenya, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and South Africa who hold a residence permit issued by the United States, an EU member state, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand or Canada, valid for at least six months; Indian nationals holding a valid United States visa qualify on the same footing as residence-permit holders. The permitted stay is either 14 days from entry, extendable once for the same period, or 60 days from entry and not extendable, and the visa must be used within 30 days of issue. India was brought into the wider set of issuing jurisdictions from February 13, 2025, having previously qualified only on a United States, United Kingdom or EU document; an older directorate service card still carries that narrower wording, and the current card is the one stated here. Everyone else obtains an entry visit visa in advance, through a sponsor: a relative or friend resident in the country, an employer, a hotel or an airline. The lists change: the UAE government portal no longer publishes them itself, states that they may vary from time to time and directs travellers to the UAE mission in their own country, and a passport valid for at least six months from the date of entry is required in every band.

A short visit and settling are separate matters. Living and working in the country requires a residence permit, which is tied to something concrete, most often a job with the employer acting as sponsor, but also a company, a property or a category defined by the federal authority. The main routes are:

Three further points, presented for information. Health insurance is required for the issue and renewal of a residence permit, and since January 1, 2025 that requirement covers private-sector employees and domestic workers in all seven emirates. Alcohol is regulated at emirate level rather than federally, and each emirate publishes its own rules on its own legal portal; the federal position stated on the government portal is that drinking alcohol without a licence, or being under the influence of alcohol in public, is a punishable offence. During Ramadan, working hours are reduced by two hours a day for all private-sector employees, Muslim and non-Muslim, without any deduction from wages; non-Muslims are not required to fast, some restaurants adjust their opening hours during daylight, and restaurants and food courts in shopping malls provide designated areas away from those who are fasting. Separately, Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2022 on Civil Personal Status governs marriage, divorce, inheritance, wills and proof of parentage for non-Muslim residents, unless a person elects the law of their home country: civil marriage requires both parties to have reached 21 Gregorian years, and where there is no will half the estate passes to the surviving spouse and the other half is divided equally among the children, without distinction between sons and daughters.

Which route applies is determined by the basis of the stay, employment, company ownership, investment or a category defined by the federal authority, and by the applicant's family situation.

The United Arab Emirates levies no income tax on individuals: salaries are paid without any withholding on that account. That statement needs to be placed alongside two others.

First, other taxes do exist: value added tax since 2018, excise tax on specified goods, and a federal corporate tax on business profits since financial years beginning on or after June 1, 2023. Second, the absence of a local income tax does not by itself settle an individual's overall position. That turns on where the person is tax resident and on the tax treaty in force between the UAE and the other state or states concerned; the Ministry of Finance states that the UAE has concluded 137 double taxation agreements. Depending on the length and nature of presence, the household and the source of the income, the applicable rules differ. This information is educational and does not replace the analysis of a qualified professional.

Two frameworks coexist. Free zones, such as the DMCC and IFZA in Dubai and the financial free zones DIFC in Dubai and ADGM in Abu Dhabi, are established within an individual emirate and licensed by that zone's own authority, with a scope of activity centred on the zone and on international markets, and have long allowed 100 per cent ownership by foreign shareholders. The mainland, the onshore territory, allows direct trade throughout the country: Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2020 amending the Commercial Companies Law, in effect from 2021 and later consolidated by Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021, removed the requirement for a majority Emirati shareholder for most activities. The Cabinet retains the power to designate activities of strategic impact where restrictions remain, and the sectors named as restricted include security and defence, telecommunications, banking, insurance and financing, commercial agencies, the organising of Hajj and Umrah, and fishing and pearling.

The choice between a free zone and the mainland turns on the activity, on whether the customers are domestic or international, and on the need for visas and office space. Setup costs and timelines vary widely by zone and by activity.

A company can also be the basis of a residence permit for its owners and their family. A separate regime applies to large groups: a Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax under Cabinet Decision No. 142 of 2024 applies for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025 to UAE entities of multinational groups whose consolidated revenue reached EUR 750 million or more in at least two of the four preceding financial years, bringing their effective rate in the UAE to the 15 per cent global minimum. Because setup costs move with the zone, the activity, the number of visas and the office, a figure quoted for one project does not transfer to another.

The structure, free zone or mainland, and the regime that follows from it are determined by the activity and by the market being served.

Property ownership by non-UAE nationals is set by each emirate, not federally. In Dubai, Regulation No. 3 of 2006, made under Law No. 7 of 2006 on Land Registration in the Emirate of Dubai, designates the areas in which non-nationals may hold property. Within those designated areas a non-national may acquire freehold ownership, usufruct rights, or leasehold rights for up to 99 years; the emirate's published position provides for none of the three outside them. In Abu Dhabi, article 3 (ii) of Law No. 13 of 2019, amending Law No. 19 of 2005, allows non-UAE nationals, whether individuals or companies, to own and acquire all original and in-kind rights in property located within designated investment areas.

Registration costs in Dubai are published by the Dubai Land Department. The registration fee on a sale is 4 per cent of the sale value, which the Department sets as 2 per cent payable by the seller and 2 per cent by the buyer. Fixed items are added: AED 250 for the issue of the title deed, AED 225 for a unified map under Dubai Municipality, AED 250 for villas and apartments, and knowledge and innovation fees of AED 10 each. A registration trustee fee of AED 4,000 plus VAT applies where the sale value is AED 500,000 or more, and AED 2,000 plus VAT below that. A purchase may concern a completed property on the secondary market or an off-plan property bought on a developer payment schedule.

Ownership can also open a residence route. The federal identity and citizenship authority grants a five-year Golden Residency to the owner of property worth at least AED 2,000,000 held without a loan, on production of a letter from the emirate's real estate registration department proving ownership, valid health insurance and a passport valid for at least six months. The ten-year Golden Residency is the public-investment route, on a minimum of AED 2 million. The authority is not consistent with itself on the property route: its Golden Residency page and the government portal both give five years, while its older real estate investor service card, last updated in December 2024, still gives ten.