Relocating to Dubai with your family
Dubai and Abu Dhabi for families: residence through work or a golden visa, fee-paying schools, mandatory insurance, and no citizenship by birth.
Who this is suitable for
Families with a job, a company, or a real golden-visa basis in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Not a fit if the attraction is tax gossip and a render of a tower.
Visa and residence
Residence is a sponsor’s visa: an employer, a company, a property or investment route where the threshold is met, or a parent’s residence for dependants. Rules and fees move. Counsel confirms the category before you give notice at home. A visit visa is not a school year.
Family residence
Spouse and children are sponsored. There are salary thresholds and, for sons over a certain age, extra rules. Daughters and sons are not always treated the same. Read the current rule for your children’s ages before you assume the whole household is covered.
Work
Employment residence is the ordinary path. Working on a visit visa is a penalty, not a grey area we will help you sit in. A remote contract for a foreign employer needs advice on whether you may live in the UAE while doing it.
Business
Free zones and mainland companies are different licences. The licence does not automatically put the family in school. We introduce a corporate lawyer. We do not sell a shelf company.
Schools
Dubai schools are rated by KHDA and almost all are fee-paying. British, IB, American, and Indian curricula sit in different neighbourhoods. Abu Dhabi has its own regulator and its own campuses. The seat, not the skyline, chooses the community.
Healthcare
Health insurance is mandatory. Employers often provide it, and the dependant cover is sometimes thinner than the employee’s. Read the maternity cap and the network before a pregnancy. Private hospitals are the system families use.
Housing
Family communities include Arabian Ranches, Dubai Hills, Jumeirah, and the Marina for some ages. Abu Dhabi families look at Saadiyat, Yas, and Khalifa City when the school is there. Ejari registration in Dubai is part of a lawful lease. Agency fees are a real line.
Cost of living
Rent and school fees dominate. Summer utilities are not a small bill. There is no personal income tax in the UAE, which is not advice about the tax you still owe in Germany or anywhere else. A tax lawyer in the country you are leaving has to speak before you treat the move as a tax plan.
Family-friendly areas
Follow the school bus and the park, not the hotel beach. A downtown apartment can be wrong for small children even when the view is right.
Safety
Street crime is low by big-city standards. The rules families actually bump into are driving, alcohol licensing, and what children may and may not do in public. Heat from June to September is an operational fact for arrivals and for school start.
International schools
Ask for the KHDA report, the waiting list for the year group, the bus, and the total invoice. A school that looks cheaper on tuition can be expensive once the enrolment fee is added.
Birth abroad
A child born in the UAE is not an Emirati citizen. You receive a UAE birth certificate. The child’s nationality is taken from the parents at their embassy. We will not describe a Dubai birth as a citizenship strategy. It is not one.
Birth registration
The hospital notifies the birth. The certificate is issued through the health authority, and the parents then register with their embassy and apply for a passport. The newborn also needs a residence visa sponsored by the parent. A baby without a passport and a visa cannot leave.
Citizenship rules
Citizenship is not available through birth and is not a service. Residence is the thing that can be planned. Keep those words apart.
Parent immigration
Parents of a child born in Dubai still need their own sponsor: employer, company, or another residence basis. The birth does not sponsor them.
Banking
A residence visa and Emirates ID are what banks ask for, plus proof of address and income. We prepare the file. The bank’s compliance team decides. We do not shop the same file through five banks in a week.
Property
Foreigners can buy freehold in designated areas. A purchase can support some residence routes if the value meets the current threshold. Thresholds change. A lawyer and a survey come before a reservation cheque.
Business setup
Free zone or mainland, chosen for the activity, not for the brochure. Licensing is the lawyer’s work.
Transportation
A car is the family default. Driving-licence conversion depends on your current licence. School buses are widely used. Airport pickup with seats is part of landing week. Summer arrivals need a car that is already waiting, not a walk to the taxi rank at noon.
Nanny and childcare
A nanny is sponsored or hired under local labour rules. Live-in arrangements need a room and a visa. We introduce candidates. The sponsorship is a legal relationship, not a favour.
International health insurance
Mandatory, and the maternity sub-limit is the line to read. A dependant on a minimal plan can discover the cap during prenatal care. Upgrade before the pregnancy, not after the invoice.
Timeline
Employment residence can be quick once the employer moves. School places are often the slow part. A golden visa or a company is longer. Do not book the container before the school has said yes.
Estimated budget
Quoted for Dubai or Abu Dhabi and the number of children in school. Rent, school, insurance, a car, and the enrolment fee are the shape of the year. Tax saved at home is not our number to promise.
Documents
Passports, attested marriage and birth certificates, photographs, tenancy contract, and the medical test the visa process requires. Attestation chains (home country, UAE embassy, ministry) take weeks.
Professional partners
UAE immigration and corporate counsel, the school’s registrar, the insurer, and a tax adviser in the country you are leaving if the move is also a tax move.
Frequently asked questions
Does a baby born in Dubai get citizenship?
No. The child receives a UAE birth certificate and takes nationality from the parents. The baby also needs a residence visa.
Is there income tax?
The UAE does not levy personal income tax. That does not cancel tax residence in the country you left. Get that advice before you move, not from us.
Dubai or Abu Dhabi?
Whichever has the job and the school. They are not the same commute.
Book a family assessment
Tell us the passports, the children’s ages, and whether a birth is part of the year. We come back with a plan, or with a no.
This is family orientation, not a visa grant and not legal advice. Licensed counsel in the country confirms the rule before you travel, sign, or give birth.
