Visas & immigration
Sponsoring your spouse
An attested marriage certificate, a tenancy contract and a salary above the threshold. The attestation is what delays it, and it has to be done in the country where you married.
What it is
Who this is actually for.
A resident may sponsor a spouse on satisfying three things: a salary above the applicable threshold, accommodation evidenced by a registered tenancy, and proof of the marriage in a form the authority accepts. The salary condition is generally AED 4,000 a month, or AED 3,000 plus employer-provided accommodation, and profession is no longer a condition as it once was. The marriage certificate must be attested and, where it is not in Arabic or English, legally translated. A resident sponsor has sixty days from the dependant's entry on the permit to complete the residence.
Attestation is the step that determines the timeline and it is the one people consistently underestimate. A marriage certificate issued abroad has to be authenticated in the issuing country — by apostille where that country is a party to the Hague Convention, or through its foreign ministry and the UAE embassy where it is not — and then attested by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs on arrival. That chain runs through offices in another country on their timetable, not yours, and it cannot be accelerated from Dubai. Couples who arrange it before relocating complete the sponsorship in weeks; couples who start after arriving routinely spend two months on a document.
The conditions, precisely
- Salary
- AED 4,000, or AED 3,000 with accommodation provided
- Accommodation
- Registered tenancy — Ejari in Dubai, Tawtheeq in Abu Dhabi
- Marriage certificate
- Attested, and translated if not Arabic or English
- Window
- 60 days from the dependant's entry to complete residence
- Medical
- Required for the sponsored spouse
- Emirate variation
- Thresholds and practice are set by each GDRFA
How long it takes
The sequence
How it runs, in order.
- Attest the marriage certificate before you moveIn the country of marriage. Apostille or embassy legalisation depending on that country's status, then MOFAIC attestation on arrival.
- Secure accommodation and register the tenancyThe sponsorship rests on evidenced accommodation, so the tenancy comes before the application.
- Confirm the salary evidenceA salary certificate or labour contract in the form the GDRFA expects, showing the figure that is actually assessed.
- Apply for the entry permitOr change status if the spouse is already in the country on a visit visa.
- Complete medical, Emirates ID and stampingWithin the sixty-day window from entry.
Related
Questions
Generally AED 4,000 a month, or AED 3,000 where the employer provides accommodation. Each emirate's GDRFA administers this, so confirm locally.
Yes. The rules are applied to the sponsor's salary and accommodation rather than to gender, though some emirates have historically asked for additional documentation.
If it is not in Arabic or English, yes — by a translator sworn before the Ministry of Justice, after attestation rather than before.
Once the attested certificate and tenancy are in hand, a matter of weeks. The attestation is what makes it months.
One question
Which part of the family are you trying to bring?
The straightforward case, and the timeline is decided almost entirely by attestation. The marriage or birth certificate has to be authenticated in the country that issued it, which cannot be done from Dubai. Start that before you move, not after.
What attestation involvesOr just ask usBoth of these have their own rules and both catch families out. Parent sponsorship needs a much higher salary, renews annually and carries an insurance premium that is usually the largest cost. A son's dependency ends at 25 with no discretionary extension.
The harder sponsorshipsOr just ask usThe thresholds are administered by each emirate rather than set federally, and how your package is composed can decide a marginal case. If you are near a line, the fix is usually a salary certificate that leaves nothing to interpretation.
The salary thresholdsOr just ask us