Before you read on: AONE BIZ advises on visa and immigration matters as part of business setup. We do not process visas, Emirates ID applications or family sponsorship. This guide is written so you know what to expect and what to ask for — the processing itself goes through a typing centre, an approved service centre or the relevant authority.
A UAE resident can sponsor a spouse, children and in some cases parents, subject to a salary threshold, valid residency, suitable accommodation and attested documents. The salary figure commonly applied is AED 4,000 a month, or AED 3,000 where the employer provides accommodation. Most refusals come from paperwork rather than eligibility.
Who can sponsor, and on what
| Sponsoring | Commonly applied salary threshold | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Spouse and children | AED 4,000, or AED 3,000 with employer accommodation | The standard family sponsorship case |
| Parents | Higher threshold, assessed case by case | Usually requires evidence you are their sole support, plus medical insurance |
| First-degree relatives on a visit visa | Reported around AED 4,000 | Visit sponsorship is a separate process from residence |
| More distant relatives or friends on a visit visa | Reported considerably higher | Thresholds rise with the distance of the relationship |
These figures are widely applied but are set administratively and can be updated, and they are applied with discretion in individual cases. Confirm the current requirement against your own circumstances before planning around a number from any website, including this one.
Documents required for a family visa in the UAE
The list varies by emirate and by relationship, but the core is consistent:
- Sponsor’s passport, valid residence visa and Emirates ID
- Salary certificate or employment contract showing the salary, and recent bank statements
- Attested marriage certificate for a spouse, and attested birth certificates for children
- Registered tenancy contract or title deed in the sponsor’s name, showing accommodation appropriate to family size
- Medical insurance meeting the minimum required cover for each dependant
- Photographs to specification, and the applicants’ passports with sufficient validity remaining
Attestation is where applications actually fail
Marriage and birth certificates issued outside the UAE need attestation — typically by the issuing country’s authorities, then its UAE embassy, then the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with legal translation into Arabic where the original is not in Arabic.
This takes weeks, sometimes longer if the document is old or the issuing country is slow. Start it before anything else. We have seen more family applications stall on an unattested certificate than on any eligibility question.
The process, in outline
- Sponsor file — the sponsor must hold an active file permitting visa and residence services.
- Entry permit applied for, allowing the dependant to enter or to begin status change if already in the country.
- Status adjustment where the dependant is already in the UAE on another visa.
- Medical fitness test for dependants above the applicable age.
- Emirates ID application and biometrics.
- Residence visa stamped or issued electronically.
UID number and unified number
The UID — unified identity number — is a number assigned by the immigration authority that follows an individual across UAE visa applications. It appears on entry permits and residence visas and it links your records together.
It matters for two practical reasons. A mismatched or duplicated UID causes rejections that look inexplicable, typically after a name was spelled differently on an earlier application. And where a previous UAE visa was cancelled improperly, the history attached to the UID can block a new application until it is resolved.
It is not the same as an Emirates ID number, and it is not a TRN — if you are looking for a tax number, see our TRN guide instead.
Checking visa status and fines
Visa status, application progress and Emirates ID fines are all checkable online through the relevant federal and emirate-level portals, using the application number, passport details or Emirates ID number.
Two things worth knowing. Emirates ID renewal carries a late fine that accrues daily after the grace period, and it is cheaper to renew than to argue about it afterwards. And overstay fines accrue per day per person — for a family, that compounds quickly, which is why a lapsed dependant visa is more expensive than people assume.
Where this connects to your company
If you are a business owner sponsoring family through your own company rather than through employment, several things sit together:
- Your visa quota follows your licence and facility, so the space you lease constrains how many visas you can issue.
- Your own salary from the company has to be documented and paid consistently if it is being used to meet a sponsorship threshold. An owner who pays themselves irregularly and then needs a salary certificate has a problem — see payroll and WPS.
- Drawings taken personally but recorded as expenses get added back in the corporate tax computation. Paying yourself properly is cleaner for both purposes.
- Accommodation provided by the company rather than paid as an allowance now has a VAT consequence as well.
What we can and cannot help with
We advise on structure: how many visas your licence supports, how to document owner salary so a certificate stands up, how the company-side paperwork should look, and what a realistic timeline is.
We do not process applications, submit to immigration or handle Emirates ID. If you need that done rather than advised on, a licensed service provider or the relevant approved centre is who you want, and we will say so rather than pretending otherwise.
