United Arab Emirates

A residence permit is sponsored: by an employer, by a family member, or by another route the immigration authority is running at the time. The permit has a term. When the sponsorship ends, the permit ends unless another sponsor replaces it.

The UAE government page on buying property treats a Dubai purchase and a visa as separate steps. Routes marketed as long-term residence have their own conditions and have been revised. The dirham thresholds stay on that page.

Work in the private sector outside a free zone needs a work permit from the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation. The government page on work permits quotes the labour law: working without a valid permit from that ministry is illegal. Inside a free zone, the zone authority issues its own permission, and the worker is generally sponsored by the zone rather than by the employer. A residence visa as a spouse or parent is a family permission. The work permit is the employment permission.

Changing employer needs a new labour permission. The ministry publishes a transfer permit for that move. Working for a firm other than the one on the permit needs that transfer.

Dubai allows a non-national freehold, usufruct or a lease of up to 99 years only in designated areas. Abu Dhabi’s investment-area rights and its 99-year unit title are different. Sharjah’s published foreign route is a usufruct of up to 100 years. Ras Al Khaimah uses its own map, separate from Dubai’s designated areas.

The title and the residence permit answer different questions. Service charges and, in a new building, completion risk stay with the unit.

The government portal states that in Abu Dhabi, employers and sponsors provide health insurance for employees and for one spouse and three children under 18. In Dubai, employers cover employees and sponsors cover resident dependants. From 1 January 2025, insurance is a prerequisite for issuing or renewing residence permits of private-sector employees and domestic workers. The page says that system is already mandatory in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and extends to the other emirates. A work permit issued before 1 January 2024 stays outside that condition until the residence permit is renewed.

The policy’s network is the care the household can actually use. A visa still needs a policy that meets the emirate’s rule.

Private schools are licensed emirate by emirate. The government licensing page names the Department of Education and Knowledge in Abu Dhabi, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority in Dubai, and the Sharjah Private Education Authority in Sharjah. A place is an application to the school. The parent’s residence permit does not assign one, and the fee lasts as long as the child attends.

The school’s neighbourhood and the office’s neighbourhood are often different emirates or different districts. The drive in term time is part of whether the move works.

A residence visa and an Emirates ID are what banks use to open the account a salary is paid into. The Central Bank regulates the banks. It does not require a particular bank to accept a particular customer.

A free-zone company account and a personal account are different products. Mixing them is how household expenses and company money get confused.

The UAE has a federal corporate tax on businesses under the corporate tax law administered by the Federal Tax Authority. A salary is not automatically that tax. The current scope, including how a natural person’s business income is treated, is the Authority’s page and can be amended.

There is no income-tax return of the British or American kind described in the sources used here. Other countries may still tax the same person under their own residence rules.

No index is printed. Rent, school fees, health insurance and a car are the bills that decide whether a package is enough. Housing allowances are often paid by the employer and are not the same thing as a visa.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi do not share a rent. Sharjah can be a housing choice for a Dubai job and is a different emirate, with a different tenure if the household buys.

A mainland company and a free-zone company are different licences. A free-zone firm can trade inside the zone and abroad. Selling on the mainland generally needs a further licence, a mainland branch, or a licensed distributor. The licence is not a residence visa for every shareholder.

Employing someone requires the labour permission of the ministry or the zone and, on the dates on the government health page, insurance for private-sector residence permits.

Dubai Airports operates Dubai International and Al Maktoum International. That is one emirate. Abu Dhabi and Sharjah are others, with their own roads and, if the household buys, their own title rules. A job in one and a home in another is a daily crossing, not a single city’s commute.

The hot months are the school year. A winter visit does not show that commute.