Family Visa in UAE

Prerequisites for Family resident visa sponsorship

If you are a foreign citizen living on a residence visa in UAE, then you can bring your family with you through a UAE family visa. Nevertheless, not everyone is not allowed to bring their dependents; to get a family visa in UAE you have to meet specific requirements.

The UAE laws permit expatriate residents to sponsor their family members based on one condition. The sponsoring is permissible only if the expatriate owns a legal residency permit.

When it comes to expatriate male residents in the UAE, male residents are permitted to sponsor their close family associates like spouse and children based on a minimum income prerequisite. The prerequisite is such that the resident should earn a minimum of AED 4000 or AED 3000 including housing facility.

Prior to March 2019, expatriate employees who belonged to a certain job category was only permitted to sponsor family members. Based on the revised amendment, the UAE law now permits employees irrespective of their job category to apply for family visa. The new amendment lets expatriate employee bring over the close family acquaintances to the Emirates and initiate the residence visa formalities. The only criterion to satisfy is the specific minimum income prerequisite. For additional information regarding the same, please visit the GDRFA website.

A mother is allowed to sponsor the children provided the father is not available or the father is not eligible to offer sponsorship. If the father is available and lives in the Emirates and at the same time satisfies the “sponsor prerequisite”, the scenario limits the mother’s eligibility to offer sponsorship.

The time-frame to apply for the residence visa is 60 days. The person who offers the sponsorship should accomplish the formalities within the prescribed time-frame subsequent to the dependent’s entry to the UAE.

The duration of the visa issued for the sponsor’s family members may vary. Several factors related to the sponsor are taken into consideration for determining the duration of the visa. And those factors are the type of profession, labour contract and the capability of the sponsor. Considering all these factors, residency visa is usually issued for a period of one year or two years for overseas employees. However, residency visa for the period of 3 years is allotted for foreign employers.

There are age-related restrictions for the sponsor’s family members in connection with the duration of the residency visa. Usually, the sponsor’s visa-duration is applicable to the sponsored family members. However, parents and education-seeking male members who are in their adulthood are exempted from the same. The validity of the residence visa issued for parents and education-seeking male adults is one year. The duration of the sponsor’s visa is not applicable here.