Family Visa Cost in Dubai: Every Fee, Including the Deposit
Ali JasimA Dubai family visa is a stack of small government fees, not one price. For a spouse or child the fees typically total around AED 1,900 to AED 3,250 per person depending on whether they apply from inside or outside the country, plus a refundable deposit of AED 3,000.
Sponsoring a parent carries a higher AED 5,000 deposit and stricter conditions. The deposit comes back when the visa is cancelled properly, but you have to fund it upfront.
Family visa questions almost always arrive in the wrong order. People ask what it costs before checking whether they qualify, and then get surprised by a deposit nobody mentioned.
This guide does it the other way round: the conditions first, then every fee, then the deposit, then the part that catches people at renewal.
Before cost: can you sponsor at all?
A family visa is sponsored by you as a resident, not by your company, which is the first thing people get wrong.
Eligibility turns on your own residency status, your salary and your accommodation, and the conditions are set by the immigration authority rather than by us.
The current rules are published by ICP and, for Dubai, by GDRFA.
In broad terms you need a valid residence visa of your own, a salary above a defined threshold, and accommodation appropriate to the family you are sponsoring, evidenced by a tenancy contract. Sponsoring a wife and children is the standard case.
Sponsoring parents is treated as an exception rather than a right, with a higher bar on all three. Our companion guide, sponsoring family for a UAE residence visa, covers the process and the documents.
This page is about the money.
The Fee Stack for a Spouse or Child
Here are the real line items from the current price book, for a spouse or child. Every one of these is a separate step in the process rather than a bundled package price.
| Step | Fee | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Open new family file | AED 283.15 | Once, the first time you sponsor |
| Entry permit, from inside the UAE | AED 1,088.91 | If they are already here |
| Entry permit, from outside the UAE | AED 438.90 | If they are still abroad |
| Change of status | AED 638.90 | Inside the country only |
| Medical fitness test | AED 323.25 | Standard, age dependent |
| Emirates ID, 2 years | AED 387.69 | Every applicant |
| Visa stamping | AED 509.90 | Every applicant |
| Refundable deposit | AED 3,000 | Held, returned on proper cancellation |
Add those up and the pattern becomes clear. Applying from outside the country the fees land near AED 1,940 per person.
Applying from inside, where the entry permit is dearer and a status change is required, they land near AED 3,230. That is a difference of roughly AED 1,290 per person for the same outcome.
The calculator prices your specific case, spouse, children or parents, itemised from the real fee schedule.
The Deposit, Which Is the Part People Are Not Told About
This is the single most useful thing on the page. A family visa requires a refundable deposit: AED 3,000 for a spouse or children, and AED 5,000 when sponsoring a parent.
It is a guarantee rather than a fee, held against the sponsored person and returned when the visa is properly cancelled and they have left or transferred status correctly. So over the life of the visa it costs you nothing.
On the day you apply it is the largest single number in the transaction, and a family of four means the deposit alone can exceed every other fee combined.
Sponsoring Parents: Why It Costs More
Parents are a different category and the difference is not only the deposit going from AED 3,000 to AED 5,000. The income conditions are higher, medical insurance for an older dependant costs materially more than for a spouse, and the approval is discretionary in a way a spouse application is not.
There is also a documentation layer that does not apply to a spouse: proof of the relationship, and often evidence that you are the supporting child. Some cases require additional undertakings.
Budget more time as well as more money, and do not assume approval because a colleague got one.
One practical note from the price book: a parent Emirates ID issued on a one-year cycle is AED 287, against AED 387.69 for a standard two-year card.
Shorter validity means the renewal comes round faster, so the annualised cost of a parent visa is higher than the headline suggests.
The Costs That Are Not Government Fees
Three things sit outside the fee table and routinely cost more than it:
- Health insurance. Mandatory for every resident in Dubai, and dependants are not cheap, particularly older ones. This is usually the largest recurring cost of a family visa and it is annual.
- Accommodation. Not a fee, but sponsorship requires appropriate accommodation evidenced by a tenancy contract, and "appropriate" for a family is not a studio. For some people this is the real cost of the decision.
- Attestation of documents. Marriage and birth certificates issued abroad generally need attestation before they will be accepted, which takes time and money in the country of issue.
The attestation one is the classic timing failure. It happens in another country, on their timetable, and it cannot be rushed at the end.
Start it before anything else.
Renewal, and the Trap in the Dates
A dependant visa is tied to the sponsor. If your own residence visa is renewed, theirs follows.
If your visa lapses, theirs is exposed. That linkage is the single most common source of family visa trouble, and it is entirely a calendar problem.
The practical rule is to treat the family as one renewal event rather than four separate ones, and to diary the sponsor's expiry earliest of all, because everything else depends on it.
Our guide to Emirates ID status and renewal covers the card side, and checking a visa status by passport number shows how to verify all of them in a few minutes.
Cancellation Costs, Because Visas End Too
Worth knowing before you need it. Cancelling a family visa carries its own small fee: from the price book, AED 188.90 when cancelled from inside the country and AED 288.90 from outside.
Small numbers, but they are the step that releases your deposit, so skipping cancellation to save AED 189 costs you AED 3,000.
A Worked View of What to Budget
For a spouse and one child arriving from abroad, you are looking at roughly AED 1,900 to AED 2,000 in fees each, plus AED 3,000 deposit each, plus annual health insurance for both, plus attestation of the marriage and birth certificates. The fees are the small part.
The deposit and the insurance are the real numbers.
For parents, add the higher deposit, higher insurance and a longer runway. And check the income condition first, because the entire calculation is academic if it is not met.
Children, and the Details That Catch People
Children are usually the straightforward part of a family application, with two exceptions worth planning for.
The first is age. Sponsorship of sons is subject to an age limit, after which a son must move onto his own visa, most commonly a student or employment visa.
Daughters are treated differently while unmarried. This means a family visa is not a permanent arrangement for a teenage child, and the transition tends to arrive at the same time as school fees and university decisions.
The second is documentation. A birth certificate issued outside the UAE generally needs attestation before it will be accepted, and if the child has a different surname from the sponsor, or the parents are separated, expect additional evidence and possibly a no-objection requirement.
None of this is unusual, it simply takes longer than people allow for, and it happens in another country on their timetable.
A third practical point: each child needs their own Emirates ID at AED 387.69 for a two-year card, their own medical where age requires it, and their own deposit.
A family of two adults and three children is five deposits, not one, which is where a AED 3,000 figure becomes AED 15,000 of committed capital.
How This Fits Your Company Costs
Family visas are personal, but they land in the same month as company obligations more often than people expect, because both cycles start when you arrive.
If you are budgeting a first year, our guide to what a Dubai company costs in year one shows where the company side falls, and the cost of hiring your first employee covers the sponsored-employee equivalent of this page.
For anything that turns on your specific salary, accommodation or relationship documents, get it checked before you file rather than after a rejection, because a refused application costs the fees again.
The Order to Do This In
Almost every expensive family visa mistake is a sequencing mistake rather than a pricing one, so here is the order that works.
- Check the income and accommodation conditions against the current rule before anything else. If you do not meet them, nothing below matters.
- Start document attestation immediately. Marriage and birth certificates issued abroad are attested in the issuing country on their timetable, and this is the longest single item.
- Decide where your family will be when you apply. Applying before they travel saves roughly AED 1,290 per person.
- Fund the deposit before you file, AED 3,000 per spouse or child and AED 5,000 per parent.
- Arrange health insurance, which is mandatory and is the largest recurring cost.
- Diary your own visa expiry earliest, because every dependant visa hangs off it.
Get those six in order and a family visa is an administrative exercise. Get them out of order and it becomes an expensive one, usually because attestation was left to the end or the deposit was a surprise on the day.
Frequently asked questions
The government fees for a spouse or child total roughly AED 1,940 if they apply from outside the UAE, or roughly AED 3,230 from inside, because an in-country application needs a dearer entry permit plus a change of status. On top of that sits a refundable deposit of AED 3,000, and annual health insurance, which is usually the largest recurring cost.
Yes, and it catches most people out. The refundable deposit is AED 3,000 for a spouse or children and AED 5,000 when sponsoring a parent. It is a guarantee rather than a fee and it is returned when the visa is properly cancelled, but it has to be funded upfront, and for a family of several people the deposit alone can exceed every other fee combined.
From outside, by roughly AED 1,290 per person. An entry permit from outside the country is AED 438.90 against AED 1,088.91 from inside, and an in-country application also requires a change of status at AED 638.90 which an overseas application avoids entirely. If your family have not travelled yet, applying before they arrive is genuinely cheaper.
Several reasons compound. The refundable deposit is AED 5,000 rather than AED 3,000, the income conditions are higher, health insurance for an older dependant costs materially more, approval is discretionary rather than routine, and there is extra documentation proving the relationship. A parent Emirates ID is also often issued on a one-year cycle at AED 287, so renewals come round faster.
Yes, on proper cancellation of the visa. The trap is that people leave the UAE without cancelling a dependant visa correctly, which both forfeits the deposit and leaves an uncancelled visa on the sponsor record. Cancellation itself costs AED 188.90 from inside the country or AED 288.90 from outside, so skipping it to save under AED 300 costs you AED 3,000.
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