UAE Announces Salary Foreigners Need to Sponsor Family Members, Gives Age Limit for Male Children
- The General Directorate for Identity and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai published the requirements for family sponsorship visas in the UAE
- Resident foreigners must earn at least AED 3,000 or AED 4,000 monthly, depending on their housing situation, to qualify as sponsors
- Legit.ng learnt the UAE government also disclosed that male children can only be sponsored by a resident parent up to the age of 25
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The General Directorate for Identity and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFAD), the government body responsible for immigration in Dubai, has released the official conditions foreigners must meet to bring family members into the United Arab Emirates on a family sponsorship visa.
Under the policy, eligible sponsors include UAE citizens sponsoring family members, UAE residents sponsoring their own families, and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) citizens doing the same.

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Once approved, the sponsored family member enters the country on a work entry visa that allows a stay of 60 days while the full residency requirements are being processed.
UAE: Salary and housing requirements
The GDRFAD says a resident's monthly salary must be at least AED 3,000 (roughly ₦1.35 million) if housing is provided by an employer, or AED 4,000 (roughly ₦1.8 million) if the resident covers their own accommodation.
These figures represent the baseline income a foreign resident must demonstrate before any family sponsorship application can proceed.
For residents who are business partners rather than salaried employees, the rules require that their share of any partnership be worth a minimum of AED 48,000 (roughly ₦21.6 million), as documented in a formal partnership agreement.
UAE: Additional conditions for specific applicants
UAE citizens who wish to sponsor a foreign wife must submit either a salary certificate or a court-verified document confirming unemployment, depending on their work status.
For GCC citizens looking to sponsor a wife, the wife must already be a resident in the GCC husband's home country and must present official documentation proving that residency before the application can be considered.

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UAE announces amount foreigners need to earn yearly to qualify for self-employed residency permit
On the question of children, the GDRFAD confirmed that resident parents can only sponsor male children up to the age of 25. The policy makes no age exception for sons beyond that threshold under a standard family sponsorship arrangement.
In a related story, Legit.ng reported that the UAE had announced the amount that foreigners need to make yearly to be eligible for a self-employed residency permit.
UAE real estate owner visa income requirement
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the UAE had named the amount that foreigners must earn every month to be eligible for a real estate owner visa.
According to the UAE government, applicants must earn at least AED 10,000 (N3,668,618) per month for Nigerians considering the move.
The real estate owner visa is a residency pathway for foreigners who invest in property in the UAE.
Source: Legit.ng
