How to get UAE citizenship: procedure and requirements

Federal legislation lays down several mechanisms: descent, marriage, residence over many years and government nomination of particular categories of foreigner. What follows sets out the requirements the statute places on an applicant and the way the procedure operates. It also covers the criteria fixed for investors and for specialists, what sets classic naturalisation apart from the other routes, and the powers of the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP).

UAE citizenship: the legal grounds and the features of the system

The legal answer to the question of how a foreigner acquires the status begins with Federal Law No. 17 of 1972 on Nationality and Passports, read with its Executive Regulation. Between them the two instruments name the grounds of acquisition and allocate competence among the government bodies. They set the rules of naturalisation and mark out the cases of deprivation and of recovery of nationality.

The right of blood, jus sanguinis, is the organising principle of Emirati legislation. Nationality depends chiefly on descent from a national, or on another of the kinship grounds the federal rules name. The legislation contains no general jus soli, under which birthplace alone would confer the status. A child of foreign parents therefore does not acquire the nationality of the country from the mere fact of birth in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or another emirate.

Several independent legal mechanisms are open to foreigners. The first question is which of them applies: classic naturalisation, a family ground or a special government nomination. A person may acquire nationality by several legal routes:

• descent from a national;

• kinship on the other grounds the statute names;

• prolonged lawful residence, then naturalisation;

• outstanding services rendered to the state;

• nomination of individual investors and professionals by the government.

Completing the prescribed formalities does not by itself create a right to a UAE passport, because the status is conferred only after separate approval by the competent authorities. The law works on a system of prior approval: the authorities examine the ground, the documents and compliance with the conditions laid down.

A separate regime governs foreign investors and specialists included in the government nomination system. Citizenship on that ground is not a public programme that sells a passport for a fixed sum. State sources set no universal price for the procedure. Conditions for citizenship therefore cannot be derived from the Golden Residence criteria, because long-term resident status and nationality rest on different legal mechanisms.

Golden Residence leaves the holder with the status of a foreigner, although it permits extended residence and the conduct of business. UAE citizenship for foreigners carries a different scope of rights and follows a separate federal procedure.

Family grounds for acquiring Emirati nationality

A child whose father is a national by operation of law rather than by naturalisation acquires nationality by descent, and the birthplace makes no difference. Birth abroad does not exclude that ground, so long as the applicant establishes the parentage.

Descent from a mother who acquired citizenship by operation of law confers a right to nationality where the applicant meets the conditions laid down in the legislation. That ground may apply in particular where the father's identity is unknown, where the child has no nationality of any kind, or where paternity has never been established in law. Separate provisions address a child found in the country whose descent cannot be determined. In the circumstances the law prescribes, the child is treated as a national from birth.

A special procedure applies to minors born to a female UAE citizen and a known foreign father. Children in this group may receive Emirati citizenship no earlier than six years after birth, and only where they meet what the statute and its Executive Regulation require. Reaching the age of six does not by itself produce a decision. The principal family grounds include:

• paternal descent, where the father holds Emirati nationality;

• maternal descent, in the special cases the statute lists;

• birth inside the state where neither parent is known;

• the special rule for a child born to an Emirati woman and a foreign father;

• the position of a citizen's foreign wife once the prescribed period has run.

Marriage is the route for a national's foreign wife, and the qualifying period runs from her application to the competent authority rather than from the wedding day. Seven years are counted from that filing where the marriage has produced children, and ten where it has not. UAE citizenship remains available to her so long as she satisfies the other prescribed requirements.

Death of the husband or divorce within the prescribed period brings special rules into operation. A woman with children by a UAE citizen may nonetheless obtain nationality once the period has run, if she remains widowed or divorced, or has since married an Emirati and continues to reside in the country. No corresponding rule operates for men. A foreign man married to an Emirati national gains no separate right to naturalisation from the marriage.

UAE citizenship requirements under the naturalisation route

Federal rules prescribe different residence periods depending on the applicant's origin. Nothing in the regulations fixes a single period applicable to every applicant. The right to naturalisation rests on two basic conditions: membership of a category the law defines, and an unbroken record of lawful residence inside the country.

Arabs of Omani, Qatari or Bahraini origin must show at least three years of residence immediately before the application. The authorities also examine the lawful source of income and the applicant's reputation, and check that there is no conviction of the kind the statute specifies. Nationality does not arise automatically at the end of that period. Certain other Arab applicants face a qualifying period of seven years.

The general route is considerably longer. For a foreigner outside the special Arab categories, a UAE passport requires 30 years of lawful, unbroken residence. Parameters differ by category:

Citizenship after long residence also requires compliance with the general provisions of Article 12 bis of the law. These include:

• proficiency in Arabic;

• a lawful source of income;

• an educational qualification in the cases provided for;

• a good reputation;

• the absence of a conviction for certain offences;

• security approval;

• swearing allegiance to the state.

Even a full 30-year qualifying period does not turn naturalisation into an automatic entitlement for a foreigner. The wording of the law permits the state to confer the status, but imposes no duty to grant it when the period expires. One exceptional mechanism stands outside these rules: the President may confer nationality by federal decree without regard to the standard periods or to the other usual criteria.

A passport is processed only after the applicant has acquired national status. The passport service does not replace the decision granting nationality; it is a separate administrative procedure.

Want to learn more about UAE business setup services?

Book a consultation

Investors, scientists, specialists: the nomination route

Amendments made to the Executive Regulation created a special mechanism under which foreigners with an investment, scientific, medical or creative profile can be considered for nationality. In law, UAE citizenship by investment rests on nomination by authorised bodies. An open route to a passport in exchange for a stated sum does not exist.

The official citizenship rules contain no universal financial threshold for the property an investor owns. A requirement to invest AED 2 million belongs to particular Golden Residence programmes and does not transfer to citizenship acquired through investment.

Conditions differ by professional profile. Where the candidate comes from medicine or another specialised profession, the criteria are the state's need for that speciality; at least 10 years of experience; recognised achievements; and membership of a reputable professional body. A scientific candidate must be engaged in active research, must show the same 10 years of experience and must produce a recommendation from a recognised institution in the UAE. An inventor needs a recognised patent, or several such patents, together with the Ministry of Economy's official recommendation. For practitioners in the arts and in culture the criteria are their status as recognised figures, an award of international standing and the recommendation of the authorised government department.

A separate set of rules applies to the scientific category. For a scientist the route requires that the candidate work as a researcher at a university, at a research centre or within the private sector. The candidate must also show a demonstrable contribution to the discipline concerned and produce a recommendation from a body in that field. For doctors and for narrowly specialised professionals the test is the state's need for their speciality. Ten years is the minimum experience required in the relevant field.

The special procedure is also open to those with professional recognition in culture, in the arts or in intellectual work. An applicant must produce at least one award of international standing and the responsible government body's recommendation. Where a nomination succeeds, it may extend to the spouse and the children of the person nominated, though no universal age limit and no fixed set of family documents appear on the public portal.

The procedure: application and government nomination

How a person obtains Emirati citizenship differs from one category of applicant to the next. Applications founded on family ties fall to ICP. No direct open filing route exists for investors, scientists or other particular groups. Consideration begins once a government body has nominated the candidate.

At the first stage the authorities establish whether the person falls into a category named by the statute or by its Executive Regulation. Passport processing has not yet begun, because the passport comes after the acquisition of national status. For scientists, inventors and figures from the creative sphere, the recommendations of the relevant institutions are confirmed separately.

In the special professional categories the procedure rests on government bodies nominating the candidate. A family application for UAE citizenship proceeds by a separate administrative route through ICP, provided the statute supplies the corresponding ground.

Nomination by itself is no assurance that the status follows. The authorities then verify the legal grounds and compliance with the established criteria. Under classic naturalisation the mandatory conditions include security approval, a confirmed lawful income and a good reputation.

The sequence closes with the grant of status under the federal procedure the law prescribes, and with the swearing of allegiance to the state. A nominated citizen must observe the legislation and must notify the competent authorities of the acquisition or the loss of any other nationality.

No single processing period covering all grounds has been officially established. Nor do state sources publish a single fee for the grant of nationality. That rules out any reliable promise of a fixed timescale or of a predetermined price for the procedure.

Documents and requirements by ground of application

No uniform document list for all applicants appears on the state portal. Evidence required varies with the ground relied on: kinship, naturalisation or nomination. UAE citizenship requirements accordingly depend on the legal route under which the candidate is considered. Each ground calls for a different body of evidence proving that the applicant meets the conditions the law lays down.

Supporting evidence by category of applicant

No list of documents from the Golden Residence procedures can substitute for the conditions of citizenship. Long-term residence is governed by separate rules and serves a different legal purpose. The documents also differ according to whether the application rests on kinship or on a government nomination.

For an investor the published requirement is ownership of real estate, but the state source fixes no single minimum value of the asset for citizenship purposes. A person must acquire nationality before ICP issues the document, so what is needed for a UAE passport cannot be reduced to an investment asset or a visa. Those grounds evidence resident or ownership status, not nationality. Passport conditions apply at a later stage, and ICP administers them.

An analogous principle governs the professional categories. The documents must evidence precisely the achievements specified for the particular candidate:

• length of experience;

• a scientific contribution;

• a patent;

• an award;

• an official recommendation.

The requirements placed on an applicant cannot be widened by adding material that the government procedure does not require. No universal state tariff for obtaining citizenship has been published. Separate administrative charges arise after the grant of status, for example on issue of the passport. State sources record no single processing time for a nomination file, which rules out any reliable promise of a decision within a fixed number of days.

How a UAE passport is issued and when citizenship ends

National status precedes the processing of the passport, and the document is not itself a means of acquiring nationality. ICP issues the passport, which evidences a status acquired earlier.

Classic naturalisation carries a condition under federal law: whatever foreign nationality the applicant held until then must be given up. The special nomination regime lifts that condition. Categories that may keep their original nationality are:

• investors;

• scientists;

• doctors;

• inventors;

• holders of exceptional talent.

No obligation to terminate the earlier nationality attaches to a passport granted on that footing. UAE dual citizenship operates only within the limits of that exception.

ICP issues the first document after registration of the person as a citizen. Validity varies with the age of the holder. A passport runs for 10 years once the holder is 21 or above. Below that age the term is 5 years. The published administrative charges are:

• the application, AED 10;

• a passport valid for 5 years, AED 40;

• a document valid for 10 years, AED 90;

• delivery, AED 15.

Those payments cover the passport service and do not represent the cost of acquiring national status.

Other provisions of the Nationality and Passports Law govern the withdrawal of UAE citizenship. The grounds specified in the case of a naturalised person include forgery, fraud and a material misstatement used in obtaining the status. That list also covers the exercise of another country's citizenship rights in circumstances the applicable regime does not allow. Offences against state security carry consequences of their own. Deprivation in every case requires a ground that the statute states in terms. Prolonged absence is a further ground of withdrawal: for a naturalised person, and for anyone holding nationality by affiliation, more than two unbroken years abroad without good cause is the threshold.