Opening an account with a bank in the UAE for residents in 2020

In this article we will discuss the process of opening a personal account in the UAE bank for holders of a resident visa of the Emirates.

In UAE banks, you can open two types of personal accounts:

• Savings Account;
• Current Account.

As a rule, residents prefer using the second option – Current Account as it allows to obtain not only a debit card but also a chequebook.

Opening an account in a UAE bank for employee visa holders

If a foreign citizen has a UAE employment visa (that is, the position of an employee (manager, sales representative or any other) is indicated in the visa), then, as a rule, they open a salary account in a bank – this is the easiest and quickest way to open an account.

In order to open a salary account, you will need the following documents:

•  
• “Emirates ID” or an application for registration of “Emirates ID” (if you have obtained the visa recently).
• Resident visa of the United Arab Emirates.
• Salary certificate from the place of work. Typically, banks require a certificate which would state that the salary is no less than 5,000 thousand dirhams (approx. 1,370 US dollars).
• CV (resume).

A payroll account will be opened within 3-4 business days, after which the bank issues debit card (usually the card is delivered within the territory of the Emirates, but card delivery can also be ordered with delivery to other countries). It is worth noting that, in accordance with Russian customs regulations, these cards cannot be sent to Russia because they contain a chip.

Opening an account in a bank of the United Arab Emirates for a resident with an investor visa

If a foreign citizens indicates on a visa that they are investors, they will be asked to provide the following documents in order to open current account:

•  
• “Emirates ID” or an application for registration of “Emirates ID” (if you have just pasted a visa).
• Resident visa of the United Arab Emirates.
• A shareholder certificate that confirms the percentage of shares that belong to the applicant.
• CV (resume).
• License of a company established in the United Arab Emirates, of which the applicant is a shareholder.
• Statements from an existing personal account (in UAE or abroad).

Opening an account with a bank in the UAE also takes several days, however, the bank exercises a closer scrutiny upon opening of account by means of background check.

What should you know about background checks performed by a UAE bank before opening an account?

It is worth noting that if a foreign citizen is included in any of the databases, for example “Money laundering” or other similar one, then the UAE banks will reject opening of a bank account for those citizens.

Moreover, banks can also search for information about the applicant on the Internet. Should there be any negative information about the applicant, or an indication of the applicant being, for example, a political figure, it will be very challenging for such individuals to open a bank account in the United Arab Emirates.

To have your questions answered in relation to opening an account with Emirates banks, obtaining residency, opening a company in the UAE, you are encouraged to contact our consultants by email at [email protected]