Skip to content
Vertrekklaar
Menu
NederlandsLog inStart your step-by-step plan
Other country

Step-by-step plan · Visa required

The step-by-step plan for Dubai

From "we want this" to being settled, in 36 steps. Read phase 1 in full here. Test your departure date along the way. Then you'll know whether you want the rest.

36 steps5 phases75 official sources9 only for your situationchecked on 9 September 2026

Phase 1 starts below ↓The whole plan: € 399 one-off, no subscription.

What it looks like

Not a PDF, not a checklist. A plan that knows what needs to happen now.

Every step sits in its place in the order, with the lead time, the counter and the official source. You tick off, your partner ticks along, and the plan counts back from your departure date: what has to start when, and what is running now.

Below is phase 1, exactly as it appears in the plan.

The dashboard of the step-by-step plan for Dubai: the current phase, the open steps, the next step and the deadline bar.

The route

  1. Orientation

    5 steps

    Open · You are here

  2. Your visa

    5 steps

    In your plan

  3. Closing the Netherlands

    14 steps

    In your plan

  4. The move

    5 steps

    In your plan

  5. Arrival in Dubai

    7 steps

    In your plan

Phase 1 is the question "can we, and do we want to?". From phase 2 the arranging begins.

Phase 1 · Orientation

5 of 5 steps open

Dubai is the most honest trade-off of all destinations, provided you see it whole: zero income tax and the highest net on the site, against zero accrual — no pension, no safety net, and a right of residence that hangs on your job or your money. Whoever works out the trade-off before signing becomes happy here; whoever only sees the salary doesn't.

By the end of phase 1 you know which visa route fits you, what the trade-off really involves, and the family stands behind the decision.

Step 1.1

Understand the system: everything hangs on a sponsor

Lead time:
reading step
Costs:
none

UAE residence is sponsored residence: your visa hangs on your employer, your investment or your income, and runs in terms of one, two, five or ten years. Permanent residence doesn't exist, and naturalisation isn't a path you can apply for — formally you always remain a guest there. Two clocks come with that: if your job falls away, in Dubai you have a grace period of sixty days (Green Visa: 180), and whoever is outside the UAE for more than 180 consecutive days sees their visa lapse automatically — except with a Golden or Green Visa. This isn't small print but the character of the country; everything in this journey follows from it.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Step 1.2

Choose your route: employer, gold, green or income

Lead time:
an evening of comparing
Costs:
none

Five routes, no points and no lottery. The employer route is the standard: sponsor found, visa arranged — two years, renewable. The Golden Visa (10 years) you buy with AED 2 million in property, or earn with a specialist salary from AED 30,000 a month. The Green Visa (5 years, without a sponsor) asks as a freelancer AED 360,000 annual income over the last two years, or as a skilled worker AED 15,000 a month. The remote-work visa (1 year) is possible from USD 3,500 a month for whoever brings their Dutch job along. And the retirement visa (55+, 5 years) asks in Dubai AED 240,000 annual income, or AED 1 million in savings plus AED 1 million in property. Choose on the basis of what you have, not what you hope — the thresholds are hard.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Step 1.3

Get a picture of what it's going to cost

Lead time:
1-2 hours with the calculator
Costs:
none

The government asks remarkably little here — fees in the hundreds of dirhams, not thousands of euros. The money is in the life that pays in advance: annual rent in cheques, deposits, private health insurance, private education, and a car that almost everyone buys there. Budget the first months generously — without a buffer Dubai doesn't start.

Step 1.4

Take the decision together

Lead time:
no fixed one; take your time
Costs:
none

Discuss the things the recruitment stories skip. The summer is real: from June to September life happens indoors. The rules are real: what you say online falls under a criminal law, and eating or drinking in public during Ramadan hours is forbidden — for you too. The pension gap is real: every year in Dubai is a year without accrual, and the AOW drop for single people is in phase 3. And the farewell is different: you build a life in a country that formally never becomes yours. For many people the trade-off is worth it — but make it out loud.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Step 1.6

Choose your target date

Lead time:
five minutes, below
Costs:
none

Choose below the date on which you want to be in Dubai. The step-by-step plan works out whether that's feasible with what still has to happen — and Dubai is the fastest destination on the site, so surprisingly often the answer is "yes". A target date is yours: moving it is always allowed.

Phase 1 read

You know what you're getting into. Now the arranging begins.

You've read phase 1 of the step-by-step plan for Dubai. The full plan has another 31 steps ready for you: Your visa, Closing the Netherlands, The move and Arrival in Dubai.

The plan counts everything back from your departure date, watches your deadlines and documents, and shows only the steps that apply to you.

The step-by-step plan for Dubai

€ 399

one-off · no subscription · instant access

Continue with the full plan · € 399

Also included: deadlines watched · documents with expiry dates · only your steps · your partner ticks along · all cancellation letters · questions to Auke.

✎ Auke reads along

Stuck somewhere? Ask your question at the step. Auke reads it himself and answers within two working days.

Not ready yet? Send yourself your date and phase 1 →

Phase 2 · Your visa0 of 5 steps open

The application itself is the shortest of all visa routes here — Dubai decides in days, not months. The time is in what has to happen around it: documents that have to go through the full legalisation chain, and schools you want to arrange before departure.

  1. 2.1The job and the contract: read before you signas long as applying for jobs takes
  2. 2.2Legalise your documents: the chain of three stampscount on 3-6 weeks for the whole chain
  3. 2.3The health insurance: the family is your dutyquotes 1-2 weeks
  4. 2.4With children: arrange the school before the moving dateonly if this applies to you
  5. 2.5The application itself: days, not monthsentry permit within 48 hours of complete papers
Open all steps · € 399
Phase 3 · Closing the Netherlands0 of 14 steps open

This is the reverse world compared to every EU route, and the phase in which Dubai shows its price: the AOW drops to half for single people, there's no CAK route, the protective assessment has no automatic deferral, and all allowances stop. None of this is a surprise — if you read it now.

  1. 3.1Healthcare: there's no treaty route — insure privatelyarrange the cover before departure day
  2. 3.2AOW and pension: the drop nobody tells you aboutan afternoon of research; decide on voluntary insurance
  3. 3.3The tax office: providing security, and deductions that lapsewith pension or substantial-interest assets: arrange this with an adviser
  4. 3.4Allowances and child benefit: everything stopsan hour, online
  5. 3.5Deregister with the municipalitypossible from 5 days before departure, up to and including departure day
  6. 3.6DigiD, bank and your vote: keep the lines to the Netherlandsan afternoon
  7. 3.7Build your own safety net: the pension plana decision, not an afternoon — start before departure
  8. 3.8Partner comes along without a job of their ownonly if this applies to you
  9. 3.9Partly staying in the Netherlands: the eight-month ruleonly if this applies to you
  10. 3.10The house in the Netherlands: sell, let or keeponly if this applies to you
  11. 3.11Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the houseonly if this applies to you
  12. 3.12Cancel what stops: job, rent, energy, subscriptions and schoolstart three months before departure; most notice periods are one month
  13. 3.13Stay reachable: DigiD, your phone number, your bank and your postarrange it before you leave; afterwards it takes weeks
  14. 3.14Student debt, remote work or your own business: what moves with youreport it before you leave; the consequences run for years
Phase 4 · The move0 of 5 steps open

The UAE border is strict on different things from what you're used to: your household goods pass tax-free on first settlement, but medicines, alcohol and "offensive material" each have their own regime — and the dog has two surprises. Travel day itself starts the clock of sixty days.

  1. 4.1The household goods: exempt, with a strict listquotes 3-4 weeks ahead; sea freight 4-6 weeks
  2. 4.2Medicines: arrange the permission before you flyprescription and application 2-3 weeks before departure
  3. 4.3Travel day: your landing starts the sixty daysthe clock runs from entry on your entry permit
  4. 4.4The pet: permit, titre test and the cargo routeonly if this applies to you
  5. 4.5The car: sell it — here buying there winsonly if this applies to you
Phase 5 · Arrival in Dubai0 of 7 steps open

Sixty days, one order: medical, Emirates ID, visa — and then everything opens at once. After that the real work begins: a house that wants to be paid a year in advance, a school that's already been chosen, and the discipline to be your own pension every month.

  1. 5.1Complete the residency: medical, Emirates ID, visa1-2 weeks with brisk planning
  2. 5.2Bring the family in: you are now the sponsoronly if this applies to you
  3. 5.3Bank, salary and the first cheques1-2 weeks with Emirates ID
  4. 5.4Housing: Ejari, cheques and the indexsearching and signing, 2-6 weeks
  5. 5.5Exchange your driving licence, and buy the carthe exchange is a day; the car a weekend
  6. 5.6School and childcare: guiding the startonly if this applies to you
  7. 5.7Live the trade-off: discipline, rules and the gratuityreading step

9 of these 31 steps only appear when your answers call for them: a pet, a car, a partner without a job, children staying in the Netherlands. That is the difference between a step-by-step plan and a checklist.

Three questions

Can't I find all this for free?

Yes. Everything in the plan comes from official sources, and they're listed at every step. Phase 1 above is the proof. What you buy is the work around it: which of the 31 following steps apply to you, in which order, with which deadline, and a nudge when something needs doing.

Does this apply to my situation too?

The plan first asks who is coming along, what is coming along and how you're leaving the Netherlands. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear; steps that only apply to you do. Is your situation slightly different from what's written? Ask your question at the step; you'll get an answer within two working days.

What if the rules change after I buy?

Then your plan changes with them. Twice a month we check every source; whatever changes is in your plan the same week, with the date. Your access lasts for your whole departure.

Ready to begin?

The step-by-step plan for Dubai: 36 steps, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.

Start your step-by-step plan · € 399Read more about Dubai first