UAE passport: can foreigners get one at all?

For many Germans, the Emirates are the country where life finally became easy. Residence, company, bank account: everything moves fast. Only when it comes to the passport does the generosity stop. The big picture of where naturalisation through residence really works is set out in Naturalisation abroad. For the Emirates, a close look at the law pays off, because it spares you a hope that would take decades.

Is there such a thing as Dubai citizenship?

No, and that is not hair-splitting. Dubai is one of the seven emirates. Citizenship is a matter for the federal state, the United Arab Emirates. The legal basis is Federal Law No. 17 of 1972 concerning Nationality and Passports, fundamentally amended by Federal Decree-Law No. 16 of 2017. The responsible body is the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, which also issues ordinary passports.

So anyone searching for "Dubai citizenship" means the UAE passport. And the law grants it in exactly three ways:

• By operation of law: above all through descent from an Emirati father, in certain cases from an Emirati mother, or as a foundling found in the country.
• By marriage, and only for the foreign wife of an Emirati.
• By naturalisation, with waiting periods of between three and 30 years depending on your origin.

On top of these come two special routes that appear on no application form: a grant by decree of the President and, since 2021, the nomination of investors, doctors, scientists and creative talents. Both have one thing in common: you cannot set them in motion yourself.

UAE citizenship requirements under the law

The law draws a sharp line by origin. The more Arab your roots and the closer they lie to the Gulf, the shorter the waiting period. For a German, the longest one applies.

For all other foreigners, Article 8 stipulates that at least 20 of the 30 years must fall after the law came into force. Since 2017, the same basic conditions have also applied to every naturalisation. You must:

• renounce your current citizenship and any other,
• live in the UAE lawfully and without interruption,
• have a command of Arabic,
• prove a lawful income and an educational qualification,
• be of good character, with no conviction for a dishonourable offence,
• obtain security clearance and swear an oath of allegiance to the state.

No entitlement, even after 30 years

The decisive word is in the law itself: citizenship "may" be granted. No right to naturalisation arises, however long you stay. It is granted by federal decree, and under Article 20 there is no appeal against the decision. Combined with the obligation to give up German citizenship, this route is practically closed to anyone who has moved abroad.

Once you have the passport, you have to stay

Even after naturalisation, the law ties you closely to the country. A naturalised citizen can lose citizenship again by living outside the Emirates for more than two consecutive years without good reason, or by exercising the rights of another nationality. If you want to keep the world open to you, this is the opposite of freedom.

Citizenship by marriage and by descent

In the Emirates, family opens more doors than any investment, but only in one direction.

Marriage: The foreign wife of an Emirati can receive nationality seven years after her application if the couple has at least one child. Without children, the period extends to ten years, and the marriage must genuinely continue. If the husband dies or the marriage ends before then, the wife can still receive nationality if she has children with him and stays in the country. For the foreign husband of an Emirati woman, the law provides no marriage route. How other countries handle the spouse route is shown in Citizenship by marriage.

Descent: Anyone descended from an Emirati father is Emirati by operation of law, whether born in the country or abroad. Through the mother, nationality passes automatically only in special cases, for example when the father is unknown or stateless. Children of an Emirati mother and a foreign father can receive nationality at the earliest six years after birth.

Birth: Being born in Dubai does not on its own make your child Emirati. The place of birth only counts for foundlings. If you want your child to have a passport from birth, you need a country with birthright citizenship.

The route since 2021: naturalisation by nomination

In January 2021, the Emirates amended the executive regulations of the nationality law. Since then, certain foreigners, together with their spouses and children, can receive Emirati nationality and keep their original one. It is the only route on which the UAE tolerates dual citizenship.

It sounds like an investor programme, but it is not one. Citizenship is granted exclusively through the courts of the rulers and crown princes, the offices of the executive councils or the Cabinet, on the proposal of federal authorities. There is no form, no fixed investment amount and no deadline you can rely on. Anyone nominated swears an oath of allegiance, commits to Emirati law and must report the acquisition or loss of any other nationality. In the event of a breach, citizenship can be withdrawn again. Once the decree is issued, the ICP authority completes the procedure within one year at most. The groups, conditions and duties of this route are on UAE.

For you, this means: an apartment in Dubai Marina may be a good investment, but it gives you no claim to the passport.

Dual citizenship: what the Emirates allow and what Germany allows

Here two legal systems meet that treat a second passport very differently.

Germany has opened the door wide. Since 27 June 2024, you no longer lose German citizenship when you voluntarily take a foreign one. The former loss rule in section 25 of the Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, StAG) has been repealed. The details are in Dual citizenship for Germans.

The Emirates hold on to single nationality. For regular naturalisation, the law requires you to renounce every other passport. And an Emirati who voluntarily naturalises in another state loses Emirati nationality. Only those nominated since 2021 may keep their original passport.

That makes the position clear. For you, a German and Emirati dual passport is only conceivable through a nomination. Every other route costs you your German citizenship, and the regular route on top of that only after three decades of waiting.

Golden Visa instead of a passport: what the Emirates really give you

What the Emirates do give foreigners generously is residence. The Golden Residency is the best-known permit and, for many people moving abroad, the reason to go to Dubai in the first place.

Another advantage: with the Golden Visa you may stay outside the Emirates for longer than the usual six months without your residence permit lapsing. How to obtain it in detail, what Dubai costs as a place of residence and what daily life looks like are described in Wohnsitz Ausland on Dubai (in German). The tax side is summarised in the Steueratlas on the United Arab Emirates (in German).

However good the Golden Visa is, it always remains one thing: a permission. The Emirates ID in your wallet proves your residence, not your belonging. The Golden Visa does not shorten the 30 years by a single day, and it is only valid as long as the conditions under which it was granted are met. The fundamental difference is explained in Second passport or Golden Visa.

Benefits of Dubai citizenship: what a residence permit cannot do

Why do so many people search for the benefits of citizenship in Dubai? Because they sense that a residence permit is not enough. And they are right. A passport is a right; a visa is a permission. A permission can be refused, withdrawn or tied to new conditions. Citizenship gives you a country that has to take you in.

This is exactly where many Germans in Dubai face a gap they do not see for a long time:

• Your only passport is German. Everything you have built in the Emirates depends on that one document, including your Golden Visa.
• Your German passport can be refused or withdrawn, for example as soon as facts justify the assumption that you intend to evade your tax obligations (sections 7 and 8 of the Passport Act, Passgesetz). How that works is shown in passport withdrawal.
• The Emirates do not step in. Anyone who loses their German passport does not get an Emirati one just because they live there.

A second passport closes this gap. It gives you a second right, independent of your place of residence and independent of Germany. The benefits you hope to get from a UAE passport, meaning security, freedom of movement and a country that cannot turn you away, you get faster another way.

The second passport that fits your life in Dubai

The good news: you do not have to wait 30 years or give anything up. Several states grant citizenship in return for an investment, without requiring you to live there. Your home stays in Dubai, and your German passport stays your German passport.

Turkey and Jordan are the closest geographically and suit entrepreneurs who already invest in the region. What the Jordanian route looks like in detail is shown in Jordan: citizenship by investment. The Caribbean and São Tomé stand out with short procedures and no tie to a particular place. All programmes side by side are in the programme comparison, and the total costs under Costs.

Things look no better next door: Qatar also rarely parts with its citizenship, as Qatari citizenship shows. The smartest plan therefore combines both. A passport by investment protects you immediately, and wherever naturalisation through residence is realistic, you pursue it in parallel. Why this combination is stronger than either route alone is explained in CBI and naturalisation.

What this means for your plan

The Emirates are an excellent place to live and a reluctant source of passports. Keep the two apart and you plan better:

1. Residence: a Golden Visa or another residence permit secures your life in Dubai, your company and your family.
2. Passport: a second passport by investment gives you a right that is not tied to where you live.
3. Germany: your German passport stays, because since 2024 you no longer lose German citizenship when you take a second one.

That way you have both: the quality of life of the Emirates and the security of a second citizenship that no one can take from you with the stroke of a pen.

Frequently asked questions