Any other people going through Remote From Dubai program or have completed it? Would love to hear your experience and how did you settle down in the city.
I’m currently on final stages of receiving UAE ID and have my visa stamped for a whole year. Writing a detailed guide on the whole process and will be publishing it soon on my page. Having other people’s experience would be great to give more objective overview of the process.
Also, ping me if you are already in the city. Would be cool to hangout once fully vaccinated
Update! I’ve finished and published a detailed guide last night. It’s a lot more “practical” than what’s advertised on the official site The guide is available here:
Happy to hear your stories as well! I’ve made a section in the guide for “tips from other nomads” where we could put together useful and non-obvious tips that would save other people time.
Many thanks indeed for your wonderful guide. I was extremely confident that my application would be a breeze after reading your step-by-step guide. Although I meet all the eligibility criteria, I have never received a reply from the authorities who deal with applications despite several follow-up emails. Nothing, not a word.
It’s not the end of the world as there are so many other options, but I do wonder why they didn’t even want to enter into a dialogue.
@Pinkmoon13 hey Rob! What I’ve found here that often happens is lots of my emails end up in spam folders even though they arrive perfectly fine elsewhere. Maybe worth reaching out to them again from a different address that you have or even hitting them up on Twitter
Naz, thanks for getting back to me. You might be right as I encrypted the files I submitted as the information on salary etc. is pretty sensitive. I’ll give it another go from another email address. Cheers, Rob
I just thought I would thank you for your suggestion, which worked a treat. I sent all my documents from another email address and received a reply in less than an hour. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the reply I was expecting. However, I think it might be useful to others if I mention what they said. It looked like a standard letter since it mentioned multiple applicants and other things that didn’t relate to my case. The one thing that did most definitely relate to my case was the fact that they said “Please note that this visa is not valid for Freelancers”. Now, without going into too much detail, I had assumed that, since I am registered as a sole trader/self-employed with the tax authorities in the UK, then I would be treated as owning my own company. I can now see that, for the Dubai authorities, they require an actual limited company or something similar. Obviously, if you have a year’s contract with an employer then you can also apply. I hope that this is helpful to others. If I had known it would have saved me a lot of time in preparing documents, etc.
Hey Rob!
I think it’s not the end of the world. I know there are a few people here who had gone through, what I think, exactly what you need a freelancer visa. It’s another type of visa they have around here and you might wanna check if it suits your needs. Good luck and hope you make it to Dubai!
Cheers!
Thanks for your email. No, as a sole trader, you will not be eligible for this visa. However, there is another one specifically for freelancers, although I haven’t looked into it. The website for the freelancer permit is here: https://dda.gov.ae/dda-services/registration-licencing-services/setting-up-a-business-2/apply-for-freelancer-permit/ but you need a separate visa. There are several companies who will sort things out for you, but I have no first-hand knowledge. Let me know how you get on.
Dear Rob - thanks a lot for getting back to me, really appreciate it.
That’s so interesting and such a shame, even with PDF docs like the SA302 which has a breakdown including name, pay, expenses, profit from self employment etc?
Gutted how even with a doc like that it will still not be accepted?
Yes thank you for this and will consider the freelance permit and see that you need the permit, establishment card and then the visa on top so let’s see.
Thanks for your wishes. What did you decide to go for instead? Lots of other places to digital nomad?
Yeah, I thought it would be a breeze, but they want to see articles of incorporation or the equivalent. If I had my mind set on Dubai then I would set up a company either in the UK, Estonia, Romania, etc. and reapply again in a year’s time, but I might be heading elsewhere (possibly back to BKK).
It’s one thing to stay in Dubai during the normal time, and it’s the other to stay there during this cerveza-demic, where everyone in UAE is required to wear a muzzle, and wear it “properly”. Which, despite all the effort, has never brought the daily cases close to zero or even to a low number. Never for over a year. Doesn’t it tell you something?
How does vaccination rate matter? The 2nd highest in the world, or the last in the world - what’s the difference for you? Are you vaccinated? If so, then how does it matter to you whether the rest of the population in your country vaccinated or not? Your vaccine protects you, doesn’t it? Or you doubt it?
And if you’re not vaccinated, then again - how does that matter, given that you’ve made your choise youself? There’s no advantage here at all. In fact, there’s only more of hysterics in the countries which have become highly vaccinated.
I personally will wait for a bit for Dubai to remove these anectodal restrictions or, what they usually called to make them seem more important, safety measures.
Hey @kevinto! I totally get you point. I think from hindsight it’s easy to see that maybe better solution would’ve been going to US or any other European country where vaccines became available to general population quite quickly. Back in March when I was making the decision to move here my main metric was - how easy and likely would I have access to the vaccine. Because of their high vaccination rate I assumed I’ll get a jab for sure as a resident, which I did. The life is not that bad in here, even with the mask restrictions.
I’m now fully vaccinated and have a few friends who are also vaccinated. It is fairly easy to meetup and even do some activities, which I know would be a no-go in most of Europe right now.
I’d also argue if the restrictions are really working… but oh well. I’m just getting on with my life and enjoying for what it is.
Naz. Great job. but you forgot one very important point.
How to open a bank account with this visa, the steps, documents required, leases, and the challenges. Google loves to rank pages loaded with info
The guide is available here: