As of 1 October 2026: UAE family visa sponsorship for a spouse or child costs AED 300 in base fees for a one-year permit. Sponsoring a family member’s UAE residence visa costs AED 300 in base fees before any security deposit, plus AED 100 for every additional year of validity. That figure comes directly from the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security’s own service page for issuing a residency permit, not a visa agent’s quote.
Who can you actually sponsor?
ICP’s rules are specific about who qualifies. A foreign resident sponsor can bring in a spouse, unmarried daughters, and sons under 25 years old, along with children who have special needs regardless of age. Holders of the Green Residence get a wider allowance and can sponsor first-degree relatives generally. Proof of the relationship is required in every case: an attested marriage contract for a spouse, birth certificates for children.
What income do you need to sponsor someone?
ICP sets a minimum monthly income threshold to demonstrate financial solvency. If your employer provides housing, you need at least AED 3,000 a month. Without employer-provided housing, the bar rises to AED 4,000 a month. On top of income, you also need to show adequate housing for the family members you are sponsoring, sized appropriately to the property you own or rent.
How much does the sponsorship actually cost?
ICP breaks the core fees down into three parts:
- Application fee: AED 100
- Issuance fee, per year of residence permit validity: AED 100
- Smart Service fee: AED 100
That is AED 300 as a floor for a one-year permit, rising by AED 100 for every extra year you apply for. On top of this, a financial security deposit fee of AED 20 applies, and a status adjustment, where relevant, costs AED 500. Investor family residency under the Green Residence category carries its own financial guarantee requirement, applied per family member up to a cap of AED 15,000, and humanitarian cases carry a separate guarantee up to the same AED 15,000 ceiling.
What is the 60-day rule?
Once a sponsored family member enters the UAE, ICP gives 60 days from the date of entry to complete the residence issuance process. Miss that window and the applicant is treated as overstaying, with a fine of AED 50 for every day past the deadline. Processing itself is fast once submitted correctly: ICP states a 2-day completion time for the service.
What documents does ICP actually ask for?
Every document on the list needs to match what ICP’s system expects exactly, since the application form attempts to retrieve matching data automatically, and a mismatch between what you submit and what the system can verify is one of the most common reasons an application gets sent back for correction rather than approved on the first pass.
The published list covers a passport, a personal photo, a recent water or electricity bill as proof of address, attested proof of the family relationship, and an employment certificate showing both the sponsor’s monthly income and whether housing is provided. Children’s ages need to be backed by a birth certificate, or documentation proving a special need where age limits do not apply. Valid health insurance for the person being sponsored is also required before the permit can be issued.
How does this connect to the rest of your paperwork?
Family sponsorship is one piece of a larger paperwork sequence. Once the residence permit is issued, the sponsored family member also needs their own Emirates ID, since the two are directly linked under ICP’s system, and the permit itself needs renewing before it expires, which our UAE residence visa renewal guide covers in full. Sponsors considering the Golden Residence route specifically, which unlocks the wider first-degree-relative sponsorship allowance, should also read our UAE Golden Visa guide before applying.
Budgeting for a larger household is its own planning exercise too, and our UAE cost of living breakdown is worth reading alongside the sponsorship fees themselves.
What is the short version?
Sponsoring a family member’s UAE residence costs AED 300 in base ICP fees for a one-year permit, plus AED 100 for each additional year, on top of a AED 20 security deposit and any applicable financial guarantee. You need AED 3,000 to AED 4,000 in monthly income depending on housing, and 60 days from the sponsored person’s entry to finish the process before overstay fines of AED 50 a day begin.
Last updated: 1 October 2026. Primary source: ICP, Issuing Residency Permit service page.
