Dubai relocation checklist: before travel and your first 90 days

Start early: set the conditions for moving

• Identify the residence route and sponsor for every family member; obtain the current document checklist.
• Agree your employment or remote-working arrangement and clarify which moving, schooling and insurance costs are covered.
• Create the arrival-cash and annual budgets, including commitments in your current country.
• Shortlist schools and childcare; establish entry year, available places and offer deadlines.
• Check passports, civil-status certificates, qualifications, custody or consent records and attestation needs.
• Choose a target area around real work and school locations. Decide whether temporary accommodation or renting first will reduce uncertainty.

Before departure: confirm, then book

• Verify entry permission, medical and identity appointment requirements, and the validity of your current immigration status.
• Secure accommodation suitable for arrival; check cancellation terms, family occupancy and whether pets are permitted.
• Book a mover only after obtaining a written inventory, insurance scope, customs responsibilities, exclusions, delivery terms and storage charges.
• Check medication rules with the Emirates Drug Establishment and prepare the required prescriptions or reports for your exact medicines.
• For cats or dogs, check MOCCAE import approval, identification, vaccination and health-document requirements, then confirm the airline’s transport arrangements.
• Notify relevant authorities and providers in your current country: tax adviser, school, landlord, bank, insurer and utilities as applicable.
• Keep essential originals, medicines, children’s immediate needs and valuables with you; do not put everything needed on arrival in a shipment.

• UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs: document attestation ↗
• Emirates Drug Establishment: personal medicine import guidance ↗
• MOCCAE: importing cats and dogs (official service guide, PDF) ↗

On arrival: complete the critical dependencies

• Follow the authority’s residence, medical, Emirates ID and biometrics sequence; keep all application references.
• Confirm medical cover is active and identify in-network care near your temporary home.
• Complete school handover and settling-in arrangements, including transport and emergency contacts.
• Inspect the home before acceptance, photograph condition, record meters and agree outstanding repairs in writing.
• Arrange the relevant tenancy or ownership records, utility activation and community move-in permission.
• Complete bank and communications applications using the documents requested by each provider; retain an alternative payment method while these are pending.

• DEWA: electricity and water move-in service ↗
• Dubai Land Department: register or renew Ejari ↗
• DHA: Dubai Health Insurance Corporation ↗

First month: make the home and routine work

• Confirm that every family member’s issued documents are correct and note renewal dates.
• Check licence-exchange eligibility or the required training route with RTA before driving as a resident.
• Verify the first rent, school, cooling and utility payments against your written budget.
• Finish snagging, check locks and child-safety measures, and review contents cover.
• Confirm healthcare appointments, repeat prescriptions, school support and everyday transport.
• Set up secure document storage and update contact details with the organisations that need them.

• RTA: exchanging an overseas driving licence ↗
• Settling-in guide ↗

By 90 days: review before making bigger commitments

• Compare actual spending with the annual budget and adjust your cash reserve.
• Review the school run, commute, childcare and wellbeing as a household.
• If you rented first, use that experience to refine the purchase brief rather than buying to a deadline.
• If buying off-plan, keep accommodation and purchase payments on separate calendars and review progress evidence.
• Check that relocation reimbursements and any former-country obligations have been settled.
• Review longer-term legal and financial planning with qualified advisers, including dependants, wills or guardianship needs and cross-border tax.

Keep a move folder with clear ownership

Give each task a named owner, a due date and the evidence that means it is complete. “Visa submitted” and “residence issued” are different milestones; “school contacted” is different from an accepted offer.

Keep identity and medical information in secure storage. A property adviser needs your housing brief, not an unrestricted copy of the family’s personal records. Share sensitive files only with the organisation handling the relevant application.

Common questions