Dubai Allows Wives and Children of GCC Nationals With Foreign Passports to Get Residence Permits

• Dubai's General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs published a service allowing family members of GCC nationals to apply for residence permits
• The policy covers wives and children of nationals from all six GCC member states who hold passports from outside the bloc
• Dubai has attached no additional conditions to the application process based on the foreign passport's country of origin

Dubai has confirmed that wives and children of Gulf Cooperation Council nationals who hold foreign passports are eligible to apply for a residence permit in the emirate, with no extra conditions required.

The service was published on the official portal of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai, known as GDRFAD, the body responsible for all residency and immigration matters across the emirate.

The GCC is a political and economic bloc comprising six Arab states: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. Nationals of all six countries are covered under the policy.

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The arrangement specifically targets situations where a GCC national serves as the head of household but their dependants, including a spouse or children, travel on passports issued by countries outside the GCC bloc.

Under this service, those family members retain access to a legal residency pathway in Dubai regardless of which country issued their passport.

By removing any additional requirements linked to the foreign passport's country of origin, the Dubai service effectively opens the door to a broad spectrum of nationalities, provided the sponsoring individual is a verified citizen of a GCC member state.

How the Application Process Works

Eligible families can access the service and begin their applications directly through the GDRFAD portal.

The directorate oversees the processing of all such permits and serves as the single point of contact for residency and immigration matters in Dubai.

The policy is designed to ease the administrative burden on mixed-nationality families, where the GCC national's dependants would otherwise face uncertainty regarding their legal status in the emirate.

Source: YEN.com.gh