How to open a bank account in Dubai

How many times have you tried to Google ‘how to open a bank account in Dubai’ and reached to those weird forums, where everyone says what they think is right?

Or probably, you’ve got confused among the types of accounts every bank has and how every bank in Dubai calls a type of account differently?

Here is the catch:

Due to the frequently asked question ‘how to open a bank account in Dubai’, it seems like most of the websites mention setting up a bank account or a salary account, but don’t actually tell you the exact requirements or conditions.

As a matter of fact, opening a bank account for expats in Dubai is very easy, especially if it’s a current account or even easier if it’s only a salary account, and requirements don’t vary much from bank to bank.

But we both agree:

Banks in Dubai tend to have a bit of complicated website for the average expat or new-to-Dubai, to check quickly what are the requirements or at least what are the documents required to open a bank account.

In spite of every other blog, we wanted to gather all information for you and put it in one definitive guide to save you all the hassle of checking several websites, blogs or even forums.

In short:

Whether you’re looking for the best bank in the UAE that suits you or you need to set up a bank account, today you’ll get it all sorted out.

So how to open a bank account in Dubai?

With this purpose in mind, we gathered all the information from the banks themselves, and sorted them out to you in an easy step-by-step way that can answer your every question.

And yet,

it’s all summarized.

First of all and before going in bank accounts details, we need to have a brief idea why would you need to have a bank account?

Why do you need to set up a bank account in Dubai?

So, what’s the mutual valid documents that you need to have with you, before going to open up an account?

And what’s the minimum salary to open a bank account in Dubai?

It’s mostly AED 3,000

But that’s not all,

Before we go through each bank in Dubai and their required documents to set up an account, it’s important for you to have an idea about some of the important terms used by banks in particular:

Opening Account: The amount of money you need to deposit in your bank account, in order to set it up for the first time.

Salary Transfer: The amount of the salary to be deposited every month in the account by your employer. Therefore, you need to maintain getting it every month in order to avoid the charging fees (25 Dirhams). Salary transfer does not include cash or cheque salary transfers.

E-statement: Your monthly account statement sent to you via email or through the website.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB):

Opening account: AED 5,000
Salary Transfer:  Min.5000 AED/month
More conditions or documents to bring: N/A

What you get:

CitiBank:

Opening account: AED 3,000
Salary Transfer:  Min.3000 Aed/month
More conditions or documents to bring: N/A

What you get:

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB):

Opening account: AED 3,000
Salary Transfer:  Min.3000 AED/month
More conditions or documents to bring: N/A

What you get:

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) Or (National Bank of Abu Dhabi – NBAD as known before):

Before you think we didn’t include NBAD bank account. You should know this:

Merger happens!

With the result that a merger happened between National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and First Gulf Bank (FAB) on April 2017, subsequently NBAD changed its identity.

In other words, NBAD is now offically known as First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB)

Opening account: AED 3,000
Salary Transfer:  Min.3000 AED/month
More conditions or documents to bring: Above 21 years old

What you get:

Emirates NBD (ENBD):

Opening account: AED 3,000
Salary Transfer:  Min.3000 AED/month
More conditions or documents to bring: Labor Contract Copy, No Objection Letter from sponsor, statement of account about last salary and Consolidate letter

What you get:

First Gulf Bank (FGB):

Opening account: AED 3,000
Salary Transfer:  Min.3000 AED/month
More conditions or documents to bring: N/A

What you get:

Standard Chartered:

Opening account: AED 10,000
Salary Transfer:  Min.3000 AED/month
More conditions or documents to bring: N/A

What you get:

RakBank:

Opening account: AED 3,000
Salary Transfer:  Min.3000 AED/month
More conditions or documents to bring: Salary Transfer Letter

What you get:

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB):

Opening account: AED 3,000
Salary Transfer:  Min.3000 AED/month
More conditions or documents to bring: N/A

What you get:

Mashreq Bank:

Opening account: AED 3,000
Salary Transfer:  Min.3000 AED/month
More conditions or documents to bring: 21 years old

What you get:

Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD):

Opening account: AED 3,000
Salary Transfer:  Min.3000 AED/month
More conditions or documents to bring: 21 years old

What you get:

Commercial Bank International (CBI):

Opening account: AED 3,000
Salary Transfer:  Min.3000 AED/month
More conditions or documents to bring: N/A

What you get:

At last:

Did we miss a bank that you prefer or looking to open an account with?

Please let us know through comments, as we are updating this post on monthly basis and we’d like to make the best reference for every expat opening or even transferring a bank account in Dubai.