About the UAE

Time

GMT plus four hours

Language

Arabic is the official language, however English and Urdu are also widely spoken.

Currency

Dirhams notes: 1000, 500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5 Dirhams coins: 1 Fils: 50 and 25

• 1 US Dollar (USD) = 3.67190 Utd. Arab Emir. Dirham (AED) 1 Canadian Dollar = 3.46653 Utd. Arab Emir. Dirham (AED)
• 1 Euro = 4.98662 Utd. Arab Emir. Dirham (AED)

Working Week

Private sector companies based in the UAE tend to work a Sunday to Thursday week. (Some companies choose to follow the working week as defined by the UAE government: Saturday to Wednesday, with a half day Wednesday.)

Money Exchanges

Can be found in most major malls in the country. Opening hours vary, however the best option is to head towards a shopping mall after 16.00 on a weekday.

Visas

Residents of the following countries will receive a visa upon arrival in the UAE:
Americas: USA and Canada
Asia: Japan, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and South Korea
GCC Countries: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait
Oceania: Australia and New Zealand
Western Europe: France, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Finland, Spain, Monaco, Vatican City, Iceland, Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein and the UK.

Please ensure that your passport has at least two months (in some cases six) before its expiry date to be granted admission into the UAE.

Working hours

08.00 – 13.00 and 16.00 – 19.00. Increasingly many companies are introducing the Western hours of 09.00 – 18.00. The public sector and the banking industry works Saturday to Wednesday. Some companies have a half day on Thursday.
Government hours 07.00 – 14.00
Banking hours 08.00 – 13.00
All businesses are closed on Fridays
Shopping hours 09.00 – 13.00 and 16.30 – 22.00
Shopping mall hours 10.00 – 22.00

Public Holidays

The UAE has two different kinds of public holiday, those that are fixed on the calendar and religious holidays that are determined by the lunar calendar.

Fixed Holidays

New Year’s Day: 1st January
UAE National Day: 2nd December

Variable Holidays

Eid Al Adha: A four day feast to mark the end of the Haj pilgr/ISNRImage to Mecca
Ras Al Sana: The start of the Islamic (Hijra) New Year
Mawlid Al Nabi: The celebration of Prophet Mohammed’s birthday
Lailat Al Mir’raj: The Ascension of Prophet Mohammed
Eid Al Fitr: Three day holiday marking the end of Ramadan.