For Emirates ID:
The UAE requires all residents to have an Emirates ID card. This is extremely necessary and should be taken care of as a priority. The EIDA website has the application forms available and can be printed from there and then brought to the EIDA registration office. It takes around 7-10 working days for the card to be issued. There is a fee structure present and 100AED is charged from UAE Nationals.
Read Also: How to check Emirate ID status
For Visa:
In case you’re planning to live in Dubai, you’d have to apply for a residency visa and would require the following set of documents to do so:
- Birth certificates
- Marriage certificates
- Education documents
- Degree certificates
- A bank statement of the last 6 months
The residency visa is crucial as it allows one to avail a set of opportunities that will be missed out on otherwise including basic amenities such as finding accommodation and obtaining a driver license. The attestation of all the documents and certificates from your home country is important and you should keep multiple sets of copies to be ready for any kind of inconvenience.
A medical test is also done to understand your medical condition and basic tests are conducted for tuberculosis, HIV, a blood test and x-ray are also done and the medical procedure takes around 3-4 days.
Read Also: Top 10 credit cards that you can consider in UAE (2019)
For Driving License:
There is a special facility available for the citizens of the following countries to be eligible for driving in UAE:
Australia, Netherlands, Austria, New Zealand, Bahrain, Norway, Belgium, Oman, Canada, Poland, Cyprus, Portugal, Czech Republic, Qatar, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Finland, Singapore, France, Slovakia, Germany, South Africa, Greece, South Korea, Iceland, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, Turkey, Kuwait, United Kingdom, Luxembourg and United States.
However, residents of some countries find it harder to get a license than others. There are reports available where Indian nationals have said that they find it relatively harder to get a driving license and for some, it took even 11 attempts to finally get one. One reason for this is that there is a major lack of discipline on roads in India and other south Asian countries. People have to first unlearn certain driving techniques and then learn the right way to drive.
Although the UAE has a very efficient public transport system, the driving license is still essential.
Read Also: Emirates Driving Institute – Guide
The steps to obtaining a license are as follows:
- Register for either a manual or automatic vehicle learning course in an authorized driving school.
- The required documents include Passport (original and copy) with residence stamp, No-Objection Certificate from employer and eight photos.
- An eye test is also required to check vision.
- A theory test is conducted after taking lectures regarding rules and regulations.
- A road test is conducted on the assigned date. You should take your passport, driving file, two photos to the RTA License Section as advised by the driving school. If you fail the driving test, you’ll have to take 7 more classes before getting a new test date.