The thought of relocating your family to the vibrant cultural center of Sharjah is exciting, but a key question always lingers in the minds of expat parents: is a separate visa required for the little ones, and what kind of budget planning should we do for the financial aspects of bringing our children? This is a completely valid and extremely common question since navigating the residency regulations of the UAE, even for a child, means stepping into a bureaucratic maze of necessary documents, attestations, and government fees, each step demanding careful attention to detail for a smooth transition.
Is a Visa Mandatory for Every Child
Yes, without a doubt, every single child you plan to bring to live with you in Sharjah or any part of the United Arab Emirates needs a residence visa, even newborns, and this process is directly tied to the residency status of one of the parents, who acts as the sponsor. The child’s visa essentially serves as their legal proof of residency in the country, allowing them to legally enroll in local schools, access healthcare services, and receive their mandatory Emirates ID card. In short, your child’s legal right to be a resident hinges entirely on being sponsored by you, so securing that visa is not a mere option but a fundamental requirement, the essential first step to establishing your family life here.
Who Can Be the Sponsor and What is the Salary Threshold
Typically, the father is designated as the primary sponsor for the family, but mothers working in the UAE can also sponsor their children, often requiring a slightly higher approximate minimum monthly salary than fathers do, or needing specific permissions like a notarized No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the father. Generally, a male sponsor must earn an approximate minimum monthly salary, which is around AED 4,000, or a lower amount if the employer provides accommodation, while a female sponsor usually needs a higher approximate income, often around AED 10,000 per month. It is really important to know that these salary requirements are in place to ensure that the sponsor has the financial capacity to fully support their dependents, covering essential costs like schooling and healthcare insurance throughout their stay in the Emirates.
The Lifecycle of a Child’s Residence Visa
A child’s residence visa is usually issued for the same duration as the sponsor parent’s visa, typically being either a two-year or three-year validity, meaning you need to plan for renewals in sync with your own immigration timeline. One great thing to note is the recent and welcome relaxation of rules regarding sons, who can now often be sponsored up to the age of 25 years if they are continuing their education, a significant extension from the previous age limit. For daughters, as long as they remain unmarried, there is generally no age limit for their sponsorship, which provides immense peace of mind for parents planning a long-term future in the UAE.
Mandatory Document Attestation: The Paper Trail
One of the major and sometimes lengthy steps in the sponsorship process is the official attestation of documents, which cannot be skipped because the UAE government needs to confirm the legal authenticity of your family relationships. For your child’s visa application, you absolutely must provide the original birth certificate, which needs to be attested first by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the issuing country and then again by the UAE Embassy in that country, before finally being certified within the UAE by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC). This triple attestation process can be time-consuming, sometimes taking several weeks, so it is a common phrase here that “the early bird catches the worm” when it comes to starting your paperwork for the move.
The Critical Role of Health Insurance and Medical Tests
Health insurance is not just a good idea in the UAE; it is a mandatory requirement for every single resident, including children, so you must provide proof of valid health coverage when applying for the residence visa. Unlike the parent sponsor, children under the age of 18 years are happily exempt from the mandatory medical fitness test for communicable diseases like HIV and Tuberculosis, which saves a step for most families. However, once a sponsored child crosses that 18-year threshold, the medical fitness test suddenly becomes a compulsory part of their visa renewal or initial application process, a detail that many parents often overlook when their children are reaching adulthood.
Approximate Financial Outlay for a Child’s Visa
Trying to pin down a single, fixed cost for a child’s visa is genuinely difficult because the total financial outlay is a layered cake of fees that can change based on the specific services you choose, like express processing, or whether the child is inside or outside the UAE at the time of application. However, to give you a very approximate idea for planning, the total cost for a child’s two-year residence visa process, which includes the entry permit fee, the cost of the visa stamping, the mandatory Emirates ID fee, and the typing center service charges, can range between a few thousand AED, depending on the emirate and the selected service options. Remember, this approximate figure does not include the ongoing and mandatory cost of the child’s annual health insurance premium, which must be factored in separately as a non-negotiable expense.
Emirates ID: More Than Just an Identity Card
Once the residence visa is approved and stamped into the passport, the final, crucial step is the issuance of the Emirates ID card for your child, which is the official identity document for all residents in the United Arab Emirates. The cost for the Emirates ID is typically calculated based on the number of years the residence visa is valid for, being an approximate fixed amount per year, plus a small service charge. This card is vital because it is used for everything from registering with schools and doctors to accessing government e-services, so it is the key that unlocks official life in Sharjah. For children under the age of 15, the application process is a little simpler because they are exempt from the fingerprinting and iris scan requirements that apply to adults, which makes the whole process smoother for the younger ones.
Navigating the Visa Application Process in Sharjah
The visa process itself usually begins with applying for an entry permit for the child through the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) or the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, Customs & Port Security (ICP) portal, or by visiting a local service center known as an Amer center. Once the child enters the country with this permit, you have a grace period to complete the rest of the residency application, including the Emirates ID registration. It is highly recommended to use a licensed typing center, which are all over Sharjah, as their staff are experts in local procedure, can assist with filling out forms correctly, and can save you from time-consuming errors, ensuring your application moves through the system as quickly as possible.
Recommendations from the Editor of www.few.ae
To ensure a smooth family relocation, the editors at www.few.ae strongly advise that you start the attestation of your children’s birth certificates long before you even consider buying flights, as this document often becomes the main bottleneck in the entire process. Furthermore, keep in mind that Sharjah is often a more family-focused, residential emirate compared to others, meaning authorities place significant emphasis on complete and accurate family documentation. Make sure your tenancy contract, known as Ejari, is registered correctly and reflects adequate space for your family, as proof of suitable housing is another non-negotiable part of a successful family visa application in the UAE.
Family Unity and the Visa Grace Period
It is a common scenario that the spouse and children may enter the UAE on a visit visa before the primary sponsor’s residence visa is fully processed, a situation that requires a formal status change once the sponsor’s visa is stamped, converting the child’s entry permit into a full residency visa. You must adhere strictly to the 60-day grace period after the child enters the country to complete the residence visa process, or you will face increasing daily fines, which is a headache you certainly want to avoid. The UAE government’s primary goal is to foster family unity, but they expect expatriate residents to be proactive and responsible in regularizing the legal status of their children within the set timeframes.
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