How to get health insurance in the UAE

Health insurance is tied to your residence visa. Who arranges it depends on who sponsors you and which emirate issued the visa.

Is health insurance required for you?

It is required for a residence visa in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and for private sector employees and domestic workers in the five northern emirates.

In Dubai no new visa is issued and no existing visa renewed unless you have health insurance in place at the time of the application. The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and the residency authority began that check on 1 August 2015, starting with employers of more than 100 staff.¹ In Abu Dhabi a non-UAE national may not get or renew a residence permit, or be employed, until enrolled in the health insurance scheme.² In Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah, employers have had to buy a policy before applying to issue or renew the residency permits of private sector employees and domestic workers since 1 January 2025.³

Check which emirate issued your visa, then read the section below that matches how you are sponsored. The rules in full are in the law guide.

Who arranges your cover if you have a job?

Your employer does, and your employer pays.

In Dubai the employer must enrol you, bear the cost and not charge it to you, keep the cover valid for as long as you work there, and give you an insurance card.⁴ DHA says insurance costs must not be deducted from salaries under any circumstances.⁵ The least an employer may provide is the Essential Benefits Plan (EBP).⁵

In Abu Dhabi the employer must cover you and your family, defined as a wife and three children under 18, and may not pass on the cost.² Details are in the Abu Dhabi guide.

In the northern emirates the employer buys the policy as a condition of your residency permit.³ Employees whose work permits were issued before the scheme began and are still valid are exempt until their residency is renewed.³ The plan is described in the northern emirates guide.

Ask your employer for the insurer’s name and your policy number in your first week.

Who arranges your cover if you are a dependant?

Your sponsor does, unless the sponsor’s employer has chosen to cover you.

In Dubai a sponsor is responsible for enrolling the people he sponsors who do not have an employer, pays the cost, and must produce the policy when their residence permits are issued or renewed.⁴ Dubai employers are encouraged to cover spouses and dependants. Where they do not, the responsibility rests with the sponsor.⁵

In Abu Dhabi the employer’s duty already includes a wife and three children under 18.² Other family members, such as parents or a fourth child, are priced as a separate category in the Basic plan.⁶

In the northern emirates a worker’s dependants can have the same benefits and price as the worker.³ The scheme pages do not say whether insuring dependants is compulsory. Ask Workers Health Insurance before you apply for a dependant’s residency.

If you sponsor your family, read the dependants guide. If you employ a nanny, driver or cook, read the domestic workers guide.

How do you get cover if you sponsor yourself?

You buy it yourself. In Dubai, residents who have no employer or sponsor must obtain health insurance before the deadline set by DHA’s insurance corporation.⁷

What you must show depends on the visa:

• Golden visa, Dubai. The residency authority’s page for specialised scientists says applicants must have valid comprehensive health insurance for themselves and their family members when applying.⁸
• Golden visa, Abu Dhabi. Employees stay on their employer’s cover. Other applicants must present health insurance for themselves and their family, or sign an undertaking to provide it or bear all healthcare costs.⁹
• Remote work visa, Dubai. You must submit a valid health insurance document and proof of a monthly income of at least USD 3,500.¹⁰ Invest in Dubai says the insurance must be valid in the UAE for at least one year and can be travel insurance if it includes the necessary cover.¹¹
• Investors and partners. Dubai’s participating insurers offer pre-underwritten EBPs for investors and golden visa holders, among others.¹² The northern emirates scheme prices partners and investors at AED 483 a year for its Basic plan.¹³ Abu Dhabi’s Basic plan has a “small investors” category.⁶

If you hold a freelance permit, ask the free zone that issued it which policy it accepts before you buy.

Compare quotes with the plan comparison guide and check published prices in the cost guide.

Where do you buy a policy?

In Dubai you buy directly from a permitted insurer or through a permitted intermediary.⁵ DHA publishes both lists,^14,15 and a list of the insurers that sell the EBP, with links to apply online.¹⁶

In the northern emirates the basic package is sold through Dubai Insurance and the insurance pool website,³ and through whi.ae and business service centres.¹⁷

Confirm the seller’s name is on the regulator’s list before you pay. Company pages are in the insurer directory.

What happens to your cover when you leave a job?

In Dubai your cover continues for 30 days after your residence visa is cancelled, or until you leave the UAE, whichever comes first. Whoever enrolled you must keep it going for that time.⁷

The Dubai law says a policy ends when your relationship with the body that enrolled you ends, but that it stays valid after a residence permit is cancelled for the period the law sets.⁴ A worker who is still employed can only have a policy revoked by showing other cover from the employer.⁷

After the 30 days, if you stay in Dubai with no employer or sponsor, the duty to hold cover is yours.⁷ A new employer must enrol you once you are their employee.⁴

For work permits issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, law firm Morgan Lewis reports the ministry’s guidance as saying an employer must not cancel a policy while the work permit is valid if that would leave the employee without cover.¹⁸ On an Abu Dhabi visa, ask your insurer for the date your cover ends.

Ask your employer for the visa cancellation date in writing and arrange new cover to start before the 30 days end.

Is your Emirates ID your insurance card?

In Dubai it can be. The Dubai bylaw lets an insurer link your Emirates ID to its system “as an alternative to the Health Insurance Card”, and says cards may be electronic or paper.⁷ The insurer must cover you and pay claims before the card is issued or the Emirates ID is linked.⁷

Where a card is issued, it must show the insurer, the validity date, the name of the provider network, the insurance category and the co-payment.⁷ Your employer or sponsor is the one who must give it to you.⁴

Gulf News reported in January 2026 that policies are linked to the Emirates ID and that clinics check cover with an Emirates ID reader.¹⁹

Ask your insurer whether your Emirates ID is linked, and carry it to your first appointment.

The small print

The Dubai employer duties are in Article 10 of Law No. 11 of 2013, the sponsor duties in Articles 9(a)(3) and 11, and policy validity in Article 17.⁴ The duty on residents with no employer or sponsor is Article 24(e) of the Implementing Bylaw. Cover for 30 days after visa cancellation is Article 26(a)(3). The card rules are in Article 21. The duty to cover you before the card is issued or the Emirates ID is linked is Article 3(10), which applies to insurers authorised to sell more than basic cover.⁷ The Abu Dhabi duties are in Article 5 of Law No. 23 of 2005 and Article 11 of its regulations.²

The UAE Government portal says the northern emirates exemption covers work permits issued before 1 January 2024.³ The ministry’s page says before 1 January 2025.¹⁷