GMT plus four hours
Arabic is the official language, however English and Urdu are also widely spoken.
Dirhams notes: 1000, 500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5 Dirhams
Coins: 1 Fils: 50 and 25
- 1 US Dollar (USD) = approximately 3.67 Utd. Arab Emir. Dirham (AED)
- 1 Canadian Dollar = 3.46 United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED)
- 1 Euro = 4.98 United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED)
Private sector companies based in the UAE tend to work a Sunday to Thursday week.
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
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.
Residents of the following countries will receive a visa upon arrival in the UAE:
Americas: USA
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.
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.
New Year's Day: 1st January
UAE National Day: 2nd December
Eid Al Adha: A four day feast to mark the end of the Haj pilgrImage 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