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Hi there, my wife and I are due to move out to dubai in January. Just wondered how easy it is to set up bank account there? Also does anyone transfer money from dubai bank account to one in uk and if so are there any charges? I've got a savings account here in Uk which ideally i would like to trasnfer any savings into from dubai.
Anyone got any experience of doing this, or are u all blowing your wages out there?

Very easy, even they provide you instant credit cards (sometimes 3!) and ask if you'd like to have a loan. Simply give them passport copy with residence visa and employment/salary letter from company.

Local bank is slightly better in terms of benefits, ATMs, and exchange rates (e.g. when transferring). Emirates bank & NBD are two biggest ones.

Remittance can be by wire (bank to bank) where the charges vary starting 80+ AED, or also by other money transfer methods such as Western Union, MoneyGram, etc.

duncheski wrote:Hi there, my wife and I are due to move out to dubai in January. Just wondered how easy it is to set up bank account there? Also does anyone transfer money from dubai bank account to one in uk and if so are there any charges? I've got a savings account here in Uk which ideally i would like to trasnfer any savings into from dubai.
Anyone got any experience of doing this, or are u all blowing your wages out there?

Once you have your residence permit sorted, you can open a bank account. Even some Banks I believe will open an account for you prior to this. I have found the cheapest possible way to transfer money is to buy a cheque from one of the exchange centres and then post it. Although it is certainly not a problem to transfer Bank to Bank, you will find that the Banks make a bundle from you with the exchange rates as well as the fees.

sage & onion wrote:I have found the cheapest possible way to transfer money is to buy a cheque from one of the exchange centres and then post it. Although it is certainly not a problem to transfer Bank to Bank, you will find that the Banks make a bundle from you with the exchange rates as well as the fees.

Most of the times it depends on which country you transfer to, especially if you transfer to Asian countries they offer lots of methods/choices. I wire transfer through UAE Exchange to my bank account (they have affiliation) in home country (it takes one day), they charge only 20 AED no matter how much amount you transfer The exchange rate is considerably Ok, 3.68 AED to USD. Comparing to Western Union where they charge 35 AED per 1000 USD. Every methods has advantages and disadvantages.