How to Sponsor Parents for a UAE Residence Visa
To sponsor parents for a UAE residence visa you need a valid residence permit of your own, proof of kinship and suitable housing. ICP publishes those conditions for family sponsorship generally, and names parents only in its document list and in the Green Residence entitlement to first-degree relatives. The salary figure you have read is almost certainly not ICP’s.
This guide quotes what ICP, GDRFA Dubai and the UAE Government portal publish about sponsoring a parent, and is explicit about the much larger set of things none of them publishes. If you want the file prepared and submitted, our UAE visa and residence service handles family sponsorship.
Can you sponsor parents in the UAE at all?
Yes — but the published position is narrower and stranger than the internet suggests.
ICP’s residency service sets out who a resident may bring in: “The foreign sponsor (resident in the UAE) may bring in his/her spouse, unmarried daughters, sons under 25 years old, and children with special needs. Holders of the Green Residence are also entitled to sponsor first-degree relatives.” A parent is a first-degree relative, so the only route stated as an entitlement for an expatriate is the Green Residence.
And yet the same ICP service, under required documents, asks for “Proof of kinship when sponsoring parents” — a document requirement for something the conditions never describe.
Read those two together and the honest conclusion is this: ICP handles parent applications, and ICP does not publish the conditions for them. Anyone who tells you the rule with confidence is quoting something other than ICP.
What ICP does publish for family sponsorship
All quoted from ICP’s Issuing Residency Permit service, service code 377-006-003-000, read on 13 October 2026.
| Condition | In ICP’s words |
|---|---|
| The sponsor | “The foreign national (sponsor/head of the family) must hold a valid residence permit in the UAE.” |
| Income | “Financial solvency must be demonstrated, with a minimum monthly income of AED 3,000 plus employer-provided housing, or AED 4,000 if housing is not provided.” |
| Housing | “Adequate housing must be secured for family members, in proportion to the property’s capacity (owned or rented).” |
| Relationship | “Proof of kinship must be provided.” |
| Duration | “Family residence matches the sponsor’s permit and cannot exceed it” |
| Passport | “Passport valid for no less than 6 months” |
The UAE Government portal says the same thing about income and repeats the same list of who may be brought in — spouse, unmarried daughters, sons under 25, children with special needs, and first-degree relatives for Green visa holders. Its page was updated on 28 September 2026 and ends with the sentence that matters most here: “The conditions are subject to change from time to time. Kindly check with Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) or GDRFA.”
The medical and the 60-day clock
A parent over 18 — which is every parent — must pass a medical fitness test. u.ae puts it plainly: “Male and female family members who are to be sponsored and who have completed the age of 18 need to undergo and pass medical fitness tests at approved health centres… in the UAE.”
Once a parent has entered on the entry permit, a clock starts. ICP: “It is required that the foreigner’s stay in the UAE does not exceed sixty (60) days from the date of entry for the purpose of completing the residence issuance procedures. If the residence permit is not finalized within this period, the applicable overstay fines will be imposed on the applicant.” The fine ICP publishes is AED 50 a day.
GDRFA Dubai’s own entry permit for family sponsorship says the same: “a foreigner is given a work entry visa that entitles its holder to remain in the country for a period of (60) sixty days from the date of entry until the requirements for issuing residency are satisfied”.
UAE parents visa cost: what each authority publishes
Neither authority publishes a total, and we do not add one up.
| Authority | Item | Published amount |
|---|---|---|
| ICP | Application fee | AED 100 |
| ICP | Issuance of the residence permit, per year | AED 100 |
| ICP | Smart service fee | AED 100 |
| ICP | Financial security deposit fee | AED 20 |
| ICP | Status adjustment | AED 500 |
| GDRFA Dubai | Residence permit fee | AED 200 |
| GDRFA Dubai | Fee inside the country | AED 500 |
| GDRFA Dubai | Knowledge and Innovation dirhams | AED 10 each |
| GDRFA Dubai | Delivery | AED 20 |
GDRFA adds one rule worth knowing before you budget: “The issuance fee increases by AED100 annually whenever the residency is over two years.”
ICP does publish two financial guarantees, and neither of them is a parents deposit: “Financial guarantee for the investor’s family residency, applied per family member, with a maximum amount of AED 15,000” at AED 3,000, and AED 5,000 per individual under humanitarian cases. If someone quotes you a refundable parents deposit, ask which page it is on.
The grace period: three official answers
This is the part worth reading twice, and it is the same shape as the conflict in our guide to UAE visa cancellation.
| Who publishes it | What it says | Date on the source |
|---|---|---|
| u.ae | “Dependents are granted a 6-month grace period from the date of expiry or cancellation of their visas to obtain a new residence permit.” | Updated 28 September 2026 |
| GDRFA Dubai | “The grace period to stay inside the country after the expiration of the residence permit or its cancellation is (60) days.” | Read 13 October 2026 |
| ICP | four tiers — 180 days for Golden, Green and Blue holders and their family members; 90 for skilled workers in levels 1–3 and property owners; 60 for permits issued with a guarantor or host; 30 for “all other categories” | Read 12 October 2026 |
Six months, sixty days, or thirty. ICP’s tiers name no family category at all, so on ICP’s own wording a sponsored parent most likely falls into “all other categories” — while u.ae tells the same reader six months. We are not going to tell you which is right, because no authority does. Ask the authority that issued the permit, before you rely on any of them.
What is not published anywhere official
Every figure below is stated as fact on agency pages ranking for this search. None of it appears on icp.gov.ae, gdrfad.gov.ae or u.ae as read on 13 October 2026.
- A minimum salary of AED 20,000 to sponsor a parent. ICP publishes AED 4,000, or AED 3,000 with employer housing, for family sponsorship, and nothing at all specific to parents.
- That both parents must be sponsored together, and one alone only on proof the other has died or that the parents are divorced.
- A refundable deposit or bank guarantee per parent. AED 2,500, AED 3,000 and AED 5,000 all circulate. ICP’s published guarantees are for an investor’s family and for humanitarian cases.
- A one-year parent visa, renewable annually, as against the longer permit granted to a spouse or child.
- Compulsory medical insurance for the parent as a separate published condition.
- A requirement to prove the parents have no other supporter in their home country.
- Any processing time specific to a parent application. ICP publishes a service completion duration of 2 days for the permit itself; GDRFA publishes 48 hours for the family residence permit.
Our advice — practical guidance, not a rule
Marked as advice because no official page prescribes it.
- Ask ICP or GDRFA before you pay anyone. u.ae itself tells you to. A parent application is one of the few where the published conditions genuinely do not answer the question, and the authority’s own answer is the only one worth having.
- Get the kinship proof attested first. It is the one document both authorities name, and it usually has to travel from another country, which is the longest lead time in the whole file.
- Treat the 60 days as the real deadline. Not the medical, not the Emirates ID — the clock runs from entry, and AED 50 a day runs with it.
- Do not budget from a total you read online. Fees are published per authority and per item, and GDRFA’s issuance fee rises by AED 100 a year past two years.
If you would rather not navigate two authorities that publish different answers, our UAE visa and residence desk prepares and submits family files, and tells you honestly when a condition is not published rather than inventing one.
Frequently asked questions
How can I sponsor my parents in UAE?
Through ICP, or GDRFA if the file is in Dubai. You need a valid residence permit, proof of kinship, suitable housing and the published income — AED 4,000, or AED 3,000 with employer-provided housing. ICP names parents in its document list and grants first-degree relative sponsorship to Green Residence holders, but publishes no conditions specific to parents.
Can I sponsor one parent in the UAE?
No official page says you can, and none says you cannot. The “both parents together” rule is repeated by agencies and is not published by ICP, GDRFA or u.ae. Ask the authority that will issue the permit.
What salary do I need to sponsor my parents in the UAE?
ICP publishes AED 3,000 a month plus employer-provided housing, or AED 4,000 where housing is not provided, for family sponsorship. The AED 20,000 figure widely quoted for parents is not on ICP, GDRFA or u.ae.
Do my parents need a medical test?
Yes. Everyone over 18 being sponsored must pass a medical fitness test at an approved health centre in the UAE, which includes every parent.
How long does a UAE parents visa take?
ICP publishes a service completion duration of 2 days for issuing a residence permit and GDRFA publishes 48 hours for the family residence permit. Neither publishes a timeline for a parent application end to end, and neither counts the medical or the attestation.
Is there a deposit for sponsoring parents in the UAE?
None is published. ICP publishes a financial guarantee for an investor’s family and one for humanitarian cases, both capped at AED 15,000. Neither is described as a parents deposit.
How long can my parents stay after the visa is cancelled?
Three different answers are published: six months on u.ae, 60 days on GDRFA Dubai, and on ICP’s tiers most likely 30 days as “all other categories”. Confirm with the authority that issued the permit.