Religion

The official religion in Dubai is Islam. Other religions are respected. There are six Christian churches in Dubai: St. Mary's (Roman Catholic), St. Thomas (Orthodox), Evangelical Community Church, International Christian Church, St Francis de Assissi and Holy Trinity Churches. There are two Hindu temples (the Shiva temple and the Krishna temple) which are situated near the Dubai Museum in Bur Dubai. There is also a Sikh temple (the Gurudwara) which is also located near the Dubai Museum.

Currency

The unit of currency in Dubai is the UAE Dirham (Dhs) or the Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) as it is termed in international markets. The dirham is divided into units of 1 00 fils. Currency notes are issued in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 dirhams. Coin denominations are 25 and 50 fils and 1 dirham. Coins with a denomination below 25 fils are rarely used.
The value of the dirham has been fixed to the US dollar since 1980 at the rate of 1 USD to Dhs 3.678. Below is a summarized chart of the Middle East currencies against the US dollar, the Pound Sterling and the Japanese yen as they stood at August 2003.

Local Time

Dubai is four hours ahead of GMT and there are no adjustments for daylight saving time.

Immigration and Customs

The laws governing immigration requirements are mainly contained in Federal Law No. 6 of 1973 regarding the Entry & Residence of Expatriates as amended by Federal Law No. 13 of 1996, the Immigration Law. Other immigration regulations have been issued in various Ministerial Decrees and Orders, the most relevant of which in terms of procedure is Ministerial Decree No. 360 of 1 997 to Issue the Executive Bylaw of Federal Law No. 6 of 1973 (the Decree).

The general rule regarding foreign visitors to the UAE is that all visitors, except transit passengers who do not leave the airport and citizens of GCC countries (Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman) and citizens of 33 exempted countries, require a visa for entry.

The 33 Exempted Countries:Andorra, Greece, Monaco, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Austria, Iceland, Belgium, Norway, Brunei, Canada, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Italy, San Marino, Denmark, Japan, Singapore, The Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Switzerland, France, Malaysia, USA, Germany, Malta, Vatican and UK.

Citizens of the above countries can obtain visas at the port of entrance, in exchange for a fee of Dhs 100. This entitles the visitor to stay in the country for 60 days, extendable for another 30 days. UK citizens receive an automatic 28-day visa on arrival in the UAE.

In order to apply for any visa or permit, it is necessary to obtain the sponsorship of either a UAE resident (who may be a foreigner) or other legal entities in Dubai such as companies or hotels. If the visa or permit is being arranged by a hotel or a local sponsor, it is usually deposited at the airport for collection by the visitor on arrival. The UAE bodies which are responsible for issuing visas and permits to foreigners wishing to enter the UAE are the Naturalisation & Residency Administration in the concerned authority such as the Department of Naturalisation & Residency (the DNR) where Dubai is concerned, the International Airport Authority of any member emirate and any other body designated for this purpose by the Ministry of Interior. Entry permits as distinct from visas, however, may only be obtained from within the UAE from the Headquarters of Naturalisation & Residency, the DNR in the case of Dubai.

Although only some of the immigration laws and regulations are applicable to a business person, it is useful to grasp a basic understanding of these for both business and personal purposes. In the sections that follow, we have outlined the immigration requirements new businesses will need to fulfill in order to employ staff in the UAE, the different types of visas and permits which would be useful to foreigners, what they are, to whom and when they may be useful, and the procedures for obtaining them.

Type of visas:

• Visit Visa: - valid for duration of stay upto 60 days
• Relatives: - valid for duration of stay upto 3 years
• Tourist: - valid for duration of stay upto 30 days
• Resident: - valid for duration of stay upto 3 years
• Transit: - valid for duration of stay upto 14 days

Visit Visas

A visit visa may be obtained for different purposes. Although the procedures are more or less the same for everyone, conditions vary depending on who the visitor is and who the visitor's sponsor is. The legally permitted purposes for which one may enter the UAE on a visit visa are the following:

• To visit a friend or a relative residing in the UAE
• To visit a juridical person, whether public or private
• For tourism

A visit visa entitles the visitor to remain in the country for an initial period of 60 days which is subsequently renewable for a further period of 30 days (the extension of 30 days must be conducted within the 60 day period of validity) thus allowing a total period of 90 days of stay in the country, provided the procedures for renewal are satisfied. If the visitor remains in the country beyond the permitted period he is fined Dhs 100 a day upon leaving, and also an additional Dhs 100 as penalty for overstaying. Once an individual obtains a visit visa, he must use it within two months of its date of issue, otherwise the visa will expire and a fresh application will become necessary. It should be noted that although a person may enter the country on a visit visa for tourism purposes, there are special 'tourist visas' for this purpose as discussed in the section on Visas for Tourists. As the requirements and conditions for obtaining visit visas vary according to the identity of both the intended visitor and the sponsor, a brief explanation of these has been provided below.

Relatives, Spouses and Children

If the purpose of entry is to visit a relative who resides and works in the UAE (for private companies and establishments or in the government sector), a visit visa may be obtained by the said relative who will be the visitor's sponsor. However, in order to qualify as a sponsor, he must either be a spouse or a first affinity relative of the visitor and meet the minimum salary requirements, i.e. receive a monthly basic salary of at least Dhs 3,000 in addition to accommodation allowance provided by the employer or alternatively receive a monthly basic salary of at least Dhs 4,000 (without accommodation). If the sponsor is a relative of second degree of affinity to the visitor, he can apply for a visit visa by seeking the approval of the Head of the Visit Visa Section.

Friends

If the visitor is a friend of a UAE resident, the resident's sponsor must be a UAE citizen or a business operating in the UAE.

Visas for Tourists

Tourists may enter the country on a visit visa, a transit visa or a tourist visa. The most appropriate visa will primarily depend on three factors: the visitor's nationality, who the sponsor is and the intended period of stay. If the sponsor is a business operating in the UAE or an individual residing in the UAE, the visitor may enter the country either on a visit visa or on a transit visa, depending on how long he intends to stay. If, on the other hand, the sponsor is a tour operator or a hotel then an application for a transit visa or a tourist visa would be applicable, with the exception of citizens of the 33 exempted countries and GCC countries who do not require visas to enter the country.

In practice, some hotels and tour operators submit different applications depending on the nationality of the visitor. With regard to visitors from Arab countries (other than GCC state nationals) and Africa (except South Africa) the hotel or tour operator will normally apply for transit visas on their behalf rather than tourist visas. As mentioned above, transit visas allow the holder to remain in the country for a total unrenewable period of 14 days from the date of entry.

For guests of other nationalities, hotels usually apply for tourist visas. A tourist visa allows the visitor to remain in the country for a total unrenewable period of 30 days from the date of entry into the UAE.

Procedure for obtaining a Tourist Visa

When a visa is being obtained through a hotel in Dubai, the procedures are the same vis a vis the visitor, regardless of the type of visa that is being applied for, as the hotel will handle the necessary requirements.

The intending visitor has only to fill out an application form, provided by the hotel including details of his credit card (which is normally also on a form provided by the hotel) and send a copy of his passport either by fax or mail to the hotel. The credit card details are used to deduct the visa chares (currently Dhs 300) by the hotel. The hotel will then submit the necessary documents to the DNR and send a copy of the visa to the visitor. The original visa is placed at the immigration desk at the airport before the visitor's arrive for collection. The visa may take seven to ten days to finalize from the date of submission of documents to the hotel although this period may be less. However, for an additional Dhs 100, the visa will be processed within 24 hours.

Children who are on their parents' passports are exempt from paying the Dhs 300 fee. They also need no separate immigration application.

Climate

For most of the year Dubai's weather is warm and humid; the sky is rarely cloudy. The summer months (May to September) are extremely hot with daytime tempera¬tures in the low to mid-40s (Celsius). July and August are the hottest months, with average temperatures around 43°C with 85: humidity. Sometimes the heat reaches 48oC and the humidity 95%. The sea temperature: in the height of summer (June to August: is about 37°C, which provides no relief, an hotel swimming pools have to be cooled during this time so that they don't turn into hot baths.

During October, November, March and April the weather is much more bearable with temperatures in the low to mid-30 In winter (December to February) Dub, enjoys perfect weather with an average temperature of 24°C, though it can get qui: windy. Unlike the desert area inland, Dub doesn't get too cold on winter nights, tr. lowest temperature hovering around 15°C. It doesn't rain often, or heavily, but when it does (usually in December or January getting around can suddenly become difficult as streets turn into rivers and traffic becomes chaotic. Drivers here are not used to wet road conditions, and the city planners decided Dubai didn't need a drainage system, so there is no gutter or storm-water drains. The average annual rainfall is about 6.5cm per year (and it rains only five days a year on average), but rainfall varies widely from one year to the next. In winter there can be fog in the early mornings.

Sandstorms can occur during March and April, although Dubai is protected from the swirling dust and sand to some degree by its many tall buildings.

On 6 June 1966 oil was first discovered by the Dubai Petroleum Company at Fateh, 58 miles off the cost. Although a high percentage of its revenue is attributed to non-oil trade, Dubai remains a major oil and gas producer and exporter.