Closing your last UAE account, or keeping it on purpose
Once every refund has landed, transfer the balance abroad and close your last UAE account with a closure confirmation, or keep it as a non-resident account on purpose. Cancel your UAE mobile line last.
- When
- Within 3 months after you land
- Time
- 30 min
- Cost
- No closing penalty if the account is over a year old; your bank’s transfer fee applies
Find your bankEmirates NBD, FAB, ADCB and 4 more: how each one does it, with its own page.
How to do it
- Before you fly, ask your bank in writing how it closes an account for a customer abroad, and whether it keeps accounts for non-residents and on what minimum balance.
- Confirm every refund has landed.
- If you are closing, transfer the balance abroad. If you are keeping the account, leave at least the minimum balance.
- Ask the bank to close the account and send the closure certificate. Central Bank rules give it 7 days from your request. Or keep it as a non-resident account on purpose.
- Cancel the UAE mobile line last. Ask your operator before you fly how long the line stays active once your Emirates ID is cancelled.
Closing from abroad, bank by bank
Taken from each bank’s own page. Before you fly, check that the app, your registered email and a number that receives one-time passwords will still work abroad.
Emirates NBD
Its page says you can close from abroad by email, and send the balance to an account in another country through online or mobile banking. Nobody else can close it for you.
FAB
In the FAB Mobile app only, so it works from abroad as long as the app does. From outside the UAE the phone number is +971 2 681 1511.
ADCB
In the ADCB Mobile Banking app. The request is confirmed with a one-time password sent to your registered mobile number or email, so make sure one of them still reaches you.
Mashreq
A NEO current account closes in the Mashreq Mobile app. For other accounts Mashreq asks for a branch visit, so close those before you fly or ask the bank in writing what it accepts from abroad.
HSBC
In the HSBC UAE app or by phone for an account in one name. HSBC’s terms add that if you no longer live in the UAE it may ask you to go through an HSBC branch in your new country, so ask before you fly.
HSBC UAE: closing your account · HSBC UAE: personal banking terms (PDF)
Emirates Islamic
Not possible from abroad: the account closes only in person at a branch. Someone with your Power of Attorney can do it for you. If this is the account you keep for refunds, arrange that before you fly.
Dubai Islamic Bank
Its account documents ask for a branch visit with your original ID. If you bank here, ask in writing before you fly how it closes an account for a customer abroad.
Questions people ask
Why not just leave the account open?
Banks may charge a fee when the balance falls below their minimum, so a forgotten account can end up owing money in your name.
Can I close my UAE bank account after I have left?
It depends on the bank. FAB, ADCB and HSBC take closure requests in their apps, and Emirates NBD by email. Emirates Islamic closes accounts only in person at a branch, or through someone with your Power of Attorney, and Dubai Islamic Bank asks for a branch visit.
Sources
Also checked against: Central Bank of the UAE: Regulation 29/2011, Article 9 (bank accounts)
Outro is an independent guide, not a government service or legal advice. If an official page says something different, follow it and .