Understanding Living Together in Dubai

Dubai follows the Sharia law, the law that dictates what is socially accepted and what is not according to the Islamic law and one of the things that is not legal by the Sharia law is two unrelated people of the opposite sex living in one roof without being married to each other.

However, as the saying goes; ‘love conquers all’, there are still some unmarried couples that could still live together in secret. Couples go through great lengths to keep their living situation under wraps to not attract attention to the police and risk being arrested. For us to understand more about this certain situation here are the laws that are applicable in Dubai relating to live-in partners.

• A person can only live with another person of the opposite sex if the both of them are married or are related to each other in any way. This is under the description of the Al Khalwa Al Muharama Clause
• Dubai is not as strict as Saudi Arabia when it comes to couples who are living together in one roof but if there has been complaints about two unrelated individuals living together, then the couple would then be investigated by the police.
• To take this law into another level, it is also prohibited for two unrelated people of the opposite sex to stay in a private room or even in a car. This is under the Tawajed Clause. To add to this, the police would not conduct any random check-ups of all the taxis of Dubai to check if the couple is related or is married , the only time that a police would stop a taxi is when they think the taxi violated a traffic law or the taxi is involved in an accident.
• Under the UAE Penal Code of Article 356 states that anyone who is caught engaging or is caught in consensual sex without being married is punishable by jail sentence and deportation.

• If you happen to work in Dubai, the level of tolerance of such laws depends on how conservative your employer is.
• It is needless to say that obtaining a residence visa together with your partner would be next to impossible in Dubai.
• If your partner is having an affair with you and their legal partner files a complaint, an investigation is unevitable.
• In line to the residency visa, the UAE law mandates that a new tenancy contract in your name is needed to obtain visa. Any people who are not family is not allowed to stay with your unless you process another tenancy contract.
• If you live in an expat community, try not to get in trouble with the people living with you to avoid any visits from the police.
• It doesn’t if you are a visiting foreigner in Dubai or if you are there to work, understand that Dubai is working under the Sharia law and that law is also the code of conduct in that country.