Dubai Police Clearance Certificate: Cost, Documents & How to Apply

A Dubai police clearance certificate (PCC) is a 2026 UAE document confirming an applicant has no criminal record, priced at AED 100–300 through Dubai Police or AED 50–100 through the federal Ministry of Interior, depending on where the applicant is registered. It's typically requested for immigration, employment, or study abroad, and — unlike most UAE government documents — it cannot be obtained through a UAE embassy overseas.

What is a police clearance certificate in Dubai?

A police clearance certificate is an official record check confirming that an applicant has no criminal history in the UAE during their period of residence. It goes by several names in practice — good conduct certificate, PCC, criminal status certificate — all referring to the same document.

Immigration authorities, foreign employers, universities, and some UAE government bodies request it as supporting evidence, not as an application in itself. It doesn't grant any status on its own; it confirms a fact about the applicant's record so another authority can act on it.

Two bodies issue it in the UAE, and which one applies to you depends on your residency status — covered in the next section.

Who needs a Dubai police clearance certificate?

Three groups typically request one:

• Current UAE residents applying for jobs, visas, or education abroad, where the destination country requires proof of clean conduct during their time in the UAE.
• Former residents whose UAE visa has since been cancelled, who still need a record covering their UAE residency period.
• Current residents or citizens completing a UAE-side process — some employers, licensing bodies, and government services request it directly.

A PCC is a supporting document. Applying for one doesn't protect or extend your immigration status — if your visa situation itself needs attention, that's a separate process (see UAE residence visa basics).

Which authority issues your Dubai police clearance certificate — Dubai Police or MOI?

Two separate systems handle this, with different fees, different validity periods, and different legal bases — not one process under two names.

Applicants currently in Dubai with an active Dubai-issued Emirates ID generally use the Dubai Police channel. Applicants registered in other emirates, or whose UAE residency has lapsed or been cancelled, generally use the federal MOI/ICP channel instead. The two systems don't always agree on edge cases — an expired Emirates ID, for instance, can push an applicant toward the MOI channel even if they were last based in Dubai. Treat this as the general rule, not an absolute one, and confirm your specific case with the issuing authority or with us if you're unsure which channel applies.

The full comparison — fees, processing time, validity — is further down this page.

What documents and steps does the online application need?

Both channels follow a similar shape:

Applicants outside the UAE face one extra step: a fingerprint card issued by a local authority in their country of residence, then attested by the UAE embassy or consulate there, before the UAE application can proceed.

How much does a Dubai police clearance certificate cost?

Two separate costs are involved: the government fee, and — if you'd rather not deal with the portal yourself — the fee for having Emirabiz submit the application on your behalf.

Government fee — Dubai Police: AED 100 for UAE nationals, AED 200 for residents, AED 300 for applicants applying from outside the UAE — plus a standard AED 20 knowledge and innovation fee applied to most Dubai government transactions.

Government fee — federal MOI route: AED 50–100, depending on whether the certificate is for use inside or outside the UAE.

Emirabiz service fee: AED 625, one price for any case — valid or expired Emirates ID, applying from inside or outside the UAE, Dubai Police or MOI route. The government fee above is paid on top. This fee covers the full transaction, not just the application — if the certificate needs MOFA attestation for use abroad, that's included, not a second charge.

These government figures reflect current published rates as of mid-2026; government fees change without much notice, so treat the exact number as indicative until you're at the payment step on the official portal.

How long does a Dubai police clearance certificate take?

Dubai Police applications typically process in 1–5 working days, and often within 24 hours for online applicants with a valid Emirates ID. The federal MOI route doesn't publish a fixed processing window — timing varies by case, so confirm on the portal at the time of application.

Validity differs by channel once the certificate is issued: a Dubai Police certificate is valid for 3 months, while an MOI certificate is valid for 30 days, per Ministerial Decision No. 600 of 2024. If the certificate will sit unused for a while — waiting on a visa appointment abroad, for instance — the shorter MOI window is worth planning around.

Why do applications get rejected or delayed?

With a valid, current Emirates ID, this is a straightforward application — in our practice, rejections essentially don't happen in this case. The friction, when it exists, sits in the other paths: an expired Emirates ID submitted without the extra supporting documents it requires, a mismatch between Emirates ID and passport details, an incomplete or unclear fingerprint record for former residents or applicants abroad, or outstanding fines flagged during the background check.

The practical takeaway: if your Emirates ID is valid and current, expect this to go through cleanly. If it isn't — or you're applying from outside the UAE — that's where it's worth double-checking documents before submitting, not after a rejection notice.

Does your Dubai police clearance certificate need attestation abroad?

In most cases, yes. Destination-country authorities — immigration departments, foreign employers, universities — generally require the certificate to be legalized through the UAE's MOFA attestation chain before they'll accept it. It's the same chain used for other UAE-issued documents. If Emirabiz handles your application, the AED 625 fee already covers this step. For the full attestation process, see MOFA attestation in the UAE.

Dubai Police vs MOI/ICP — which channel applies to you

Getting a Dubai police clearance certificate itself is a fast, low-cost transaction — the complexity is almost always downstream, in attestation and destination-country requirements, not in the UAE application. Applicants who need the certificate for use abroad should start the MOFA attestation chain as soon as the certificate is issued, not after a foreign authority rejects it for lacking legalization.

In our practice, applicants are usually surprised the certificate itself is the easy part — the attestation chain for use abroad is where timelines slip. A fingerprint appointment is usually the step that adds the most unpredictable delay, not the certificate processing itself. And in most cases, it's the receiving authority abroad, not Dubai Police, that decides whether attestation is mandatory — worth confirming before applying, not after.

See also: PRO transaction services in the UAE · MOFA document attestation process

Verified against primary sources · Last verified July 19, 2026

Reviewed by

Andrey Ovchinnikov

Co-founder & CEO

Founded Emirabiz in 2013. Structures UAE companies and owns the sourced pricing dataset behind every figure on this site. Every figure he signs off traces to a named primary source with a verification date.

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Published July 19, 2026 · Updated July 19, 2026 · How this article was made →