Guide · updated 31.07.2026 · 12 min read · Lucent Legal team

Black Points in the UAE: How Many You Can Get, and How to Clear Them

A traffic fine in the UAE isn't only a dirham amount. Certain violations also carry black points — a penalty tally on your driving licence that has nothing to do with paying the fine itself: you can pay the fine instantly and the points still sit on your licence. Short answer: the ceiling is 24 points, hitting it gets your licence suspended, and points from each individual offence expire on their own after 12 months. The details get murkier fast, because different emirates' police forces and different sources describe the procedure a little differently. Here's what's backed by official sources, and where the sources genuinely disagree.

How the black points system works

Black points run parallel to the money fine as part of the UAE's traffic penalty system. Not every violation carries points — some are fine-only, while more serious ones (speeding, running a red light, drunk driving, and similar) add points on top of the fine. The legal basis is the federal traffic law (sources cite it as "Federal Law No. 21 of 1995, as amended"), with the exact procedure set by executive regulations and each emirate's own practice. That's why wording differs slightly between official portals and press coverage — emirates apply a shared federal framework, but with their own nuances on timelines and courses.

If you're not trying to understand the points system but just need to look up and pay a specific fine by plate number, that's a separate process — covered in how to check UAE fines by plate number and Emirates ID.

How many points before your licence gets suspended

The ceiling is 24 points on one licence — this figure repeats across every source checked, including the Gulf News piece citing RAK Police directly. What happens once you hit it is where sources start to diverge:

• RAK Police (via Gulf News, the most detailed official breakdown available): hitting 24 points the first time means a 3-month suspension, or an accredited retraining course instead; a second time means 6 months suspension plus training (including at Belhasa Driving Centre) and an exam at an accredited institute; a third time means 1 year suspension with the same training requirement. For probationary licence holders the rules are tougher: first time is 6 months (avoidable with a course), second time is full licence cancellation with a one-year wait before retesting.
• Some non-official write-ups (driving-school blogs, aggregator sites) describe intermediate thresholds instead — warnings or temporary suspension starting as low as 12–20 points, with 24 points meaning licence revocation and a full theory-and-practical retest rather than a fixed 3-month suspension.
• A few sources mention an additional 36-point threshold at which the licence is cancelled permanently and has to be obtained again from scratch.

Sources disagree on the details here — intermediate thresholds, the exact length of each suspension, whether the 36-point mark even exists — and no second official source fully matching RAK Police's numbers turned up. Practice can also vary by emirate. If you're close to 24 points or already got a suspension notice, confirm your exact status through your own emirate's app (Dubai Police / Tamm / MOI UAE), and if the decision looks wrong, with a lawyer.

Points per offence: the worst violations

This table is compiled from multiple sources (Gulf News, driving-school reviews), and even the sources disagree slightly on exact figures for the same offence — but the overall "how serious is this" ranking is consistent everywhere:

The top violations at 23–24 points come close to wiping out the entire 24-point ceiling on their own — one single offence can push a driver right up against suspension. If an accident involved injuries or a fault dispute, the on-scene procedure is covered step by step in what to do after a car accident in Dubai.

Point expiry and paying the fine are two different things

The point that trips up most people: paying the fine only clears the money owed, and black points keep sitting on the licence until they expire on their own schedule. Per Gulf News, points from a specific offence are automatically cleared 12 months after that offence's date — independently of each other, meaning each violation "burns off" on its own timer rather than all resetting together at year-end. In practice, this means a driver who keeps offending can rack up new points faster than old ones expire.

Clearing points early: courses and one-off programs

Sources don't describe a permanent, on-demand way to clear points early — instead there are two working mechanisms:

1. A retraining course instead of suspension. Per RAK Police, hitting 24 points for the first time lets you avoid suspension by completing an accredited retraining course. The specific course list and conditions are set by each emirate's own police force.
2. Seasonal police programs. For example, Abu Dhabi Police ran a program at Mushrif Mall in October–November 2025: drivers below 24 points could clear up to 8 points by taking an educational course and paying a fee, while drivers already at 24 points could reinstate their licence through the same course plus set fees. Separately, the MOI ran a one-off "No Accident Day" initiative: sign up through your account on moi.gov.ae via UAE Pass, confirm a safe-driving pledge, and get 4 points cleared electronically with no visit to a service centre required.

Both programs ran on specific dates with a limited signup window — this isn't a standing service, it's a periodic campaign. Check your own emirate's app for whether anything similar is currently running; as of this writing, no other comparable campaigns beyond the two above are confirmed.

Points on a rental car: who's on the hook

If a points violation is recorded on a rental car, it's tied to the plate number, so it lands with the rental company first, not directly with the driver — the same logic as with ordinary money fines on rentals (more on that mechanism in how to check fines by plate number). From there:

• Under most rental contracts, the renter is liable — the rental company passes on both the fine and an administrative handling fee (sources put this around AED 50–100 per fine).
• If the points need to land on the actual driver's licence rather than staying with the company, a formal confirmation process is required to establish who was driving — typically an SMS code plus signing an Undertaking Letter — after which the points get recorded against the actual driver's licence.
• If one person rented the car but someone else was driving, and that wasn't declared at booking, the rental company can apply a separate contract-violation fee on top of the traffic fine itself.

No single source clearly states where points land by default — on the company or straight onto the renter's licence — practice differs between sources, so it's worth confirming this directly with the rental company before signing.

How to check your points online

Checking is free and takes a couple of minutes, but the channel depends on which emirate issued your licence:

1. Dubai — the Dubai Police app, log in via UAE Pass, then profile → "Traffic" section for your points summary. Alternative: call the 901 hotline (select "traffic," then points).
2. Abu Dhabi — the Tamm app, log in via UAE Pass, "My Tamm" → "My vehicles" → the "Black points" widget.
3. Other emirates (Sharjah, Ajman, RAK, Fujairah, Umm Al Quwain) — the MOI UAE app, log in via UAE Pass, points summary on the home screen.

If you've already checked the money side of a fine (not points) by plate number, that runs through a separate RTA/MOI/Tamm route — see how to check UAE fines by plate number. If you think a fine or points charge was made in error, there's a separate dispute process — see how to contest a fine in Dubai.

This material is for information only and is not legal advice. UAE law changes — a lawyer will assess how it applies to your situation.