Guide · updated 31.07.2026 · 13 min read · Lucent Legal team

What Changed in UAE Law in 2026: The Full Roundup

Over the past 12–18 months the UAE has updated several areas of law that touch almost every expat: family, rental, salary, visas, and tax. The problem is that the news is scattered across dozens of law-firm blogs and aggregators, some of them repeating each other and some disagreeing on the details. Here we've pulled together only the 2025–2026 changes that are backed by official portals or major law firms, flagged honestly where sources contradict each other, and linked out to a full guide on each topic. This is a news roundup, not a complete how-to — every section below links to a dedicated article with the details and the procedure.

Family Law: Law No. 41/2024 in Full Effect

Federal Decree-Law No. 41 of 2024 on Personal Status took effect on 15 April 2025, replacing the previous rules for Muslim families and anyone who hasn't opted into the separate civil regime for non-Muslims (which has run in parallel since 2023). The main practical change is a single custody (hadana) age of 18 for children of either sex — previously the cutoffs differed, roughly 11 for boys and 13 for girls. From age 15, a child has the right to tell the court which parent they'd prefer to live with.

This applies to divorces and disputes over custody and guardianship (wilaya — the legal authority over schooling, travel abroad, and medical decisions), which for many expat families fall under this law unless a foreign law has been invoked instead. For the full breakdown of who gets custody and until what age, how custody differs from guardianship, and what the court weighs, see "Child Custody in the UAE".

Golden Visa: What Changed in February 2026 — and Where Sources Disagree

The main working track for the Golden Visa in 2026 is real estate worth AED 2,000,000 or more in certified value, granting a 10-year visa. Around the February 2026 update there's a genuine conflict that's worth naming honestly: some credible sources describe the previous requirement to pay at least 50% of the property's value (based on the full certified contract or DLD valuation price, including mortgaged and off-plan property) as having been scrapped — while others report the opposite, that a mandatory 50% payment was newly introduced specifically for off-plan property as a condition for getting a visa tied to that unit.

A direct contradiction like this over the same update means the detail is worth confirming right before you file — through the official ICP/GDRFA portal or with the lawyer handling your specific case, rather than relying on a general blog post. For categories, amounts, and the most common reasons applications get rejected across all Golden Visa tracks, see "UAE Golden Visa 2026".

Smart Rental Index: Dubai's New Logic for Rent Caps

Since January 2025, the Dubai Land Department (DLD) has been rolling out the Smart Rental Index, which replaces the old averaged rate per district with an individual 1-to-5-star rating for each building (based on more than 60 criteria: the building's age, condition, amenities, location). It's this building-specific rating — not the general neighborhood figure — that now determines how much a landlord is allowed to raise rent under the Decree No. 43 of 2013 formula (0/5/10/15/20%, depending on how far the current rent lags the market).

For tenants, this means checking whether a specific rent increase is legal now requires the current RERA rental index calculator on dubailand.gov.ae or the Dubai REST app — using your own building's rating. The landlord's obligation to give at least 90 days' written notice of any increase still applies. For the full scale, worked examples, and what to do in a dispute, see "Rent Increases in Dubai".

WPS: New Salary Regulation From 1 June 2026

Since 1 June 2026, Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026 has replaced the previous Resolution No. 598 of 2022 and tightened the Wages Protection System (WPS). Two key parameters changed: a single payment deadline (the past Gregorian month's wages must be paid no later than the 1st of the following month — anything later already counts as a delay) and the compliance threshold, up from 80% to 85% of the amounts owed to all employees by that date.

The regulation introduces a staged penalty scale tied to how many days a company is late: on day 2, notices and warnings; on day 5, new work-permit applications get blocked; on day 11, administrative fines (reportedly starting at AED 1,000 per affected employee) and a downgrade of the company's category; on day 16, an automatic labor-dispute filing and a permit freeze for companies with 25 or more unpaid employees in certain sectors; on day 21, asset freezes, a travel ban on the person responsible, and referral to the public prosecutor. The old 30-day grace period for new hires has also been scrapped. This applies to all private companies licensed by MOHRE; free zones may adopt the regulation separately.

Corporate Tax: A 2026 Deadline That's Easy to Miss

Corporate tax has applied in the UAE since 1 June 2023: 0% on profit up to AED 375,000 and 9% above that, with registration with the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) mandatory even for free-zone companies taxed at 0%. One deadline lands specifically in 2026: under the current decision, Small Business Relief (an effective 0% rate for revenue up to AED 3 million) only applies to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026 — so 2026 could be the last year small businesses and some licensed freelancers automatically qualify for it.

The penalty for late FTA registration is a flat AED 10,000, regardless of whether any tax was actually owed; the penalty for a late return is AED 500 a month for the first 12 months, then AED 1,000 a month. For who exactly the 9% rate applies to, what QFZP status means for free zones, and the full penalty table, see "UAE Corporate Tax 9% in 2026".

New Civil Code: Adulthood at 18

Since 1 June 2026, Federal Law No. 25 of 2025 on the Civil Transactions Law — a new Civil Code replacing the 1985 law — has been in force, described by law firms as the biggest change to civil law in 40 years. The main practical shift for expats is that the age of majority drops from 21 to 18: from that age, a person can sign contracts, manage their own finances, start a business, and take part in court proceedings without a parent's or guardian's consent. The law also tightens good-faith disclosure requirements in negotiations and clarifies how courts calculate damages.

Labor, family, banking, and insurance relationships aren't touched by the new code — they're still governed by their own separate laws (on wrongful termination specifically, see "Wrongful Termination in the UAE", which also covers the two-year window to file a labor claim).

Smaller Visa and Penalty Changes

Beyond the major reforms, 2025–2026 also brought a handful of narrower changes worth knowing even if they don't apply to everyone:

• Salary threshold for family sponsorship: some sources report the minimum salary for family sponsorship rose from AED 3,000 to AED 4,000 a month — worth double-checking at the time you apply, since requirements vary by emirate and visa category.
• One-off overstay amnesties: authorities periodically open short windows to fix status without a fine — for example, a 30-day grace period from 10 June to 9 July 2026 for people unable to leave because of a flight suspension in late February 2026. These amnesties are one-time events, not a standing rule — don't count on the same dates repeating.
• Expanded visa-on-arrival: according to some sources, new nationalities were added to the visa-on-arrival list, and holders of certain third-country visas (Singapore, Japan, South Korea, among others) gained visa-on-arrival eligibility similar to existing rules for US/UK/EU visa holders.

These points change more often than the major reforms above and are less widely confirmed — if a specific situation hinges on one of these details, verify it with ICP/GDRFA or a lawyer right before you act.

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