Money in Dubai: what is published about what you will pay

The dirham, and the number people call the peg

The Central Bank publishes two different sets of figures, for two different purposes, and they are not the same number.

• Its intervention rates: “USD/AED rate of 3.672 when buying US dollars” and “USD/AED 3.673 when selling US dollars”, published alongside the statement that it “intervenes automatically in the foreign exchange market” to maintain stability.
• Its monthly tables giving 3.6725 — published under a heading that states their purpose: “Exchange Rates against UAE Dirham for VAT related obligations”.

The figure travel sites print as “the peg” is the VAT-calculation one. Both are the Central Bank’s; we give both and blend neither.

On the notes themselves: polymer notes are published for AED 1,000, 500, 100, 50, 10 and 5, with AED 200 existing only as paper. The Central Bank lists the older paper notes as still circulating and publishes no legal-tender or withdrawal statement about them — only the 1973 and 1976 issues are marked withdrawn. One rarely-cited published rule worth knowing: coins are legal tender “for payment of any amount with its full face value, and not exceeding fifty (50) Dirhams”.

ATM charges: the cap, and who it does not cover

The Central Bank’s consumer-protection annexure caps two things for retail customers of UAE banks: own-bank ATM fees at 0, and “Fees for using other bank’s ATM” at AED 2. The older instrument carrying the same caps states explicitly that “All fees set out in this Amendment are exclusive of UAE VAT charges” — which reconciles a discrepancy you will otherwise trip over, because the banks publish AED 2.10 including VAT. Same fee, two VAT bases.

Read the last column. A visitor with a foreign card is on the other side of every one of these transactions, and no UAE-published document tells them what the machine’s operator will charge. There is no Central Bank cap, interchange rule or surcharge rule applicable to foreign-issued cards at all. Any figure you find for “ATM fees in Dubai for tourists’ cards” is not sourced to a UAE bank schedule.

On dynamic currency conversion — the screen offering to bill you in your own currency — we checked the consumer protection regulations, the retail payment services and card schemes regulation, and the Central Bank site. No UAE rule requires the machine to offer you the choice, and none limits the margin.

Card surcharges and displayed prices

The no-surcharge rule is real, and it is not the Central Bank’s. It sits in Cabinet Resolution No. (66) of 2023, the executive regulations to the consumer protection law, Article 5, which obliges a provider to:

“Not to add any additional amounts to the value of the goods in the event of using credit cards to purchase goods and services.”

Note exactly what the published text says and does not say: it names credit cards and “the value of the goods”. It does not name debit cards, and it is not drafted as a general no-surcharge rule. We quote it rather than paraphrasing it into “surcharging is banned in the UAE”.

The Central Bank, meanwhile, publishes no merchant surcharging rule, no interchange rule and no contactless floor limit. Any “tap limit” figure you see is a scheme or issuer setting, not a national rule.

On prices, the useful one. The VAT law states “the advertised price shall include the Tax”, and its executive regulation states “In the case of a Taxable Supply, the published prices shall be inclusive of Tax”, with exceptions only for exports, for customers who are themselves VAT-registered, and for reverse-charge supplies. None of those applies to a tourist in a shop or a restaurant, so the displayed price is the price including 5% VAT. Hotel bills are a separate matter and are covered on hotel fees and taxes; the tourist refund is on customs and the VAT refund.

Tipping: what the two official statements actually say

We checked Dubai Municipality, the Department of Economy and Tourism, the Central Bank, the Federal Tax Authority, the Dubai Legislation Portal and RTA. Two government statements exist and that is all.

• u.ae: “Tipping is a common practice in the UAE though it is not mandatory.” That undated sentence is the entire federal statement.
• Dubai’s own tourism authority publishes a tipping article stating that the emirate has no established rules regarding gratuities, and that tips for taxi drivers, hotel staff and guides start from 5 dirhams. That AED 5 is the only number any official body publishes on the subject. Its English page would not load for us; we read the statement on the same article’s other language versions, one of which is dated 17 March 2026.

And the question underneath it: is the service charge on your bill regulated? No. Dubai’s hotel decree contains no service-charge provision and no municipality-fee percentage — it requires only “displaying Tariff lists and timing of services, in both Arabic and English, in a prominent place inside the Hotel Establishment”. The 2014 resolution establishes only the Tourism Dirham. No published instrument governs a service charge in Dubai, sets its percentage, or requires it to be disclosed on a menu or a bill — so there is no published basis on which to tell you whether a tip is expected on top of one. RTA publishes nothing about tipping drivers or rounding fares.

Changing money, and paying for transport

Exchange houses are licensed by the Central Bank, and the current regulation requires that “Rates offered… and service fee charged to customers must be displayed in a prominent place of all licensed premises, the Licensed Person’s website and other digital channels”, with official receipts for all transactions. No margin is regulated — only the duty to display.

The Central Bank’s own published rates are worth understanding precisely: they are updated Monday to Friday from rates at 6pm UAE time, they are mid-rates, and the Bank states they are published “only for the calculation of the VAT obligations of the UAE business entities” and disclaims reliance on them. No visitor will transact at them. They are a reference point for judging a rate board, nothing more — except for the dollar, where the peg makes the mid-rate and the transactable rate nearly the same.

On transport, RTA is unambiguous: “Cash will not be accepted for payment to use RTA’s various means of public transport.” But it publishes nothing about which cards its top-up machines accept, and nothing about foreign-issued cards — so a visitor cannot learn from RTA whether their card will work. Nor does RTA’s taxi fare page say whether taxis take cards. Fares are on metro fares and taxi fares.

Questions nobody answers

• What will a UAE ATM charge my foreign card? No cap covers it and no bank publishes it.
• Will the machine offer me a currency choice, and at what margin? No rule published.
• How much can I withdraw per transaction on a foreign card? No published limit.
• Can a merchant surcharge me for a debit card? The published text names credit cards and goods.
• Above what amount does contactless ask for a PIN? No national floor limit published.
• Can a shop refuse cash? Nothing published in either direction, notwithstanding legal tender.
• Is the service charge on my bill regulated, and does it reach the staff? No instrument governs it.
• How much should I tip? The only official number anywhere is “from 5 dirhams”, on a page that also says there are no established rules.
• Are the old paper notes still good? Listed as circulating, with no statement either way.
• Will my foreign card top up a nol card? RTA publishes nothing.
• What happens if I do not declare more than AED 60,000? No penalty published — see customs allowances.

This transcribes what the Central Bank, the tax authority and the banks publish, not financial advice. The one figure a visitor most wants — what a UAE ATM charges a foreign card — is published by nobody, and no cap covers it.

More in Before you travel

• Tap water
• Desert & camping
• Remote work visa

See everything in Before you travel.

Common questions