UAE mortgages for Russian buyers.

If you're a UAE resident

Russian nationals resident in the UAE can borrow up to 80% of the property value on a first home (70% above), on the same terms as any UAE resident.

If you're buying from abroad

Buying from Russia, you can finance UAE property as a non-resident, generally up to 50–75% of the value, with a larger deposit and a slightly different document set. Lender appetite for non-resident applications varies more by passport than most buyers expect, so the choice of bank matters.

How we help Russian buyers

• Finance as a UAE resident (up to 80% LTV) or as a non-resident (typically 50–75%).
• Expect thorough source-of-funds documentation — it is standard, and preparing it early prevents delays.
• Buy remotely through a Power of Attorney, without travelling for each step.
• We check current appetite across every UAE bank rather than assuming last year's position still holds.

Currency: what the dirham peg means for you

The UAE dirham has been pegged to the US dollar at 3.6725 since 1997, a rate that hasn't moved through several rouble cycles. The rouble, unlike the dirham, floats freely against the dollar, and that gap matters directly to your mortgage: your dirham repayment is fixed in dollar terms every month, but the number of roubles you convert to cover it moves with the exchange rate.

Take an AED 2,200,000 apartment as an example. The dirham instalment on that loan doesn't change from one month to the next, but if the rouble weakens against the dollar, the same instalment costs more in rouble terms out of your income. It works the other way too — a stronger rouble makes the same dirham payment cheaper to fund.

Because rouble moves can be sharp, some Russian buyers respond by putting down a larger deposit than the minimum, which shrinks the dirham amount exposed to currency movement each month, or by choosing a shorter term to limit how many years that exposure runs. Neither removes the exposure — they resize it.

We won't quote you a rouble/dollar forecast; nobody can reliably do that. What we will do is model your affordability against more than one exchange scenario, so you see a range rather than a single, possibly optimistic number.

Buying from Russia without flying over

A Power of Attorney lets you appoint someone — typically a lawyer or your broker — to sign the mortgage application, the sale and purchase agreement, and the transfer paperwork on your behalf, so you don't need to be physically present in Dubai for each of those steps.

What it doesn't remove is the need for you personally to provide the underlying documents and instructions, and to execute the POA itself in the first place. The document usually needs to be signed and formally attested before it can be used.

Moscow and the UAE sit only an hour apart, which is a genuine convenience — bank calls, valuation updates and signing windows overlap with a normal working day on both ends, unlike for buyers further east or west. That still leaves practical friction: your representative needs clear, specific authority for each step, since mortgage, purchase and transfer are not always covered by one generic POA, and banks will want to see that authority spelled out before releasing funds.

We draft the scope of the POA with you before it's signed, so it doesn't need reissuing halfway through the transaction.

One thing to plan for: the UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille on its own is not enough — a document signed abroad needs the full consular chain: authentication at home, attestation by the UAE embassy in that country, then attestation by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, plus a certified Arabic translation by a Ministry of Justice–licensed translator. For property specifically, the Dubai Land Department expects its own standard POA template naming the property (by plot, title deed or Oqood number) and the exact transaction it authorises; custom-drafted POAs are routinely rejected, and the document must be registered with the Dubai Courts Notary Public even when it was notarised overseas. Start this early — it is the step that most often delays a remote purchase.

Documents, and where applications usually slow down

If you're a UAE resident, the bank works mainly from your residence visa, Emirates ID, salary certificate or trade licence, and recent bank statements — much the same file as any other resident applicant.

From Russia as a non-resident, the list extends: passport, proof of address, and income evidence from a Russian employer or your own business, plus source-of-funds documentation showing where the deposit and the income used to service the loan actually come from. UAE banks require this of every applicant, regardless of nationality — it isn't specific to you.

That last item is usually where delays happen, not because it's unusual to be asked for it, but because gathering it takes longer when the paper trail sits across two countries. If you're self-employed, expect to show a trade licence active for at least two years, two years of audited financials, and six to twelve months of account statements.

Anything issued in Russian will need translation, and some documents will need formal attestation before a UAE bank accepts them. Build both into your timeline early rather than late — translation and attestation queues are the single most common reason a file that looked complete sits for another two weeks.

Tax: what the UAE charges, and what to check at home

On the UAE side, this part is simple: no personal income tax, no annual property tax, and no capital gains tax for individuals selling property. Nothing about owning or financing the flat changes that.

What we can't tell you is what Russia does with your position once you own overseas property or earn rental income from it. That depends on rules and reporting obligations specific to Russian tax residents, and it isn't something a UAE mortgage broker is qualified to advise on.

Take that question to a tax adviser who covers Russian personal tax before you complete, not after, particularly if you intend to let the property out. It's a short conversation that's far cheaper to have early than to unpick later.

Compare lenders & costs

We compare every major UAE bank for your profile — see also our Dubai mortgages guide, the calculators, and the full cost of buying. Whether you're resident or investing from abroad, we manage it end to end.