Step-by-Step Guide: How to Buy and Activate a SIM Card in Dubai

Wel­com­ing over 16 mil­lion vis­i­tors annu­al­ly, Dubai is one of the busiest inter­na­tion­al tourist des­ti­na­tions. From pris­tine beach­es and unique palm-shaped islands like Palm Jumeirah on one side to the view of miles of sandy dunes from the top of the famed Burj Khal­i­fa on the oth­er, the city offers plen­ty to see and do.

For that rea­son, hav­ing an easy way to share your adven­tures, nav­i­gate the city streets, and stay con­nect­ed with your loved ones back home is key. That’s why many tourists opt to pur­chase a local SIM card as soon as they arrive rather than pay­ing exces­sive roam­ing fees. Doing so allows you to use your phone and all its fea­tures as you nor­mal­ly do through­out your trip.

Buy­ing a SIM card, how­ev­er, needs to be done cor­rect­ly, as the UAE has strict laws relat­ing to their use. Below, we’ll cov­er what you need to buy a SIM in Dubai, how to decide which SIM is best for you, and how to acti­vate it so that you can get on with your adven­ture with ease.

What You’ll Need to Get Started

As men­tioned, all telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions in Dubai are reg­u­lat­ed by strict laws enforced by the UAE Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions and Dig­i­tal Gov­ern­ment Reg­u­la­to­ry Author­i­ty (TDRA). This gov­ern­ing body is also respon­si­ble for the manda­to­ry reg­is­tra­tion of all SIM card sales to ensure secu­ri­ty with­in the region.

Part of this reg­is­tra­tion process requires that all SIM cards in use are linked to an offi­cial iden­ti­ty doc­u­ment for res­i­dents or to a pass­port for tourists. So, if you want to pur­chase a SIM card in Dubai, this is what you’ll need:

Proof of Identity (Passport or Identity Document)

Pro­vid­ing your orig­i­nal pass­port or iden­ti­ty doc­u­ment (if you’re a res­i­dent) is non-nego­tiable, mean­ing you won’t be able to pur­chase a SIM card with­out one. Copies, pic­tures, or scans of these doc­u­ments aren’t suf­fi­cient either.

A Valid Visa

When pre­sent­ing your pass­port, the first thing that will be checked is that you have a valid UAE-issued visa to be in the coun­try. This is usu­al­ly ver­i­fied by check­ing the immi­gra­tion entry stamp in your pass­port. Not hav­ing a valid visa will result in law enforce­ment being called, so don’t even think about attempt­ing this.

A Working and Unlocked Mobile Phone

A Dubai SIM card can only be used if your phone is not locked to a spe­cif­ic car­ri­er back in your home coun­try. There­fore, you’ll need to ensure your phone is capa­ble of oper­at­ing with a Dubai car­ri­er net­work like e&, du, or Vir­gin Mobile.

Biometric Data

Part of the reg­u­lar reg­is­tra­tion process is to cap­ture your bio­met­ric data. There­fore, don’t be sur­prised if you’re request­ed to have your pho­to tak­en or asked to scan your fin­ger­prints.

Where to Buy a SIM Card in Dubai

Once you’ve got every­thing you need to pur­chase a SIM card, find­ing where to get one is easy. In many cas­es, you’ll be giv­en one for free when you enter the coun­try through Dubai Inter­na­tion­al Air­port. This forms part of your tourist pack and will include a lim­it­ed amount of free data that can be used after you’ve reg­is­tered the SIM.

If you don’t get one on entry, SIM cards can be pur­chased at ven­dors with­in the air­port, at offi­cial stores locat­ed in malls or retail loca­tions through­out the coun­try, with­in major super­mar­kets like Car­refour and Lulu, or in small­er con­ve­nience stores like Zoom.

Some car­ri­ers, like Vir­gin Mobile, allow the pur­chase of an eSIM online. As you’ll need to upload your ver­i­fi­ca­tion doc­u­ments and com­plete a reg­is­tra­tion process, this is a less com­mon­ly used method for tourists but can still be high­ly con­ve­nient if you’re will­ing to try it.

Prepaid vs. Postpaid: Which Is Right for You?

When choos­ing to pur­chase a SIM card, you’ll need to opt for a choice between pre­paid and post­paid. While each has its own ben­e­fits and dis­ad­van­tages, the choice of which to use depends almost entire­ly on your trav­el plans and how long you plan to remain in the region.

If you’re in the coun­try for a short while, a pre­paid option may be your only choice. This is because these SIMs are designed to be loaded with air­time or data as you need it, rather than pro­vid­ing a fixed pack­age month­ly. They are also sig­nif­i­cant­ly eas­i­er to obtain as they don’t rely on con­tracts or com­mit­ments beyond what you pay for.

Post­paid SIM cards, while offer­ing bet­ter rates for data and calls, are designed more for extend­ed stays or peo­ple liv­ing in the coun­try. These are offered on a 12- or 24-month con­tract and give a pre-estab­lished allo­ca­tion of data and min­utes each month for a fixed cost. These SIM cards also usu­al­ly require you to have a local bank account, which will be deb­it­ed for the month­ly pay­ments.

Activation Process: Online and In-Store

The process of acti­vat­ing your Dubai SIM card is easy and com­mon­ly takes place dur­ing your pur­chase of the card. The same process applies whether you buy a phys­i­cal SIM card or an eSIM online.

When pur­chas­ing a SIM card in-store, you’ll need to first select which plan works best for you. Sales asso­ciates will often help guide you in this process to ensure you get the data and min­utes you require, as well as any addi­tion­al fea­tures (like inter­na­tion­al call­ing). Once you’ve cho­sen your plan, the acti­va­tion process begins.

First, you’ll need to present your doc­u­ments, such as your pass­port. These will be cap­tured, fol­lowed by your bio­met­ric data, includ­ing a pho­to or fin­ger­print, being tak­en. After this, you’ll need to pay for your SIM card and cho­sen plan. After all this is com­plet­ed, your SIM card will auto­mat­i­cal­ly be acti­vat­ed with­in 5 to 10 min­utes. A sales asso­ciate will usu­al­ly ask you to wait to con­firm acti­va­tion.

If pur­chas­ing an eSIM, you’ll need to down­load your cho­sen carrier’s app to your phone. In the app, you’ll need to browse avail­able plans, select one, and then upload clear images of your pass­port and visa stamp. You’ll also be required to use your front-fac­ing cam­era to per­form a live­ness check, which involves tak­ing a self­ie or short video. After this, you’ll receive a QR code that can be used in your phone set­tings to acti­vate your eSIM.

What You Can (and Can’t) Do Online in Dubai

While you can access most of the inter­net while in Dubai, there are some spe­cif­ic things and sites that you can­not. This is either because they’re auto­mat­i­cal­ly banned by the gov­ern­ment or because access­ing them is ille­gal.

VoIP Calls

By default, all VoIP calls on pop­u­lar apps like What­sApp, Face­Time, and Face­book are banned by the gov­ern­ment. This means that, while all reg­u­lar fea­tures will work fine, mak­ing calls in these apps won’t work. VoIP calls are, how­ev­er, avail­able via gov­ern­ment-approved apps like GoChat and BOTIM.

Dating Sites, Apps, and Pornographic Content

Dat­ing apps are banned by almost all providers. While there is no legal rea­son for this, it is best to avoid these apps while you’re there. How­ev­er, if you’re look­ing for a wife or hus­band, mat­ri­mo­ni­al web­sites aren’t blocked and can be accessed freely.

All forms of porno­graph­ic web­sites are also strict­ly for­bid­den. More­over, web­sites that pro­mote LGBTQI+ con­tent, whether porno­graph­ic or not, are also pro­hib­it­ed.

Gambling

Despite the agree­ment to open the UAE’s first casi­no in 2027, access­ing any online casi­nos in Dubai is not only banned by most providers but is also ille­gal. Being caught doing so, even if using a VPN to access off­shore oper­a­tors’ ser­vices, can result in severe penal­ties, includ­ing impris­on­ment.

VPN Usage

Using a VPN while in Dubai isn’t ille­gal, but using a VPN to access pro­hib­it­ed con­tent is. There­fore, if you plan to use a VPN on your vis­it, it is best to still steer clear of any of the afore­men­tioned pro­hib­it­ed con­tent.

Conclusion

Hav­ing a local SIM card can make your Dubai trip sig­nif­i­cant­ly smoother and more enjoy­able. If you’d like to pur­chase one, remem­ber to bring all your doc­u­men­ta­tion, be ready to pro­vide bio­met­ric infor­ma­tion, and ensure your phone is capa­ble of host­ing a for­eign SIM card.

And again, when using the inter­net in Dubai, make sure to steer clear of any legal­ly ambigu­ous online activ­i­ties and ensure that you com­ply with local laws. If you do this, you’ll be able to freely enjoy the won­ders of the city while har­ness­ing all the con­ve­nience that the inter­net brings.