Is Revolut available in the UAE? (2026 answer)

Short answer: not yet. If you live in the UAE, you cannot open a Revolut account today. The app does not accept an Emirates ID as a residency document, and there is no public sign-up flow for UAE-issued IDs.

That is not because Revolut has been rejected. The opposite has happened — regulators have said yes to a launch. But the product has not been switched on yet. Here is what has actually happened, in order.

What has happened so far

Revolut has been quietly moving through the UAE licensing process for well over a year.

• In September 2025, the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) issued Revolut an in-principle approval — an intent to license, subject to Revolut meeting the final conditions.
• On 17 June 2026, that in-principle approval was converted into two full licences: Stored Value Facilities (SVF) and Retail Payment Services (Category II). These are the licences that a fintech needs to hold customer balances and process retail payments in the UAE.
• On 15 July 2026, Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) granted Revolut an in-principle approval for crypto. This is not the same as being live — VARA still needs to sign off on the final product before anything crypto goes to UAE users.

Everything above is real. What is not yet public: a launch date, a fee schedule, and the exact set of features UAE users will get on day one.

What Revolut has said

In public statements, Revolut has said it plans a full UAE launch in late 2026. It has also said the first features will look similar to Revolut in other markets: multi-currency accounts, physical and virtual cards, local UAE payments, and international transfers. Crypto is expected later, once VARA gives full approval.

Beyond that, everything is not yet announced — pricing, corridor coverage, Arabic language support, and whether Revolut Business will follow the consumer launch.

What you can (and can't) do today

You cannot: open a new Revolut account with an Emirates ID; receive salary into Revolut in AED; use the app for local UAE payments; hold AED in a Revolut wallet.

You can: sit on the notify list; if you have a Revolut account issued in Europe or the UK, log in from the UAE and use it for outbound international transfers and card payments (subject to your home-country plan's fair-usage limits).

What to do while you wait

The good news is that there are already several strong options for outbound transfers from the UAE. Depending on your corridor and how fast you need the money to arrive:

• Wise — mid-market rate, transparent flat fee, works well for direct bank deposit.
• Remitly — very fast option, especially for the Philippines and India.
• WorldRemit — competitive on cash pickup and GCash.

See our /compare page for the full side-by-side, or drop into any of the provider pages linked above.

How we'll update this page

The status box at the top is shared across every Revolut article on the site. When Revolut announces something concrete — a launch date, a fee schedule, a corridor list — we update that box in one place and every article on this cluster will pick it up on the next build.