Each country decides residence under its own law. Becoming tax resident in the UAE does not switch off your old country's rules. If you still meet them, that country can still treat you as resident.
Each country runs its own tests
The UAE has its own tests in Cabinet Decision 85 of 2022. These include your usual place of residence and centre of interests, and day counts of 183 days, or 90 days with further conditions. Your old country has its own tests too. They may look at very different things.
What keeps you resident
Common ties that countries look at include:
- a home you keep and can use
- a spouse or children who stay behind
- the number of days you spend there
- work, a business or property you still manage there
Keeping a long-used home, with family and belongings in it, can point to your life still being centred there. This is true even if you have set up a new home in Dubai.
When a treaty helps
If both countries say you are resident, a double tax treaty between them may settle it. Under the OECD model, the tie-breaker looks first at where you have a permanent home. It then looks at your centre of vital interests, then where you habitually live, then nationality. Our article Two countries say I'm tax resident. Which one wins? explains the steps. A treaty only applies if the two countries have one in force.
An example
Ana, a Portuguese consultant, moves to Dubai and rents a flat in Jumeirah. Her husband and son stay in Lisbon until the school year ends, and she keeps the family house. Her old country says she is still resident. She is also UAE resident under the 183-day test. She looks at the treaty tie-breaker with an adviser. Once her family joins her and the house is let, her ties shift towards Dubai.
Quick questions
Does a UAE residence visa end my old country's residence?
No. A visa is an immigration matter, and your old country applies its own tax residence tests.
Do I need to tell my old country I have left?
Many countries expect you to report a departure or file a final return. Check the rules of the country you are leaving.
Sources: Cabinet Resolution No. 85 of 2022 on Determining the Tax Residence; OECD Model Tax Convention, Commentary on Article 4 (unofficial web edition); HMRC International Manual INTM154020: dual residents (OECD model tie-breaker).
General information as at October 2026, not advice. The examples are fictional and simplified, and the rules have conditions and exceptions not covered here. Take advice on your own circumstances, in each country involved, before acting.