Government grants to newlyweds top Dh60m in first six months

Nearly 900 Emirati couples received marriage grants worth more than Dh60 million, in total, in the first half of the year.

The Ministry of Community Development bestowed the cash windfall of Dh70,000 to each of 865 Emirati couples.

More than 65,000 couples have benefited from the fund, which aims to encourage Emirati marriages and help newlyweds invest in their future and pay for their nuptials, since Federal Law No 47 of 1992 was enacted.

Couples must meet a range of criteria to qualify for the Dh70,000 grant. Both spouses must be UAE citizens, with the husband no younger than 21 and the wife no younger than 18. The basic monthly salary of each of the spouses must not exceed Dh25,000.

They must also submit an application within six months from the date of the marriage and attend awareness courses and lectures organised by the Ministry of Community Development within a year of the date of the application.

The Ministry’s Eadad (Preparation) programme, which is held throughout the UAE, covers family building, marriage and its requirements, family relations, coping with family problems, financial and family planning, partnership between spouses in raising children and the role of the family unit in society.

The ministry organised 31 training courses for 4,696 people last year. About 1,280 citizens attended 10 training courses in the first half of this year.

The ministry also launched several new initiatives, including relationship workshops for newlyweds in the first five years of their marriage and a confidential telephone counselling service to help to resolve family issues.

The Federal National Council is drafting a proposal to extend housing grants and loans to men who marry Emirati women for second wives because the high cost of weddings and dowries means that men often marry foreign women instead.

Zayed University researchers last year estimated that on average an Emirati wedding costs at least Dh683,000.