Guides · Admissions and the school year

Applying to a Dubai school: assessments, interviews, documents and waiting lists

Every Dubai private school runs its own admissions, but KHDA sets the order and caps the fees. Here are the six steps, KHDA’s rules and what 144 school websites say.

KHDA’s rules checked 10 October 2026; sources below.

The six steps, in KHDA’s order

Check a place existsbefore any fee
Applyup to AED 500
Assessmentin the fee
Formal offerin writing
Depositup to 10% of tuition
Register with KHDAusing the Emirates ID

Each school’s own steps, fees and age rule, as its website states them, are under Admissions on its page.

The steps, in order

Six steps, in the order KHDA’s policy and the school websites describe them. The school sets the pace; the policy sets what can be charged and when.

Enquire and check for a place
Before an application or any payment, the school has to tell you whether there is a place. Ask by email for the year group your child will join.
«Before accepting an application or collecting any fee, the school must confirm (to the parents) whether a place is available at the relevant grade/year group.»
What school websites say 36 of 144 sites describe an enquiry form, a tour or a visit before the application.
Apply and pay the application fee
All 210 Fees Fact Sheets for 2026–27 print the same line: AED 500, assessment included. It is not taken off the tuition; when it is refunded is set out under Fees and refunds.
«Schools may charge up to AED 500 to process new students’ applications and cover standard assessments and administrative costs.»
What school websites say 61 sites state an application, registration or assessment fee; some print AED 525 including 5% VAT. The policy itself does not say whether the cap is before or after VAT.
Assessment or interview
Covered by the application fee: an observation or play session in the early years, tasks in English and mathematics later, and at some schools an interview. The next section has the detail.
What school websites say 86 sites describe an assessment, 39 an interview.
Formal offer
The school makes a formal offer of a place, in writing, for a named year group. If no place is open, your child may be offered a place on the waiting list instead.
«This registration deposit may only be requested after a formal offer of enrolment has been made, and the parent has accepted it.»
Pay the deposit
Up to 10% of the year’s tuition, asked for only after you accept the offer. It is taken off the tuition for the term your child starts, so it holds the place rather than adding to the year’s cost. At the median Year 5 (Grade 4) tuition for 2026–27, AED 34,871, the ceiling is AED 3,487.
«The registration deposit cannot be more than 10% of the annual tuition fees.»
Hand in documents and register with KHDA
The school enters the Emirates ID in KHDA’s system and uploads the transfer certificate, and you sign the Parent-School contract online. KHDA charges nothing, and approval is immediate.
«Registration is approved immediately upon completion.»
What school websites say 34 sites list documents to bring.

Tuition is then paid by term: the first payment «should not exceed 40%» of the year’s fees, the second and third «not more than 30%» each, or a school may offer «10 equal monthly instalments». For a child who joins during the year, «the school can charge tuition fees starting from the month of enrolment».

Source KHDA Registration and Refund Policy (opens in a new tab) · KHDA Register New Student (opens in a new tab)

Assessments and interviews

The application fee covers «standard assessments», so the test costs nothing more. Its form depends on age; what follows is what school websites describe.

Early years (FS1, FS2, Pre-KG, KG1)

Sites that describe the early years call it an observation or a play session: the child joins an activity while staff watch motor skills, language and how the child settles. Which year group a three- or four-year-old joins is explained in FS1 and FS2 in Dubai.

Primary and secondary

From about Year 1 or KG2, sites describe written or online tasks in English and mathematics, and 10 name the CAT4 test. For a child joining from another school, the latest reports are read alongside the test.

Interviews

39 of 144 sites mention an interview. Where they say who it is for, it is usually the older years, or a conversation with the family rather than a test of the child.

Moving from abroad or from another school

Families moving to Dubai usually need to start before the residence visa is issued. KHDA’s rules begin at registration, the last step; what a school accepts before that is its own choice.

KHDA’s registration page lists a passport only «for students of diplomatic missions or in exceptional cases», and allows provisional registration «for up to one academic year» when the Emirates ID is delayed. Ask each school in writing which documents it needs with the application and which can follow after you arrive.

Three things are far easier before you leave: the transfer certificate from your child’s current school, its attestation where it is required, and the latest school reports in English or translated. Ask the school whether it needs a certified translation.

From a school abroad: Ask the current school for the transfer certificate before the last day of term, in English, signed and stamped, and attested where your country needs it. The year group follows KHDA’s age rules: Which year group is my child in?
From a Dubai school: The transfer certificate «is required for a student to register at any other private school or educational institution in Dubai», and the current school may hold it «until all outstanding approved fees are paid in full». Mid-year moves follow the same steps.
Changing curriculum: Which class a child joins when switching between British, American, IB and Indian schools is covered in Choosing a curriculum in Dubai. Indian-curriculum schools start the year in April and count age on 31 March.

Source KHDA Register New Student (opens in a new tab) · KHDA Registration and Refund Policy (opens in a new tab)

Documents

KHDA’s Register New Student service names the documents a school needs to register a child. Anything else a school asks for, such as photographs or a vaccination record, is its own list; 34 of 144 sites list documents to bring.

KHDA’s list

«Valid Emirates ID»; a passport only «for students of diplomatic missions or in exceptional cases».
«Transfer Certificate (for students in Grade 3. 2/Year 3 and above)», as the page prints it, or «an official end-of-year certificate if the transfer certificate is unavailable».
Medical documents or a letter from the guardian, for a child with a special health condition, one who stopped school for a time, or one who has never been to school.
A letter from official authorities in special cases, such as a delay in issuing the Emirates ID.

The transfer certificate

KHDA’s policy defines it as «an official document issued by the current school confirming that a child is eligible to transfer to another school, into a grade compliant with the current legislation, and that all financial obligations have been settled».

KHDA’s registration page asks for it from Year 3 / Grade 3; 18 school sites mention it, several from Grade 2 or Year 2.

For younger children the policy adds: «For any child who was previously enrolled at any KHDA-permitted ECC or school offering provision for children under 6, a valid Transfer Certificate or Withdrawal Certificate must be submitted as part of the registration process before enrolment is confirmed.»

Attestation of certificates from abroad

«Academic certificates issued from outside the UAE must be attested by the relevant educational authorities and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the country of issuance.»

School websites that restate the rule list three groups:

GCC countries: attestation by that country’s Ministry of Education.
Most other countries: the Ministry of Education, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then the UAE Embassy.
The USA, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand: no attestation, but a transfer certificate in English, signed by the principal and stamped by the school.

The groups are as schools print them; KHDA publishes no such table, so confirm your country with the school.

Source KHDA Register New Student (opens in a new tab) · KHDA Registration and Refund Policy (opens in a new tab)

When each fee is paid: application, deposit, re-registration

Three lines appear on every school’s KHDA Fees Fact Sheet for 2026–27, 210 sheets in all. They are the ceilings KHDA sets for every school; each school’s own lines are on its page.

KHDA’s ceilings on admission fees, 2026–27210 Fees Fact Sheets for 2026–27 print the same three lines

Fee	KHDA’s ceiling	When it is paid
Application feeCeiling: AED 500 · assessment includedPaid: With the application	AED 500 · assessment included	With the application
Deposit, new studentCeiling: Up to 10% of tuitionPaid: After you accept a formal offer	Up to 10% of tuition	After you accept a formal offer
Re-registration deposit, existing studentCeiling: Up to 5% of tuition or AED 500, whichever is higherPaid: Before the next school year	Up to 5% of tuition or AED 500, whichever is higher	Before the next school year

How this is worked out

At the median Year 5 (Grade 4) tuition of AED 34,871, the 10% ceiling is AED 3,487 and the 5% ceiling AED 1,744. A re-registration deposit is collected after the spring break, with a deadline no earlier than 1 May (after the winter break and no earlier than 1 February at April-start schools).

Source

KHDA Registration and Refund Policy (opens in a new tab)

Refunds, from the Registration and Refund Policy

Application fee: refunded if «The student is not offered a place following an assessment», or if the school took it without saying that no place was available; kept if you decline an offer.
Deposit: refunded if you cancel «at least 60 calendar days prior to the student’s start date at the school», or within 10 calendar days of a notice that KHDA has approved a fee increase; kept if you cancel later.
Re-registration deposit: the same 60-day rule, counted to the start of the next school year.

For tuition school by school, see Fees by year group; for the ceilings worked out at the median and the other costs the sheets list, see Other school costs.

Waiting lists

26 of 144 school websites mention a waiting list. A place on it is neither a refusal nor an offer: the school offers a place if one opens in the year group.

How the list is ordered is the school’s choice: 9 sites say places go first come, first served; 15 say siblings of current pupils have priority; others say they balance the class. Ask the school which rule it follows and roughly where your child is on the list.

Because some schools have waiting lists and others do not, families moving to Dubai usually apply to more than one school.

Which year group, and when to apply

Dubai schools count a child’s age on a single cut-off date. From 2026–27, for a first registration at a school that starts in August or September, it is 31 December of the year the school year starts; schools that start in April count on 31 March.

FS1 / Pre-KG: age 3
FS2 / KG1: age 4
Year 1 / KG2: age 5
Year 2 / Grade 1: age 6

Some school websites still print the earlier 31 August date; for new registrations at September schools the 31 December rule applies.

The September 2027 intake and its application windows are in Which year group in September 2027?; the school year’s dates and the two calendars are in Dubai school calendar 2026–27.

Which year group is my child in?

Before you move: a checklist

Finish in your current country

Transfer certificate from the current school, in English, signed and stamped, attested if your country requires it.
The last two years’ school reports, in English or with a translation if the school asks for one.
Your child’s year group by the 31 December rule (31 March for April-start schools). Which year group is my child in?
Passports for the family; the Emirates ID follows once the residence visa is issued.

Budget for

An application fee of up to AED 500 for each school you apply to.
A deposit of up to 10% of annual tuition, due only after you accept an offer, taken off the fees for the term your child starts.
The first term’s tuition, at most 40% of the year’s fees, due at the start.

Ask each school in writing

Is there a place in my child’s year group, or a waiting list, and how is the list ordered?
Which documents do you need with the application, and which can follow after we arrive?
Can the assessment be done online or on a visit, and when will we hear?

Questions families ask

Can a school keep the application fee if my child is not offered a place?

No. KHDA’s policy refunds it when «The student is not offered a place following an assessment», or when the school took it without saying that there was no place or that the child would go on a waiting list. The policy names one case where it is kept: the school makes a formal offer and the family declines.

Do I need an Emirates ID to apply?

KHDA’s rules cover registration, not the application: whether a school accepts an application and runs an assessment before the residence visa is issued is each school’s own decision, so ask. To register with KHDA the school needs the Emirates ID; when it is delayed, KHDA allows provisional registration «for up to one academic year».

From which year is a transfer certificate required?

From Year 3 / Grade 3 on KHDA’s registration page, and from Year 2 / Grade 2 at several schools. The policy adds that a child who attended any KHDA-permitted nursery or school needs a transfer or withdrawal certificate even under six, before the Year 3 / Grade 3 line.

Sources

KHDA, Registration and Refund Policy for all Dubai Private Schools (PDF) (opens in a new tab)Effective 23 March 2026, revised 31 July 2026; Administrative Resolution No. (37) of 2026. Application fee, deposits, refunds, instalments, transfer certificate.
KHDA, Register New Student (opens in a new tab)Documents, transfer certificate, attestation, provisional registration, fee and time. Page last updated 11 August 2026.
KHDA Fees Fact Sheets 2026–27The application, enrolment and re-enrolment lines on 210 sheets, as read on Other school costs.
Which year group is my child in?The 31 December and 31 March dates, from the UAE Ministry of Education’s Admission Age Guide for KG and Grade 1 Students (December 2025).
School websites1,246 statements about admissions on 144 Dubai school websites, read 22 September 2026, each found word for word on its page. A school counts once per theme when one of its statements, or its stored English summary, contains the theme’s words; the themes are enquiry, fee, assessment, interview, documents, waiting list, siblings, first come first served, transfer certificate and CAT4. Open schools only; pages of Sharjah branches left out.

Every sentence in quotation marks on this page was checked word for word against its document on 10 October 2026.