How to buy life insurance in the UAE

You can buy life cover from the insurer, through a bank, or through a licensed broker or agent. Whichever route you use, the same Central Bank of the UAE instructions on life insurance and family takaful apply to the insurer and to every agent, broker and bank that sells for it.¹

Where can you buy?

Three routes, each named in the published documents:

• From the insurer. MetLife’s Live Life Now is bought online in five steps, and HAYAH’s Simple Life is sold with a sign-up process and no medical exams.²³
• Through a bank. Mashreq’s term life page lists plans from Sukoon Takaful, Zurich International Life, MetLife and Sukoon.⁴ Under the Central Bank’s consumer standards, a bank selling insurance must explain what the cover includes and its limits, and tell you the fees and commission paid on the sale.⁵
• Through a broker or agent. A broker works independently between you and insurers and is paid commission by the insurer. An agent acts for one company.¹

Whoever sells to you, the commission they can be paid is capped and spread over the term, and you can ask how much it is. See the rules that protect you.

How do you check the company is allowed to sell in the UAE?

Look it up in the Central Bank’s list. Its annual statistical report includes a directory of insurance companies in the UAE, with each one’s registration number, legal type, nationality, classes of business and website.⁶ Life insurers such as American Life Insurance Company (MetLife), Zurich International Life and Sukoon, are listed in the class “Insurance of Persons and Fund Accumulation Operations”.⁶

The Central Bank law says insurance of property in the UAE or liabilities arising there may be carried on only by insurance companies licensed under it.⁷ An investment adviser may not sell or market insurance policies without a licence from the regulator.¹

Check the exact legal name on the key facts document against the directory. Read policies bought abroad if the company is outside the UAE.

What will the insurer ask you?

Questions about your health, habits and circumstances, and you must answer them all. Under the law in force from 1 June 2026, you must disclose when you apply all the information the insurer asks for to assess the risk, and tell it of anything during the contract that increases the risk.⁸ Zurich’s key features document asks you to tell it about changes before the policy starts, and warns: “Please don’t assume we’ll contact your doctor for any medical information.”⁹

Without bad faith, it must return the premiums, or the part for which it bore no risk.⁸ A wrong age does not cancel the policy unless your true age is above the maximum allowed. Instead the sum insured is reduced in proportion, or excess premium refunded if you paid too much.⁸

Keep a copy of your completed application. It is the record of what you told the insurer.

Will you need a medical examination?

It depends on the plan, your age and the amount. Sukoon’s Life Guard needs no initial medical tests under age 46 and Sukoon pays for tests at the start of the policy.¹⁰ HAYAH’s Simple Life has no medical exams.³

Zurich says it accepts applications from people with conditions such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure or lipid disorders, subject to further underwriting that can mean extra premium, an underwriting rating or changes to the policy. It reports accepting 97% of applications.¹¹ Insurers may also add specific exclusions when they accept you, which Zurich says it will tell you about before the policy starts.⁹

If an insurer offers you cover on special terms, ask for them in writing before you pay.

What do you sign?

For a savings or investment plan, an illustration of premiums, charges and values, a separate red page of surrender values, and a declaration that you received and understood the illustration. The seller signs one too.¹ A company or seller may not ask for your passport, visa or bank account details just to produce an illustration, and may not sell the product until you have signed every required document.¹ Documents must be available in Arabic and another language you request.¹

For a term policy, you get a key features document and the policy terms. Read the exclusions page before you sign.

What if you change your mind or leave the UAE?

You have at least 30 calendar days to cancel for a refund, starting from the earliest of policy issue, cover start or signature.¹ Bought through a bank, there is also a cooling-off period of 5 complete business days, unless you sign a written waiver.⁵ Work out your date with the free-look tool.

Some plans continue if you move. Mashreq says the term plans it sells keep covering you if you move to another country permanently.⁴ Zurich continues cover after a permanent move, subject to its rules at the time.⁹

Ask the insurer how you will pay premiums from abroad, since direct debits from a UAE account may stop when you close it.