The Cabinet of the United Arab Emirates approved a draft law that limits bridal dowry payments.
To curb “soaring wedding expenses which burden the youth” and to slow the rate of UAE men marrying foreign women to avoid dowry payments, the Cabinet set the maximum dowry at 20,000 dirhams ($5,500) and the length of wedding parties to one day. The average amount sought is 100,000 dirhams ($27,250), but it can go much higher, and include extras such as houses and cars.
The UAE government has already established a multi-million dollar wedding fund to help men pay the dowries, with little impact on the rate of foreign marriage. They are considering banning marriage between UAE men and foreigners.
