Moving Back to India From the UAE: The Money Order of Operations

The flights are booked and the shipping is quoted. The money is the part that runs on a longer clock than you do, and doing it in the wrong order is what turns a move into six months of follow up calls.

Moving back to India from the UAE works best as a sequence rather than a checklist. Settle debts first, because clearance documents depend on it. Then collect your final salary and gratuity, because their timing is set by your employer and not by you. Then close utility and telecom accounts and collect the refunds. Move the money next. Close your UAE current account last, because everything before it needs somewhere to be paid into. Set up the Indian side before you land, not after.

Start three months out

Three things need lead time and cannot be rushed at the end.

• Loan settlements, which may carry an early settlement charge and take days to process
• Credit card closures, which need a full statement cycle after final payment to catch late charges, so start closing a UAE credit card well before your final week
• The end of tenancy notice period, which is set in your contract and affects when your deposit comes back

Read your employment contract in the same week. It tells you your notice period and how your end of service benefits are calculated. Read your tenancy contract for the notice you owe and the condition the property has to be handed back in.

The order that works

1. Give notice at work and on the tenancy, within the periods your contracts require.

2. Cancel every recurring payment, at the bank and with each biller.

3. Settle loans and instalment plans, and collect liability letters showing the exact amounts due.

4. Pay off credit cards in full, then wait one full statement cycle.

5. Request clearance letters from every bank and lender once the residual charges are settled.

6. Close utility, cooling and telecom accounts and request the deposit refunds.

7. Complete the tenancy handover and settle the security deposit with your landlord.

8. Collect your final salary and end of service benefits from your employer.

9. Transfer the money out.

10. Close the UAE current account and get written confirmation.

Every step before the last needs a live account to receive money into. That is the whole reason the current account goes last, and the rest of what happens to your UAE accounts when you leave follows from the same constraint.

Gratuity and final settlement

Your end of service benefit is calculated from your basic salary and your length of service under UAE labour rules, and the calculation differs depending on the type of contract and how the employment ended. Ask your HR team for the calculation in writing before your last day, so you can check it rather than accept it.

The payment often arrives after your last working day, sometimes after the visa cancellation is processed. Plan for it to land later than you would like, into an account you have not yet closed.

Moving the money

A few things are worth deciding rather than defaulting into.

• Exchange rates move, and moving everything on one day means accepting that day's rate. Some people split larger amounts across several transfers to spread that.
• Transfer costs come in two parts: the fee, which is visible, and the margin on the exchange rate, which is not. Compare the total dirhams sent against the rupees received, not the advertised fee.
• Large transfers attract routine compliance checks on both sides. Have your documents ready, and expect a delay rather than treating it as a problem.
• Rules on what a returning resident can hold and how accounts are classified in India change from time to time. Check with your Indian bank about NRI account conversion and residency status rather than acting on advice from a few years ago.

None of this is investment advice, and nothing here is a recommendation about where to hold your money. Speak to a licensed adviser if you want that.

Set up the Indian side before you fly

Landing without a working bank account, a working mobile number and a usable address is the most common self inflicted wound in this whole process.

Where you can, activate an Indian account, confirm the mobile number tied to it, and check that the online banking access works before you leave the UAE. Reactivating a dormant Indian account from abroad is slower than doing it from a UAE apartment with a working phone.

What to leave with

A folder containing final statements, closure confirmations, clearance letters, your final settlement calculation, the visa cancellation paperwork and your tenancy handover record. Check which clearance letters to ask for, and from whom before you start requesting them.

You may never need it. If you ever return, or if anyone ever queries an old account, it turns a long problem into a short one.