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Private PO Box in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, UAE
Private, personal, individual, or company PO Box services in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and other cities and emirates in the UAE. How to rent and renew your own individual post office box and how to address mail sent to UAE PO Boxes.
This information is for Private PO Boxes, i.e. Private, Personal, Individual, or Company PO Boxes. See the UAE Public PO Box services page for information about having mail delivered to a post office in the UAE without renting your own PO Box.
[News update clarification] Emirates Post PO Box fees cancelled from 01 Oct 2019 ...
EPG, the UAE post office operator, released a press release 01 Oct 2019 with the headline "Emirates Post waives administration fee for PO Box subscribers" which sounding exciting for all private (company and personal) PO Box subscribers who thought their PO Box rentals would be free from 01 Oct 2019.
- The headline actually refers to the administration charge or fee which you pay when collecting packages from the post office counter if they don't fit in your PO Box, or need to be customs inspected, or any other reason for which the post office wanted to ding you for an extra AED 10 (+VAT).
- So happy news anyway for frustated private PO Box holders paying 105 dhs every week to collect 10 aliexpress packages worth only 50 dhs, but sorry you still have to pay rental for your PO Box.
- The news release only said fee cancellation applied to Private PO Box holders, not Public PO box service users.
- This admin charge is not the same as import duty or tax or VAT, which UAE customs will continue to extract from you for your overseas purchases whether you're a private or public PO box user.
- Reference: www.epg.ae/portal/_en/newsdetail.xhtml?news=news1242
Hopefully the next news release will announce that the post office will stop with the frequent phone calls when an overseas package arrives and they have a special offer to deliver it tomorrow by courier for AED 30 (+VAT), or wait 1-2 weeks for it to go to your PO Box. We never did get answers to our FAQs: how they decide which parcels to make this special offer for; why it takes so long for the parcel to go from the Nad Al Hamar delivery center to our PO Box in Karama; why we couldn't just collect it from Nad Al Hamar ourselves; or why they wouldn't accept our repeated requests to stop phoning and just deliver any packages to the PO Box on the address label.
How to rent private individual PO Box in the UAE
Note that the rental process is the same whether you rent in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, or any other location in the UAE since the postal service is a federal institution.
You'll need:
- Money (about AED 250 per year as of 2019).
- Emirates ID (only legal residents of the UAE can rent a PO Box, visitors and tourists cannot).
Process
- Go to a post office near you, or a location you prefer. Go to the PO Box rental counter with money and Emirates ID, fill in form, pay money, get key if a PO Box is available.
- Or, apply online. Visit EPG website Home > E-Services > Rent and Renew a P.O. Box. Payment might be restricted to credit cards issued in the UAE only.
PO Box renewal
- Renewal is done annually in January. You cannot renew before 01 Jan.
- Late renewal: If you wait until after 31 Jan to renew your PO Box, expect a late payment fine of up to AED 100. Which is not too painful. However, what should concern you is that after 31 Jan, any non-renewed PO Boxes will eventually become available to rent by new customers. You're unlikely to lose your PO Box on 01 Feb but by March or April you should start to sweat if you haven't renewed it already. And by May or June it's quite likely that your PO Box has a new tenant. In some years the renewal deadline has been extended to 28 Feb but don't count on it for the next renewal.
How to use a Private Post Office Box address in the UAE
Address format to use to send mail to a UAE address (note that street addresses are not usually used for mail delivery in the UAE, residents mostly use PO Boxes).
- Your name (or company name)
Company name (if using company PO Box*)
PO Box xxxxx
Emirate or City
United Arab Emirates - *You'll often use your employer's PO Box as an address to register for bank accounts, phone connection, DEWA, etc. Don't expect any mail to be delivered to you unless you are certain your employer will do that. As you can imagine, larger companies with thousands of employees don't have the resources to deliver personal mail to every worker, it's easier to just toss it in the bin.
- A Zip Code or Postal Code is not used in the UAE. If forced to use a post code, use 00000 or AUH/DXB/RAK/SHJ/etc or your mobile number.
- Optionally add your UAE mobile phone number: Tel +971-5x-xxxxxxx.
- For letter delivery, a phone number is not necessary, unless sent by registered mail.
- For parcel delivery, a phone number seems to be used mostly by the post office to encourage you to pay extra for courier delivery once a package arrives in the UAE from overseas. They'll phone you and offer the option of courier delivery tomorrow for additional AED 30-50, or in 1-2 weeks to your PO Box for no additional charge.
[Update] (last update Aug 2011) Mail Delivery in the UAE and Post Office boxes
There is no mail delivery to street addresses in the UAE, all mail goes to PO Boxes at the various post office locations. Most residents have mail delivered to their company's post office box, which is usually collected daily by companies, and delivered to their employees. Your address is normally accepted as the company's PO Box in the UAE. This can cause problems when supplying an address to various organisations overseas who are not familiar with mail delivery in Dubai and the UAE (and many other countries in the Middle East). Usually if you explain the situation, companies will be sympathetic.
Courier companies such as Aramex, DHL, Fedex will do home and office deliveries. It is normal to supply them with a telephone number for the recipient so the courier company can phone and get directions to the delivery location. Street addresses do exist, sort of, but navigation is more often done with the use of major landmarks, common names for streets (rather than the signposted name), and building names and colors.
It's possible (but unlikely) that those living in apartment buildings have PO Boxes provided - the building owner, not you or your landlord, has to arrange this with the Emirates Post. Or if undesignated post office boxes are installed in the building already, you might be able to rent one individually direct from Emirates Post - see below about PO Box rental but also bring along your tenancy contract.
There were reports in early 2009 that Emirates Post was implementing a system of home delivery of mail in the UAE, to be up and running by 2012. Don't get too excited just yet - when you start seeing letter boxes outside your apartment building or villa, then something might be on the cards.
Private Post Office Box rental UAE
Update January 2011
Emirates Post increased PO Box rental prices (minimum AED 200 per year for individual), and decreased rental period from a choice of 1-3 years to just one year. Rental application or renewal at post office or online but going to post office seems easier - they might be less fussy about documentation required (such as Emirates ID card, residence visa copy, photos, but you will at least need passport copy), and how accurately you fill in the form.
There is an option of once per week mail pick up and deliver for business customers for minimum AED 3,500 (approximately, unconfirmed).
Previous post office box rental information for Dubai and UAE
You can get your own personal mail box - a good idea if you think you may be changing employers on a regular basis, but want to stay in the UAE. The disadvantage is you have to go and get your own mail. PO Box rental costs about 200-500 dhs per year (increased from 100-250 dhs in February 2008). New applications can be accepted at anytime (if there are PO Boxes available) but renewal is always done in January. Go to your favorite post office location with passport & residence visa (employment shouldn't be necessary), 2 copies, 2 photos, and some cash. There's an application form on the Empost website you can download and fill in, or get one at the post office.
For convenience, look for a post office near where you live or work, and remember that if you sign up for a PO Box in another emirate or new location in the same emirate, you will end up with a new PO Box number.
Post office box access is normally available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week but parcel and registered letter collection is not.
Categories
- Parent category: Emirates Post Group.
- Child pages:
- Related pages:
- Public PO Boxes in UAE. Mail delivery in UAE.
- Post Offices in Abu Dhabi, Post Offices in Dubai, Post Offices in Sharjah, Post Offices in UAE, etc.
References
- www.epg.gov.ae/portal/_en/locations.xhtml - UAE Post Office locations, timings but Individual PO Boxes are (usually) accessible 24 hours per day.
EPG Private PO Box service news
- Renewal dates are annually from 01-31 January. Renewal period might be up to 3 years. Sometimes we've only had an option to renew for one year.
Last update Wednesday 02-Oct-2019.
Related pages
| UAE postal services | Emirates Post Group | Postal and zip codes | Private PO Boxes | Public PO Boxes |
|---|---|
| UAE post offices | Abu Dhabi post offices | Ajman post offices | Al Ain post offices | Dubai post offices | Fujairah post offices | RAK post offices | Sharjah post offices | UAQ post offices |
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