Cards built for spending abroad.

Forex markup matters more in the UAE than in most markets. The dirham is pegged to the US dollar, so any spend outside the dollar bloc — Indian rupees, euros, sterling, Southeast Asian currencies — passes through a forex conversion that compounds the markup. A 3%+ card costs AED 30 or more extra per AED 1,000 spent overseas; over a year of typical travel and remittance-adjacent spend, that adds up fast.

The forex markups on our UAE shelf run wider than a flat "2% and under" framing suggests. One card on our shelf carries a genuine 0% markup — a rare exception, not a tier you can shop for broadly. Strip that one out and the real floor is 2.0%, with most cards clustering between 2.5% and 3.5% — the majority of what we track sits at 3.0% or above. A realistic best case for most applicants is a premium card in the 2.0–2.75% band; treat anything below that as a specific product to verify per-card, not a general expectation.

Forex savings compound with the reward earn rate on overseas spend. A card at 2% forex markup earning 3× points on travel still nets you positive value; a card at 3%+ markup earning 1× points loses money before rewards are even counted. The ranking here scores the after-markup-after-reward cost, not the headline markup alone.

Multi-currency wallet apps compete with credit cards on forex, but they don't earn rewards and don't carry travel insurance or lounge benefits. For spend that has to flow through a credit card anyway — hotel deposits, online subscriptions, car rentals — a low-forex credit card is still the more efficient instrument.

Forex rankings net each UAE card's markup against a realistic international-spend share alongside its domestic rewards. Full mechanics at /about/methodology.