Dear all

I havent read all the posts but regarding a bank account in the UAE for non residents ....

I am resident in the UK, run my own business and do some 'consultancy' work in the UAE for some clients. I invoice them they pay me locally. So i opened an UAE dirham Savings only account ( which accepts BACS and cheque deposits and is operated by ATM card in UAE only, and managed by telephone or internett ) in the Mercato mall kiosk of HSBC.
As I bank with hsbc in the UK, the reference was no problem, and 3 months later I now have clients putting money in ... its been quite easy ( my brother-in-law was working in Dubs, so i gave him authority letters to collect my bank card and PIN number )

As long as you bank elsewhere in HSBC, then you can transfer money at the appropriate bank exchange rate internally ( hsbc dont charge either ) to another one of your hsbc accounts where u can take the money out ....

Dont know if this has helped but any questions please ask me....

cheers