The Emirates NBD Visa Flexi is the bank’s no-fee Plus Points Visa for the AED 12,000+ salary band. It sits below the Visa Platinum and Visa Infinite in the ENBD product ladder, earns Plus Points across general spend and four named categories, and does not require a salary transfer to qualify.
- Annual fee
- Free
- Min salary
- AED 12,000/mo
- Top earn rate
- 0.4% Groceries
Pros
- AED 0 annual fee on the standing promo at AED 12,000 minimum salary
- Plus Points across general spend, groceries, fuel, utilities and insurance with no salary-transfer gate
- 1.5% Plus Points on general spend without an annual fee
Cons
- Category rates are thin — 0.4% on groceries and 0.2% on fuel and utilities trail every specialist card
- Plus Points realise unevenly — Skywards transfers run at internal rates that erode value
- No welcome bonus published at our verification, and the SoC renewal fee is AED 735 if the promo expires
Earn rates
Plus Points are earned on every transaction, with named category boosts on groceries, insurance, fuel, utilities, real estate and education:
- Groceries
- 0.4%
- Fuel
- 0.2%
- Everything else
- 1.5%
Fee summary
The card is AED 0 on the current ENBD promo, with the Schedule of Charges listing an AED 735 standing renewal fee if the promo expires — confirm the waiver applies to your application before signing. The foreign-currency fee is 1.99%, levied on every non-AED transaction. As with any rewards card, clear the statement in full each month — the 3.25% monthly interest charge erases any Plus Points value.
What you get — per-benefit value
Plus Points earn on card spend
1.5% general, 0.4% groceries and insurance, 0.2% fuel and utilities — denominated in ENBD Plus Points with a per-statement cap. Value to me: not computable — redemption ratio unpublished. ENBD publishes no fixed Plus Points→AED conversion; cashback redemption is the cleanest route, but without a published ratio we don’t convert the headline percentages into dirhams. If ENBD publishes a rate, the worked example is simple — until then, any figure here would be a guess.
Total package: not computable. Against the AED 0 promo fee the card costs nothing to hold, so the unpriced points flow is upside — but if the AED 735 Schedule-of-Charges renewal ever posts, no published number proves the rewards recover it.
Key conditions to know
- Plus Points earn structure
- 1.5% on general spend; 0.4% on supermarkets, groceries, insurance and car-dealership spend; 0.2% on fuel, utility bill payments, real estate and education spend. Points credit to the ENBD Plus Points wallet and redeem cleanest as cashback at par.
- Salary transfer
- Not required. Minimum salary AED 12,000 a month, credited to any UAE bank. No clawback exposure tied to where your salary lands.
- Annual fee
- AED 0 on the standing promo. SoC standard renewal AED 735 — confirm with ENBD that the waiver applies to your application before relying on the AED 0 figure long-term.
- Foreign-currency fee
- 1.99% on every non-AED transaction, including foreign online merchants. Standard for the UAE Visa segment, but not a zero-FX travel card.
- Category MCC mapping
- Groceries map to MCC 5411 (LuLu, Carrefour, Spinneys, Choithrams). Fuel runs on 5541 / 5542 (ADNOC, ENOC, EPPCO). Verify with a small test transaction before assuming a hybrid merchant codes the way you expect.
- Eligibility
- Minimum salary AED 12,000; UAE residency required; salaried applicants. Documentation: Emirates ID and passport copy, salary certificate, and recent bank statements; a security cheque is required at issue.
Watch out for
- Plus Points realisation is uneven. Redeem as cashback unless you have a specific Skywards goal — the internal transfer rate erodes value materially against an airline-miles benchmark.
- The category rates are thin. Groceries at 0.4% and fuel and utilities at 0.2% are well below the 1.5% general rate; LuLu 247 Platinum or Go4it Platinum carry stronger category multipliers if that is where your spend concentrates.
- No welcome bonus on the standing terms. Unlike the Visa Infinite or U by Emaar Infinite, the Flexi does not publish a welcome bonus at our verification — confirm any current promo with ENBD directly before applying on a bonus assumption.
- The AED 735 SoC renewal. The current promo waives the annual fee, but the standing Schedule of Charges renewal is AED 735. Do not assume permanent AED 0 — re-verify at renewal.
- No category cap published. Large single-category months may trip an undocumented monthly ceiling; verify with the issuer before a planned big-ticket purchase in a bonus category.
Bottom line
A no-fee ENBD Visa with Plus Points across general spend and four named categories — serviceable as a default earner inside the AED 12,000-30,000 band, particularly if you bank elsewhere and want a fee-free secondary on the ENBD ecosystem. Apply if you want a fee-free anchor with no salary-transfer gate. Skip if you want a high-yield category or travel earner — the category rates are modest, Plus Points redeem below par against airline miles, and the 1.99% FX fee rules it out as a travel-spend card.
Pay smart: pair this with a category specialist or flat-rate cashback card for the spend the Visa Flexi underearns — the CBD One free-for-life Visa is the standard companion. Newer UAE residents setting up their first bank account and card should start with our expat starter guide.