The HSBC Live+ is a cashback Visa Signature built around high everyday category rates, a low FX fee and a strong lifestyle-and-travel perk stack — with genuine appeal for new UAE arrivals.
- Annual fee
- AED 313.95 incl. VAT
- Min salary
- AED 5,000/mo
- Top earn rate
- 6% Dining
Pros
- 6% cashback on dining and 5% on fuel — among the highest UAE everyday rates
- No annual fee in year one, waived from year two above AED 12,000 annual spend
- Low 2% foreign-currency fee, below the UAE norm of ~2.5–3%
- Expat-friendly — HSBC can use credit history from 12 countries for new arrivals
- Careem Plus, Zomato Gold, 12 lounge visits and US$500,000 travel insurance
Cons
- Accelerated rates need AED 3,000/month of spend and cap at AED 200 per category (AED 600/month total)
- 0.5% on everything outside the four bonus categories is weak
- AED 12,500 minimum salary for applicants outside HSBC-approved companies
- Lounge access needs a USD 1+ international purchase each year to unlock
- 44.28% APR — only worth holding if you clear the balance in full
Cashback
Cashback is paid monthly into the card. The accelerated rates apply only when you spend at least AED 3,000 in the month, and each category is capped:
- Dining
- 6%
- Groceries
- 2%
- Fuel
- 5%
- Entertainment
- 2%
- Everything else
- 0.5%
Fee summary
There’s no annual fee in the first year, then AED 313.95 (incl. VAT) — waived if you spend at least AED 12,000 in the prior 12 months. The foreign-currency fee is 2%, notably below the 2.5–3% most UAE cards charge, which makes Live+ a reasonable travel-spend card too. The fixed APR is 44.28% — relevant only if you carry a balance.
Welcome cashback breakdown
New credit-card customers could earn up to AED 1,500 in welcome cashback through the May 2026 cycle (which closed 31 May 2026) on meeting the spend and funding requirements, plus AED 100 for the first mobile-wallet payment. You can’t have held an HSBC primary card in the prior six months. HSBC’s welcome cycles refresh periodically — confirm the current welcome amount and the qualifying spend before applying.
What you get — per-benefit value
Category cashback
Worked at AED 1,500 of dining (6% = AED 90), AED 800 of fuel (5% = AED 40) and AED 2,000 of groceries (2% = AED 40) a month — clearing the AED 3,000 floor, all inside the AED 200 caps: AED 170/month. Value to me: ~AED 2,040/year on that profile. The full-cap ceiling is AED 600/month — AED 7,200/year — needing about AED 3,300 of dining, AED 4,000 of fuel and AED 10,000 of groceries-and-entertainment a month.
12 lounge visits (Visa Airport Companion)
Unlocked by one USD 1+ international purchase a year. At the AED 200 walk-in equivalent: Value to me: AED 800/year on four flown trips, up to AED 2,400/year at the full ration.
Careem Plus + Zomato Gold (12 months each)
Both are memberships HSBC doesn’t price on the product page, so we don’t invent a figure. Value to me: the subscription price you’d otherwise have paid — AED 0 if you wouldn’t have.
Cinema buy-one-get-one (AED 6,000 monthly spend gate)
At the AED 40–50 typical UAE ticket, one paired visit a month saves one ticket. Value to me: AED 480–600/year in months you clear the AED 6,000 gate.
Total package: ~AED 2,040 of cashback plus ~AED 800 of four-trip lounge value and ~AED 480–600 of cinema saving is roughly AED 3,300–3,450 a year against a fee of AED 0 in year one and AED 313.95 after — waived at just AED 12,000 of annual spend, which the worked profile clears several times over. The memberships stack on top for readers who’d have paid for them anyway.
Key conditions to know
- Eligibility
- Minimum salary AED 5,000 for employees of HSBC-approved companies, or AED 12,500 for everyone else; age 21–65; UAE resident.
- New to the UAE
- HSBC can use the credit history you built in 12 countries — UK, US, India, Canada, Australia, Spain, Switzerland and more — so new arrivals can get a card without waiting to build a UAE record.
- Lounge access
- 12 visits a year via the Visa Airport Companion app, conditional on at least one USD 1+ international purchase in the year; visits beyond 12 are charged.
- Cinema
- Buy-one-get-one-free tickets monthly at VOX, Reel and Roxy when you spend at least AED 6,000 in the booking month, booked online.
- Memberships
- Complimentary 12-month Careem Plus and Zomato Gold (up to 50% off at 4,000+ UAE restaurants).
Watch out for
- The AED 3,000 gate and AED 200 caps. The headline rates suit moderate, spread spend — a single big category maxes its AED 200 cap fast, and a quiet month drops you to 0.5%.
- 0.5% base is weak. Spend outside dining, fuel, groceries and entertainment earns almost nothing — pair Live+ with a flat-rate card for the rest.
- Higher salary bar off-panel. AED 5,000 only applies at HSBC-approved employers; otherwise it’s AED 12,500.
- Lounge condition. You must make a small international purchase each year to keep the complimentary lounge visits.
Is it worth it?
For a UAE resident who spends across dining, fuel and groceries and travels a few times a year, Live+ is one of the better mainstream picks: high (if capped) category cashback, a low 2% FX fee, no first-year fee, and a perk stack — Careem Plus, Zomato Gold, lounge access, travel insurance — that many fee-charging cards don’t match. New arrivals get a genuine head start through HSBC’s international credit-history sharing.
It’s a weaker fit for heavy single-category spenders (the caps bite) or anyone whose spend sits mostly outside the bonus categories (0.5% base). As ever with a cashback card, the value assumes you clear the balance in full each month.
Bottom line
A strong everyday-and-travel cashback all-rounder with a low FX fee and real expat onboarding. Apply if your spend spreads across the bonus categories and you value the perks and FX rate. Skip if you spend heavily in one category or mostly off-category.