Dubai · United Arab Emirates
A practical guide for the UAE market · Updated August 2026
There are two things going on in that question, and most guides blur them together. One is the credential, which the International Coaching Federation awards. The other is the capability, which decides whether you can actually help the person sitting in front of you.
This page covers both: exactly what ICF requires, what it costs and how long it takes in the UAE, and the part nobody puts on a checklist.
On this page
Three things, and they are separate from each other:
Accredited coach-specific education. Delivered by a training provider whose programme ICF has accredited. Level 1 requires at least 60 hours; Level 2 at least 125.
Client coaching experience. Hours you log coaching real people. 100 hours for ACC, 500 for PCC. This is usually what governs your timeline, not the course.
Assessment. Mentor coaching (ten hours), a performance evaluation of a recorded session, and the ICF Credentialing Exam, which is the same written exam for every candidate regardless of where they trained.
If you have been researching for a while you may have run into ACSTH and ACTP. Those designations were retired in June 2023. The current structure is:
| Level 1 | Level 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Credential it leads toward | ACC, Associate Certified Coach | PCC, Professional Certified Coach |
| Formerly called | ACSTH | ACTP |
| Coach-specific training | 60+ hours | 125+ hours |
| Mentor coaching | 10 hours | 10 hours |
| Client coaching hours you must log | 100 | 500 |
| Performance evaluation | Yes | Yes |
| ICF Credentialing Exam | Yes | Yes |
One thing that is not obvious: completing Level 2 education does not oblige you to wait for 500 hours before applying for anything. If your experience currently meets ACC requirements you can apply for ACC first, then progress to PCC as your hours accumulate, without buying another education level. Your education is already built to the higher standard.
Not which sounds more impressive. If you are starting out, ACC is the honest target and Level 1 the matching education. If you already coach and have hours behind you, Level 2 is worth the extra investment because it does not need repeating later.
Check that the education is genuinely accredited at the level you need. Ask directly which entity holds the accreditation and how the programme is delivered. A straight answer here tells you a lot about a provider.
Typically a mix of self-paced online modules and live practice. The live component is where the craft is actually built, and where most of the difference between programmes shows up.
Do not wait until training ends. Coaching real people from early on is what turns technique into capability, and the hours count toward your application.
Ten hours of mentor coaching with a qualified mentor, and a recorded session assessed against ICF competencies. This is where gaps in your actual coaching surface, which is the point of it.
The written exam is the same for everyone. By this stage a good programme has prepared you thoroughly. You apply to ICF directly, and ICF awards the credential.
Programmes in Dubai and Abu Dhabi generally run from roughly AED 15,000 at Level 1 to around AED 40,000 at Level 2, depending on how much live training and support is included. Six to twelve months is a realistic timeline for most people, and the variable is almost always the coaching hours rather than the coursework.
For reference, at RSCI: RS Method Coach is AED 18,000 and includes the ICF Level 1 education toward ACC. RS Method Complete is AED 35,000 and includes ICF Level 2 education toward ACC or PCC. Both prices include the mentor coaching, assessment and credential preparation components.
Every accredited programme will get you to the same credential. The letters are identical. So comparing programmes on accreditation alone tells you almost nothing.
The question worth asking is the one that surfaces about six months after you qualify:
Coaching competencies describe what good coaching looks like from the outside. They do not, on their own, train the thing that lets you sit steady inside a moment like that. A person can pass every assessment and still freeze in the room.
So when you compare programmes, look past the accreditation line and ask: how much live practice with real people? Who observes and corrects you? Does the training address your own material, or only technique? What is the methodology underneath the competencies, and is it coherent or a collection of borrowed models?
A credential opens doors. What you can do once you are through the door is what builds the practice.
Most people take six to twelve months. The training itself is the short part. What sets the pace is accumulating the client coaching hours ICF requires: 100 hours for ACC, 500 for PCC. You can start logging those hours while you are still training.
No. The coach-specific education runs online and self-paced, and the live practitioner training happens in Dubai. Coaches across the GCC and further afield train with us, and the ICF credential itself is international, not tied to the UAE.
Programmes in the region generally run from around AED 15,000 for a Level 1 pathway to around AED 40,000 for Level 2. At RSCI, RS Method Coach is AED 18,000 including the ICF Level 1 education, and RS Method Complete is AED 35,000 including ICF Level 2.
Not as a matter of law today. In practice the market has moved: corporate and institutional buyers increasingly ask for a recognised credential before they will hire, so most coaches building a serious practice pursue one.
Level 1 is the accredited education pathway toward ACC and requires at least 60 hours of coach-specific training. Level 2 is the more extensive pathway associated with PCC, at 125 hours or more. Both include mentor coaching and a performance evaluation. These replaced the older ACSTH and ACTP designations, which ICF retired in June 2023.
No, and this catches people out. A training provider delivers the accredited education. The credential itself is awarded by the International Coaching Federation once you have satisfied their education, coaching experience, assessment and examination requirements. Any provider implying otherwise is overstating what they can give you.
Two programmes, each with the appropriate ICF education pathway included as standard. The RS Method underneath, which is the part that decides what you can do in the room.
See both programmes →