This study examined associations between dimensions of bilingual engagement and emotional perception among Arabic–English bilinguals. Recent research has increasingly challenged categorical approaches to bilingualism, arguing instead that bilingual experience is multidimensional and shaped by variation in language use, proficiency, and attitudes. Building on this perspective, the present study investigated whether individual differences in bilingual engagement were associated with variation in emotional perception performance. A total of 143 Arabic–English bilinguals completed the Bilingual Language Profile (BLP) and a non-verbal Emotional Perception Task (EPT) consisting of short audiovisual clips depicting basic emotional expressions. Spearman’s rho correlations were conducted to examine associations between dimensions of bilingual engagement and emotional perception outcomes. The findings revealed modest but significant positive associations between emotional perception accuracy and several dimensions of L2 engagement, particularly language use and attitudinal orientation toward English. Language history showed comparatively weaker relationships with emotional perception performance. These findings support experience-based approaches to bilingualism by suggesting that emotional perception varies alongside patterns of language engagement rather than bilingual status itself. The study also contributes methodologically by operationalizing bilingualism through continuous multidimensional measures rather than categorical groupings and by employing a non-verbal emotional perception task that minimizes linguistic confounds. Overall, the results suggest that variation within bilingual populations may be more informative than bilingual versus monolingual comparisons when examining emotional processing outcomes.