UAE Golden Visa

The UAE Golden Visa is a long-term residence visa for investors, entrepreneurs, people with exceptional talent, outstanding students and humanitarian contributors. It's valid for 5 or 10 years depending on the category, needs no sponsor and allows holders to live, work and study in the UAE.

• Status: active
• Investor threshold: AED 2,000,000
• Longest length: 10 years
• Family: Yes, including spouses and children
• Time abroad: Holders can stay outside the UAE for more than the usual six months without losing the visa.

It's a residence status, not a remote work visa, so most nomads will look first at the UAE Remote Work Visa. The UAE guide compares the three.

The current categories on the ICP Golden Residency page and u.ae:

• Public investors: 10 years. A deposit of at least AED 2,000,000 in an approved investment fund, a company with capital of at least that amount, or a company that pays at least AED 250,000 a year in tax.
• Real estate investors: property worth at least AED 2,000,000. See the note on length below.
• Entrepreneurs: 5 years, for innovative or technical projects worth at least AED 500,000 per a certified auditor, with a letter from a business incubator or the relevant authority.
• Exceptional talent: 10 years, covering doctors, scientists, inventors, creatives, executives, athletes, PhD holders and specialists in priority fields. Executive directors need an attested degree, at least five years' experience and a salary of at least AED 50,000 a month.
• Outstanding students: 5 years for top high school students and 10 years for top university students.
• Humanitarian pioneers and frontline heroes: 10 years.

Real estate length: the federal ICP and u.ae tables list 5 years for real estate investors, while the Dubai Land Department issues a 10-year permit for Dubai property worth AED 2 million or more. Both are official; Dubai buyers apply through DLD, and buyers in other emirates should check the length ICP shows when they apply.

ICP asks for property owned without loans. DLD accepts mortgaged Dubai property when a bank letter shows at least AED 2 million has been paid.

Documents depend on the category. ICP lists these for investors:

• Fund deposit: a letter from an approved investment fund confirming a deposit of at least AED 2,000,000.
• Company: a valid commercial or industrial license and articles of association showing capital of at least AED 2,000,000, or a Federal Tax Authority letter confirming annual tax of at least AED 250,000.
• Property: a letter from the real estate registration department proving ownership of property worth at least AED 2,000,000.
• All applicants: a valid passport copy.

Entrepreneurs add the auditor's letter on project value, talent applicants the degree, experience and contract documents for their subcategory, and humanitarian applicants proof of their contribution plus health insurance. The medical test and Emirates ID are part of every residence file.

The one published total is for Dubai property investors: AED 9,884.75 through the Dubai Land Department. It covers the medical test (AED 700), a 10-year Emirates ID (AED 1,153), the 10-year residence permit (AED 2,856.75), the DLD fee (AED 4,020) and an administrative fee (AED 1,155). Each family member's 10-year permit costs AED 5,774.50, plus AED 318.75 to open a file.

ICP and GDRFA don't publish one total for the other categories; the amount is shown during the application. The investment itself, such as property worth AED 2,000,000, isn't a fee.

Where to apply: ICP smart services for most emirates, GDRFA Dubai for Dubai residents, and the Dubai Land Department e-service for Dubai property investors.

1. Pick the category and gather its documents from the ICP list.
2. Apply through ICP smart services, GDRFA Dubai or, for Dubai property, the DLD Golden Visa e-service.
3. Complete the medical fitness test and Emirates ID steps, then receive the residence permit.

No official processing time is published.

• Length: 5 or 10 years depending on category, with real estate listed at 5 years federally and 10 years by DLD for Dubai property.
• Renewal: Renewable while the holder still meets the category requirements; ICP describes renewal as automatic.
• Time abroad: Holders can stay outside the UAE for more than the usual six months without losing the visa.
• Long-term status: Long-term renewable residence in its own right; it does not lead to citizenship.

Selling the qualifying asset or losing the qualifying status means the holder may no longer meet the category at renewal.

The Golden Visa carries no tax regime of its own. Under Cabinet Decision No. 85 of 2022, a person is a UAE tax resident after 183 days or more in the country within 12 consecutive months. Holders of a residence permit also qualify after 90 days if they have a permanent place of residence or a job or business in the UAE, and anyone whose usual residence and center of financial and personal interests is in the UAE qualifies too.

The UAE charges corporate tax on individuals only when their business turnover passes AED 1 million in a calendar year. Wages, personal investment income and real estate investment income are outside that tax whatever the amount (Cabinet Decision No. 49 of 2023).

Holders who keep ties elsewhere should check how their home country treats them, since a UAE residence visa doesn't by itself end tax residence elsewhere.