UAE Golden Visa Requirements: Which Route Fits You

The Golden Visa is long-term UAE residency, issued for five or ten years depending on the route, renewable, and held in your own name rather than through an employer or a sponsor. It does not lapse when you spend long periods outside the country, which an ordinary residence visa does after six months abroad.

What people call the requirements are really several separate sets of requirements. You only have to satisfy one route, but you have to satisfy it fully and prove it on paper.

Property investors

This is the route most people ask about. You need to own property in the UAE valued at or above the threshold, AED 2 million at the time of writing, shown by the title deed and an official valuation.

• A mortgaged property can qualify, with a no-objection letter from the lending bank.
• Off-plan property can qualify when it is bought from an approved developer.
• In some emirates, more than one property can be combined to reach the value.
• The figure that counts is the one the land department recognises, which is not always the price you paid.

Investors in a business or a fund

Public investors qualify by placing capital, again AED 2 million at the time of writing, in an accredited investment fund, by owning a company with capital at that level, or through a company whose annual tax contribution reaches the prescribed figure. Each needs formal evidence: a letter from the fund, audited accounts or a certificate from the tax authority.

Entrepreneurs

Founders qualify through the business, not through capital. The usual tests are a project of a technical or innovative nature, approval from an accredited incubator or the relevant authority, and evidence of the project’s value. Because it depends on an endorsement, this route is slower and less predictable than the property route.

Skilled professionals

Employees can qualify without investing anything. The route asks for a valid UAE employment contract in a managerial or professional occupation, a bachelor’s degree or higher, and a monthly salary at or above the prescribed minimum, AED 30,000 at the time of writing. The test is applied to basic salary, before housing, transport and other allowances.

Check how your contract states your salary before you apply. The authorities look at the contract registered with the labour ministry or the free zone, not at what reaches your account each month.

Specialised talent, scientists and students

Doctors, scientists, engineers in priority fields, artists, athletes, inventors and senior executives can qualify on the strength of their work, normally through a recommendation or accreditation from the government body responsible for their field. Outstanding school and university students qualify on academic results. For all of these the application stands or falls on the endorsement, and obtaining it is a process of its own.

What the visa gives you

• Residency in your own name, with no employer or sponsor behind it.
• The right to sponsor your spouse and children for the same term, and domestic staff subject to conditions.
• No loss of residency for time spent abroad.
• Continued residency for your family for the rest of the term if you die.

Why applications are refused

1. The wrong route. An applicant who narrowly meets the salary test and comfortably meets the property test applies under salary.
2. Evidence that does not match the claim: a valuation below the threshold, a contract showing a lower salary, a degree that has not been attested.
3. A missing endorsement on a route that needs one.
4. Assuming the threshold is the purchase price. The number that matters is the one on the official valuation.

How long it takes

Where the route is clear and the file is complete, a decision commonly comes within 30 to 60 days. Routes that need a nomination or an endorsement take longer.

The cheapest mistake to avoid is applying before you know which route is your strongest. We map your position against every route first, and tell you plainly if none applies yet and what would change that.