What the Golden Visa Gives You
The UAE Golden Visa is a 5 to 10 year residency that decouples your stay from a sponsoring employer or single business activity. For founders, investors, and senior professionals, it's the residency that supports a long-term UAE base, family included, with no sponsorship friction.
The Main Routes to Qualify
Most applicants qualify through one of a few routes, each with its own criteria:
- Public investment: a qualifying investment of around AED 2 million, evidenced by official documents.
- Real estate: property worth at least AED 2 million; mortgaged purchases and some off-plan from approved developers can count, based on the total property value.
- Entrepreneur: a project endorsed by an accredited UAE business incubator or auditor.
- Specialised talent: scientists, doctors, engineers, executives, and creatives meeting role, salary, and nomination criteria.
Thresholds and conditions are updated from time to time and vary slightly by emirate, so the route and its current requirements should be confirmed for your specific case before you rely on them.
How Long It Lasts
The Golden Visa runs for 5 or 10 years depending on the route, with the public-investment and specialised-talent routes at 10 years. It renews, it requires no national sponsor, and it lets you sponsor your spouse, children, and domestic staff. Unlike a standard residence visa, it does not lapse after the usual six months outside the UAE, which suits investors and executives who travel.
Cost and Timeline
Government fees run to a few thousand dirhams, covering the application, medical, and Emirates ID, and vary by route and by whether you apply from inside or outside the UAE. With a complete file, issuance typically takes a few weeks to a couple of months from submission. The slow part is assembling the qualifying evidence, the investment proof, the company structure, or the talent nomination, which is what is worth getting right the first time.
The right structuring at company-formation time often decides whether the visa is straightforward or needs re-engineering, which is why we suggest founders consider their visa pathway during initial company setup, not after.
Our UAE Golden Visa service assesses your eligibility, structures the application, and manages it through to issuance. If you'd like to scope your Golden Visa pathway against your business plan and capital structure, book a private session, and we'll walk you through the latest 2026 rules and pre-screen your eligibility.