Yes, and there is less to it than most people expect. Dubai Islands sits in a designated freehold zone, which means full foreign ownership with no local partner, no residency requirement, and no minimum spend. The AED 2M figure people quote at you is the Golden Visa threshold, not a floor for buying.
What you actually get
Freehold title in your own name. No annual property tax, no capital gains tax, no inheritance tax. The 4% DLD transfer fee applies once, at registration, and that is the significant government cost in the whole transaction.
On off-plan you get an Oqood rather than a title deed until handover. It does the same job — it registers the property to you at the Land Department — and it converts to a title deed when the building completes.
The document list
- Passport copy. That is the only mandatory identity document for a non-resident.
- Proof of address, usually a utility bill or bank statement, for the developer’s compliance file.
- Source of funds evidence. Banks and developers both ask. Have it ready rather than assembling it under time pressure.
- A power of attorney if you are not signing in person — notarised, and if it is issued outside the UAE, attested.
Where people actually get stuck
Three places, consistently.
The transfer. International wires into UAE escrow accounts get held for compliance more often than people expect, and the delay can breach a payment deadline in your SPA. Start the first transfer earlier than you think you need to, and tell your bank in advance what it is for.
The power of attorney. A POA drafted for general use often gets rejected because it does not name the specific transaction. Get it drafted for this purchase, by someone who has done UAE property before.
Name spelling. Your passport spelling has to match across the SPA, the Oqood and the escrow transfer exactly. A middle name included in one place and dropped in another causes real delays at registration.
You do not need to be here
The SPA can be signed remotely with a POA or notarised copies. Plenty of buyers never set foot on the island before handover.
I would still rather you came and walked the plot. Renders flatter everything, and the difference between genuine row one and “sea view from the eighth floor” is obvious on the ground and invisible on paper. On this archipelago that difference is most of the price gap.