The 10-year Golden Visa at AED 2,000,000 is real, it is straightforward, and it is oversold. Here is what it does and what it does not.
The threshold is registered value, not what you have paid
This is the part people get wrong. The AED 2,000,000 is measured against the DLD-registered value — the figure on the title deed or Oqood — not the equity you have transferred so far.
Put AED 1,000,000 down on a AED 2,200,000 unit with a mortgage and you still qualify, because the registered value is 2.2M. Off-plan counts on the same basis.
It also cuts the other way, and this catches people. Negotiate a discount that drops the registered value from AED 2,050,000 to AED 1,950,000 and you have saved AED 100,000 and lost the visa. Worth checking before you celebrate a discount.
What it gives you
- Ten years, renewable, for you.
- Spouse and children included. Parents can be sponsored separately.
- No employer sponsorship, so it does not evaporate if you change jobs or stop working.
- You do not have to live in the UAE to keep it, unlike the old two-year investor visa which lapsed after six months outside the country.
What it does not give you
It is not citizenship and there is no path from one to the other. It does not make you automatically tax-resident in the UAE — that depends on days present and on the rules of wherever you are leaving, and it is a question for a tax adviser in your home country, not for me.
And it does not make a bad purchase into a good one. I have watched people stretch to AED 2M for the visa on a unit they would not otherwise have bought. The visa is worth having. It is not worth AED 400,000 of overpayment.
The two-year alternative
Sole owners of a completed Dubai property qualify for a two-year investor visa with no minimum value. It is a genuine option if the 2M threshold is a stretch, though it carries residency conditions the Golden Visa does not.