The Golden visa is a very beneficial scheme introduced in the United Arab Emirates under which long term residence visas are issued to certain categories of individuals which allows foreign individuals to live, work and study in the UAE having exclusive benefits.
Background
Cabinet Decision No. 56 of 2018 On the Regulation of Residence Permits for Investors, Entrepreneurs and Individuals with Specialized Talents was initially issued in 2018.
As per the new changes, as issued on the website of the Government of United Arab Emirates, investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, outstanding students and graduates, humanitarian pioneers and frontline heroes are amongst those eligible for the golden visa.
Qualification for Obtaining a Golden Visa
In order for an individual to obtain a golden visa, each category of person should fulfil the applicable conditions.
Investors:
For a real estate investor, a golden visa may be obtained in the UAE if one of the following conditions is met:
- property worth no less than AED 2 million purchased; or
- property with a loan from specific loan banks; or
- off-plan properties of not less than AED 2 million from approved real estate companies.
Entrepreneurs:
An entrepreneur can obtain a golden visa if one of the following conditions is fulfilled:
- the entrepreneur owns or is a partner in a start-up which is registered as a small and medium enterprise in the country. The Company should be generating annual revenues of less than AED 1 million.
- Approval for the start-up idea should be obtained from an official business incubator or from Ministry of Economy or other local body.
- An entrepreneurial project founded by the entrepreneur which was sold for not less than AED 7 million.
Exceptional Talents:
Another category of persons who are entitled to apply for a golden visa are inventors, innovators and exceptional talents in fields of art, culture, sports and digital technology. However, recommendation or approval from the Federal or local government entity is required for this.
Scientists and Professionals:
Scientists and professionals may also be eligible for a golden visa. For a golden visa for a scientist, he must have a PhD or a Master’s degree in the field of engineering, technology, life sciences or natural sciences from top universities of the world along with substantial research. A recommendation from the Emirates Scientists Council is also required for the scientist applicant.
For a professional, with high educational qualifications and professional experience in fields of medicine, sciences, engineering, IT, business and administration, education, law, culture and social sciences, obtaining a golden visa would require meeting the following conditions.
- Valid employment contract in the UAE
- Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s classification of first or second occupational level
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent
- Monthly salary of not less than AED 30,000.
Outstanding students:
Golden visa may also be offered to exceptional students from UAE’s secondary schools and graduates from the UAE’s university and top universities of the world.
Humanitarian pioneers:
Golden visa is also open to humanitarian pioneers such as international and regional organisations’ distinguished members, recipients to humanitarian awards, volunteers and sponsors of humanitarian efforts, etc.
Frontline heroes:
Frontline workers who showed extraordinary efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic are also eligible to obtain the golden visa.
What are the benefits of getting the Golden Visa?
According to the website of the Government of UAE, there are many exclusive benefits of getting a golden visa.
These benefits include getting an entry visa for six months with multiple entries, ability to stay outside UAE for more than 6 months without any impact on the validity of the residence visa, self-sponsored visa without an employer sponsor, sponsoring family members, including spouse and children, entitlement of family members to stay in the UAE till the period of the visa notwithstanding the death of the golden visa holder.
Copyright © of this article is retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. We explicitly grant you permission to download a copy, without any alteration, of this article for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or any charge. This article can be utilized on your website or for marketing, however, we grant you permission to host this article on your website and no other rights. This content should not be altered in any way or sold commercially in any format without prior permission of the copyright holder. During reference of this article, full biographic details entailing the name of the author, his designation, the institute and the publishing date of the article shall be provided.
