The Golden Visa, through property

The UAE's Golden Visa is a ten-year residence visa that needs no employer and no sponsor, renews on the same terms, and covers the holder's family. Property is one of the ways in: own real estate in the emirate worth two million dirhams or more, and you qualify. The rules around that figure, what counts, whether a mortgage or an off-plan purchase qualifies, what happens if you sell, have moved several times since the visa was created, so what follows is the shape of the scheme and the questions to ask, with the department's own desk as the last word.

The two-million rule

The threshold is AED 2,000,000 of property, held in the applicant's name, in one property or several added together. The value the department uses is the purchase price on the title deed, or, for a property bought some years ago for less than it is now worth, a valuation the department itself issues. A property owned jointly with a spouse counts in full for both, with the marriage certificate; a property owned with anyone else counts by share. Commercial property qualifies as well as residential. The land has to be in an area a foreign national can own, which for most buyers means freehold, and the title has to be a deed, or an Oqood for an off-plan home on terms the department sets.

Mortgages and off-plan

Both are allowed, both with conditions. A mortgaged property qualifies where the loan is from a bank the department recognises and the applicant's own paid share meets the threshold the department currently requires, which has been set in different ways at different times; the bank's letter and the deed together are what the desk reads. An off-plan home qualifies where the developer is one the department approves and the amount paid meets its rule for unbuilt property. These are the two conditions that have moved most, and the ones to confirm on the day rather than from anything written before it, this page included.

What the visa gives

• Ten years' residence, renewable on the same basis while the property is held
• No sponsor, no employer, no need to return every six months to keep it alive
• Residence for the holder's spouse and children, without an age limit on the children, and for domestic staff, sponsored by the holder
• The right to work, study and run a business on the visa, subject to the relevant licence

How to apply

In Dubai the application runs through the Dubai Land Department's own desk, which handles the property side and passes the case to the federal immigration authority for the visa itself.

• The title deed or deeds, and for a mortgage the bank's letter with the outstanding balance
• Passport, a photograph, the current visa and Emirates ID if the applicant is already resident, and the health insurance the visa requires
• The medical fitness test, done in the UAE
• The government fees, which come to a few thousand dirhams for the visa and the ID together, plus the medical, and the department's fee for the service

An application with the paperwork in order takes days to a few weeks. The visa is stamped, the Emirates ID follows, and family members are then sponsored on the holder's file, each with their own fees.

Keeping it

The visa rests on the property. Sell it, and the basis of the visa goes with it, though the department has allowed replacement with another qualifying property and the rules on that are worth asking about before a sale rather than after. Letting the property does not affect the visa. Living abroad does not either, which is the difference from every other UAE residence visa. And a family member's visa follows the holder's: it ends when the holder's does.

The two-year investor visa

Below the golden threshold sits a smaller scheme, also through the department: a two-year residence visa for the owner of property worth AED 750,000 or more, renewable, with the family sponsored on it. The same questions apply about mortgages and joint ownership, and the same desk answers them. It is the visa most buyers of a one- or two-bedroom apartment can reach, and for a buyer who wants residence more than a decade of it, it is the cheaper way in. A retirement visa exists too, for those over fifty-five, with property at a lower threshold among its routes.

Where to start

With the property, not the visa. A home bought to reach a threshold and nothing else is a bad purchase with a visa attached; a home bought because it is the right home, that also clears the line, is the way the scheme is meant to work. The register shows what a home actually sells for in every community, and what is on the market with McCone from two million is one click away. The cost of buying is on top of the price, and the deed that results is what the application is built on.