10-year residence
Visas and residence
UAE residence visas: which permit fits your situation
Six residence permits coexist in the United Arab Emirates, and they are not equivalent. Duration, sponsorship and the absence rule change from one to the next, and it is almost always on that last point that files fall apart.
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6 permits Only one escapes the six-month rule
- Golden Visa, renewable
- 10 years
- Green Visa, no sponsoring employer
- 5 years
- Property owner or partner visa
- 2 years
- The absence that cancels a standard permit
- 6 months
The short answer
If the value recognised by the Dubai Land Department (DLD) on your properties reaches AED 2,000,000, aim for the Golden Visa: 10 years, self-sponsored, and not subject to the six-month absence rule. Between AED 750,000 and that threshold, the property owner visa gives 2 years, but six consecutive months outside the UAE cancel it. Without a property, residence goes through a company, an employer or the Green Visa.
These thresholds and durations are working values: they fall under the federal authority for identity and citizenship, which revises them without notice. We confirm them before you commit to a purchase or an application.
The question we are asked is almost never “how do I get a visa”. It is “which one, and what will I have to keep up afterwards”. The answer comes down to three variables: who sponsors you, how long the permit runs, and what you must maintain for it to survive its expiry date.
The six permits, and what really separates them
Official communication presents these permits as a range, from shortest to longest. In practice, they fall into two families, and the dividing line is not where you would expect. On one side, self-sponsored permits, which depend on no one but you: the Golden Visa, the property owner visa, the Green Visa. On the other, permits sponsored by a third party — your employer, or the company in which you hold shares — which lapse with the sponsor.
This distinction decides very practical things. A permit sponsored by a company requires the licence to stay in force, the company to keep its visa quota and its filing obligations to be met. If the licence is not renewed, the whole family’s residence ends with it.
Comparison
The six residence permits, line by line
Five columns, because these are the five variables that decide. Thresholds and durations are working values, to be confirmed with the authority before any application.
| Residence permit | Duration | What opens it | Sponsor | Absence of more than six months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Visa — property route | 10 years, renewable | One or more properties whose value as recognised by the DLD reaches AED 2,000,000 | Yourself | No effect on the permit |
| Golden Visa — other routes | 10 years, renewable | Talent, researcher, senior executive, entrepreneur, healthcare professional, outstanding pupil or student | Yourself | No effect on the permit |
| Property owner visa (property investor) | 2 years, renewable | A property whose value as recognised by the DLD reaches AED 750,000 | Yourself, through the property | The permit lapses |
| Partner or company owner visa | 2 years, renewable | Shares in a UAE-registered company, with a visa quota attached to the licence | The company | The permit lapses |
| Green Visa | 5 years, renewable | Freelance status, skilled-employee qualification or investment in a project, with no sponsoring employer | Yourself | The permit lapses |
| Employment visa | Usually 2 years, longer in some free zones | An employment contract with a UAE company | The employer | The permit lapses |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Thresholds
The thresholds: what triggers what
The two property thresholds — AED 750,000 and AED 2,000,000 — are the figures everyone quotes. What almost nobody writes is the sentence that follows: the threshold is assessed on the value recognised by the Dubai Land Department, not on the price in your contract. On the secondary market, the gap is usually small. On an off-plan property, it can be real, and it is not always in your favour.
Three cases come up constantly in the files we handle, and each deserves checking before the purchase rather than after:
Combining several properties
Adding two apartments together to reach a threshold is an option in practice, but the aggregation rule and the documents required differ depending on the permit. A file is not built on the assumption that it will go through.
A mortgaged property
A purchase with a mortgage long required a minimum share of the price to be paid already. That requirement has changed. It is one of the parts of the system that moves most often: we check the state of the rules at the time of your application, not at the time you read an article.
An off-plan property
Eligibility depends on the registration of the sale and on the progress of the project. A signed contract is not enough; registration with the DLD is what counts, and it does not happen at the same point with every developer.
The full detail of the property route — recognised value, documents, dependants, renewal — is covered in the Golden Visa guide.
The deciding point
The absence rule, the most expensive trap
This is the detail that costs the most, and the one sales material is most willing to leave out. A standard residence permit is cancelled when its holder stays six consecutive months outside the United Arab Emirates. The Golden Visa is not subject to this rule.
The consequence is harsh for the most common profile: the buyer who purchases at around AED 750,000 “for the visa”, keeps living abroad and comes back once a year. The permit lapses, and it does not lapse alone. The Emirates ID follows, the dependants’ visas follow, and the bank — which checks its clients’ residence status — ends up restricting and then closing the account. Reopening an account after a closure for an expired permit is much harder than opening it the first time.
The calculation nobody does
If your life stays abroad, a 2-year permit that requires a return trip every five months is not cheaper than a 10-year permit: it is only cheaper to get into. We count the flights, the time and the risk of forgetting over the period you will hold the property before letting you choose the lower threshold.
Expiry
Renewal puts everything back on the table
A renewal is not an administrative formality: it is a fresh examination of the condition that opened the permit. The property must still be held, and still be worth at least the threshold. The company must still be in good standing. The medical test is taken again, the Emirates ID reissued, and the dependants’ permits realigned with yours.
Two classic mistakes: selling the property that carried the visa without planning for the expiry date, and letting a company licence lapse “while you think about it”. In both cases, the permit is not suspended, it is extinguished, and you start again with a new file.
Scope
What residence gives you, and what it does not settle
UAE residence opens a set of very practical rights: living in the country and entering without a prior visa, obtaining the Emirates ID, sponsoring your spouse and children, signing an Ejari-registered lease, opening a bank account on normal terms, converting your driving licence. That is a lot, and it is what most readers come looking for.
It does not settle two things, and they are precisely the ones people call us back about six months later:
- It is not tax residence. A residence permit is permission to stay, not tax evidence. A UAE tax residency certificate is obtained separately, subject to conditions of actual presence, and it does not automatically bind the authorities of the country you are leaving.
- It does not, on its own, take you out of your home country’s tax system. Your home country decides whether you are still tax resident there, by its own criteria. Evidence and timing matter, and this is where mistakes cost the most: get advice in that country before you leave.
How UAE tax itself works — corporate tax, VAT, bank account — is covered in the banking and tax pillar. And if residence runs through a structure, the regime is chosen first on the business, not on the visa: see company formation in Dubai.
The process
The five steps, in the order they happen
None of them can be brought forward. Most over-optimistic timelines are wrong because they count these steps in parallel when they are sequential.
Establish the trigger
A property registered in your name with the Dubai Land Department, a registered company with a visa quota, an employment contract, or a Green Visa file. Nothing starts before that document exists.
Obtain the entry permit
An entry permit is issued before the residence permit itself. It is valid for a short time and starts the clock: the following steps take place within that window, in the UAE.
Take the medical test and biometrics
Blood test, chest X-ray and biometric capture at an approved centre. It is a condition of issue, not a formality: an unfavourable result blocks the file.
Have the status stamped and receive the Emirates ID
Resident status is added to the file, then the Emirates ID card is produced. It is the card, not the visa, that you will be asked for everywhere from then on.
Set up your administrative life
An Ejari-registered lease, a bank account, health insurance, a driving licence. This is the longest phase, and the one optimistic timelines forget.
The Emirates ID card renews at the same pace as the permit that carries it: plan both expiry dates together, along with those of your dependants.
Decision
Which permit for which situation
You already own a property in Dubai
We first have the value recognised by the DLD established, before anything else. It is what puts your file on one side of the threshold or the other, and it cannot be inferred from your purchase price. The Golden Visa eligibility check asks the four questions that decide.
You have a business you can run from the UAE
The Green Visa spares you from depending on an employer, and a company spares you from depending on the Green Visa. The two routes do not cost the same to maintain: the free zone page sets out the real yearly cost of a licence.
You are moving with your family
The sponsor’s permit governs everything else. Take the most stable permit you are entitled to, even if it costs more: a failed renewal affects four files instead of one.
You are looking for a passport
This is not that market. UAE naturalisation comes through nomination and remains exceptional: no amount of investment opens it.
Questions we are asked before an application
Does buying a property in Dubai automatically give the right to residence?
No. The purchase gives you the right to apply; it does not grant anything. The property must be registered in your name, the value recognised by the Dubai Land Department must reach the threshold of the permit you are aiming for, and the file must be accepted by the immigration authority. A property held by a company, for example, does not have the same effect as one held in your own name.
What is the practical difference between the Golden Visa and the property owner visa?
Three differences, and the third is the one that costs money. Duration: 10 years against 2 years. Threshold: the value recognised by the DLD must reach AED 2,000,000 against AED 750,000. And the absence rule: a property owner visa lapses after six consecutive months outside the UAE; the Golden Visa is not subject to that rule. These are working values, to be confirmed before any application.
How long can I stay outside the UAE without losing my residence?
For a standard permit — property owner visa, partner visa, employment visa, Green Visa — the usual rule is six consecutive months outside the United Arab Emirates. The count is based on a continuous absence, not a yearly total. The Golden Visa is exempt from this rule. We confirm how the count applies to your permit before any extended absence.
Does UAE residence take me out of my home country’s tax system?
No, not on its own. Your home country decides whether you are still tax resident there, by its own criteria. A UAE residence permit is one piece of evidence among others, never proof on its own; evidence and timing matter. Take advice on this in your home country before you leave.
Can my family join me on my residence permit?
In most cases, yes: the spouse and children are sponsored by the permit holder. You need housing with an Ejari-registered lease, proof of income or means, and a file per person. Dependants’ visas are tied to yours: they expire with it and lapse with it.
Do I need to set up a company to obtain residence?
No. The property route and the Green Visa do not go through a company. A company becomes the right route when you have a business to run from the UAE, or when you want to sponsor employees. Choosing a licence only for the visa it carries means paying every year for a structure you have no use for.
Does the Golden Visa ever lead to UAE citizenship?
No. They are two separate regimes. Residence, even for ten years and even renewed, does not lead automatically to naturalisation: that comes through nomination, within a small quota, and remains exceptional for a foreign investor.
Visas and residence, page by page
Tool
Check your Golden Visa eligibility
Structure
Company formation in Dubai
Banking
Opening a bank account in Dubai
Pillar
Banking and tax in the UAE
Tool
Two-minute assessment
Independent advice
Have the permit checked before you buy
Describe your situation in a few lines: what you own or plan to own, where you will actually live, who comes with you. We will tell you which permit holds, and which one will cost you a return trip every five months.