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Program profile · Edition 1 research

UAE - Dubai Golden Visa (Property Route)

A certified-value test, not a payment test: qualification rests on the property reaching AED 2,000,000 on the DLD-certified or recorded contract value, and how it was paid - cash, mortgage or instalments - no longer matters. Since the DLD-GDRFA platforms were unified in April 2026, it is also the fastest permit in this set: around 15 business days end to end. There is no minimum-stay requirement to keep it, family scope extends to parents, and there is no permanent-residency or citizenship product behind it. Verified against the DLD and GDRFA service pages and u.ae; every claim below carries its source, access date and status.

The threshold

Qualification rests on a property reaching AED 2,000,000 on the DLD-certified value - about USD 544,588 at the 3.6725 peg. Mortgage and off-plan instalment purchases can count toward the threshold on the DLD-certified or recorded contract value; the payment method itself is not the test. Confirmed - DLD Golden Visa (Investor) service page, accessed July 2026.

One inconsistency worth naming: the federal u.ae portal still describes real estate golden visas generically - "5 years (real estate investments)... property ownership" - while the operative Dubai product is the DLD/GDRFA 10-year, AED 2,000,000 route. That is the route measured here.

What it costs

The true, itemized government-fee total for a single applicant buying at the AED 2,000,000 threshold:

Family add-on: each sponsored family member or parent costs the same, AED 5,774.50, plus a one-off family file opening fee of AED 318.75. Confirmed. Applicant plus spouse plus two children brings the total to AED 112,307.00. A mortgage variant adds 0.25% of the loan plus fixed fees of AED 270-290. Confirmed. Renewal at year 10 is AED 9,519.75 (DLD Cube quote); there is no published annual holding fee and no personal income tax. Confirmed.

Round trip: the UAE levies no exit tax, no capital gains tax and no seller-side government transfer charge on exit - the 4% transfer fee attaches to the transaction, and by prevailing market convention the buyer pays it. Government round-trip cost therefore equals the entry-side total above. The trustee-office and title-deed lines (AED 4,780 combined) are industry-standard figures corroborated only by broker guides, not verified against a live DLD primary fee page in this pass - flagged below.

Time to permit

DLD 7-10 business days plus GDRFA around 5 working days, under the platforms unified on 16 April 2026 (MoU signed 11 April 2026). DLD verifies the property and its value; GDRFA Dubai then processes and issues the residence. The stated target is around 5 working days for the GDRFA leg, down from a previous 3-6 week combined timeline before unification. Confirmed - IMI Daily, 21 April 2026, plus DLD and GDRFA service pages (accessed July 2026).

Family

Spouse, children and parents are sponsorable, each at AED 5,774.50 - the same fee whether the dependant is a family member or a parent - plus the AED 318.75 family file opening fee. Dependants ride on the same 10-year term as the principal applicant. Confirmed - DLD investor fee schedule; u.ae: "the ability to sponsor family members, including spouses and children" (accessed 2026-07-15).

Presence

No minimum stay. Golden Visa holders are exempt from the standard rule that a UAE residence visa lapses after more than six months spent outside the country - "the ability to stay outside the UAE for more than the usual period of six months needed to keep their residence visa valid," per u.ae. Confirmed (accessed 2026-07-15).

Term and permanence

The permit runs 10 years and is renewable, with a renewal fee of AED 9,519.75 at year 10 (DLD Cube quote). The qualifying property must be maintained and the holder must carry valid UAE health insurance. Confirmed. There is no path to citizenship through this route, and no permanent-residency product exists: the ICP (Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security) states there is "currently no system in place for lifetime Golden Visas in the UAE." Reported - Gulf News, 9 July 2025 (accessed 2026-07-15).

Rule stability: no threshold change since 2022

Four material changes 2024-2026, none of which raised the AED 2,000,000 threshold: a payment-condition removal (2024), its restatement (2026), a processing-authority unification (2026), and a lower-tier (Taskeen) threshold removal (2026) on an adjacent product. One live intra-government inconsistency remains open: DLD's own service page still asks for a bank letter "indicating 2 million AED paid amount" alongside the bank NOC, while press-reported policy since January 2024 (restated February 2026) says no minimum paid amount applies. Unresolved The threshold itself has been stable since the AED 2,000,000 standardization in April 2022 (pre-window baseline, not re-verified in this pass).

Change log: April 2022, federal Cabinet decision standardizes the property golden visa at AED 2,000,000 and 10 years. January 2024, removal of the AED 1,000,000 / 50% minimum down-payment condition for mortgaged property first reported Reported - Sovereign Group. February 2026, a policy circular restates that qualification rests on the DLD-certified value reaching AED 2,000,000, and that "AED 1 million paid upfront" and "50% equity" interpretations do not apply; no issuer or instrument number is publicly verifiable Reported. 11/16 April 2026, the DLD-GDRFA platforms unify into one GDRFA-operated channel covering the 2-year Taskeen, 5-year retirement and 10-year Golden routes, targeting around 5 working days Effective. 29 April 2026, the adjacent Taskeen 2-year investor visa drops its AED 750,000 minimum for sole owners (co-owners need AED 400,000 share each) Reported - Khaleej Times and Gulf News, 29 April 2026.

Nationality access

No published nationality restrictions: u.ae states eligibility categories only and, per its text, "makes no mention of nationality restrictions." Confirmed by absence (accessed 2026-07-15). The ICP publicly denied, on 8 July 2025, press reports that the UAE grants "lifetime Golden Visas to select nationalities" - a claim traced to a consultancy marketing a nationality-specific lifetime visa to Indian and Bangladeshi nationals. ICP: "all Golden Visa applications are processed exclusively through official government channels." Reported - Gulf News (accessed 2026-07-15).

Unofficial reports circulate of tightened general visa processing for some nationalities (including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Libya, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen), but these are not officially confirmed, relate mainly to other visa categories, and per the same reporting "residence visas, Golden Visas, and family visas are generally less affected." Reported, weak (visa-agency sources only). Not entered as restrictions.