Dubai Desk Golden Visa
10-year residency
Residency your employer cannot take away.
The UAE Golden Visa gives you, your spouse and your dependants a 10-year renewable residency, sponsored by property rather than a company. The threshold is AED 2,000,000 — and it does not have to be one building.
The strategy
One expensive apartment is the obvious answer. It is rarely the right one.
Most buyers reach AED 2,000,000 by purchasing a single central apartment yielding around 5.5%. It clears the threshold, and it concentrates every risk you have — one tenant, one district, one vacancy, one building’s service charge — into a single position.
Spread the same capital across three assets in three growth corridors and the arithmetic changes shape entirely: three rent streams, three tenant pools, a blended yield in the eights, and a portfolio where one empty month is an inconvenience rather than an income gap.
There is one trap worth naming. A widely circulated example portfolio — AED 555,000 plus AED 666,000 plus AED 758,000 — totals AED 1,979,000, which is AED 21,000 below the threshold, not above it. Under-shooting the requirement by a rounding error is the most expensive small mistake in this entire process. The builder below counts properly.
10-year residency
The builder
The UAE Golden Visa is granted on a property investment of AED 2,000,000 — and it does not have to be one property. Combine two or three high-yield units, clear the threshold, and you hold residency for you, your spouse and your dependants while three separate rental streams pay you. Add units below and watch the threshold.
| Asset | Price | Gross yield | Units | Line total |
|---|
The Golden Visa property route is administered by the Dubai Land Department and the ICP. Requirements are verified at application; this tool models the investment threshold only and is not an immigration opinion.
Questions
Golden Visa questions
What exactly is the property Golden Visa?
A 10-year renewable UAE residence visa granted on the basis of property investment rather than employment. The headline requirement is property worth at least AED 2,000,000. Because it is sponsored by your asset rather than a company, it survives a job change or a career break — which is the real reason most people want it.
Does it cover my family?
Yes. The 10-year visa extends to your spouse and dependent children, and domestic staff can be sponsored under it as well. That family coverage is usually worth more to a Gulf-based buyer than the visa term itself.
Can I combine several properties to reach AED 2,000,000?
Yes — and it is usually the better play. Three units at AED 555,000, AED 666,000 and AED 800,000 give you the same threshold as one expensive apartment, but with three separate tenant pools, three rent streams, diversified vacancy risk and a materially higher blended yield. The builder on this page models exactly that.
Does off-plan property count, or does it have to be completed?
This is the question to get answered in writing before you buy, not after. Eligibility for the property route is assessed by the Dubai Land Department and the ICP against the title or interim registration at the time of application, and the treatment of off-plan and mortgaged property has specific conditions that change over time. Buy an asset that is worth owning on its own merits, and treat the visa as confirmed only when the authority confirms it.
Do I have to live in the UAE to keep it?
The 10-year visa is not lost by an extended absence in the way an ordinary residence visa is, which is precisely its attraction for someone who splits time between the Gulf and home. Confirm the current residency conditions at the point of application — rules in this area are updated periodically.
Is buying purely for the visa a good idea?
No. A visa is a benefit of a good asset, never a reason to buy a bad one. If the property does not stand up as an investment on yield, location and developer track record, the residency attached to it will not rescue it.
Next step
Let’s structure the portfolio properly.
Threshold, yield, handover dates and cash flow modelled together — then the units held while you decide.