A 10-year UAE residence visa through property investment: the actual requirements, price thresholds, mortgage and off-plan pitfalls, explained step by step.
Archive · requirements verified as of 4 June 2026. This is a dated reference snapshot. Confirm current rules with GDRFA before applying.
Golden Visa was a principal reason many CIS investors entered Dubai real estate in 2026. It offered a renewable 10-year visa without a continuous-residence requirement and could cover a spouse, children of any age and parents.
Below is the property route step by step, including the issues seen in actual transactions.
Core requirements in 2026
- Minimum: AED 2,000,000 in property value — stated both on the Department's service card and on the federal portal.
- Term: two official sources say different things, and we do not smooth that over. The Land Department's card calls the visa ten years, renewable, for a property from AED 2,000,000. The federal portal u.ae, in the row "Investors (in public investments or real estate)", prints "10 years (public investments)" and "5 years (real estate investments)". We give both as printed; the term is decided by GDRFA, and the question is worth asking at submission.
- Family: spouse, children and parents under the principal holder's sponsorship.
- Residence: permanent residence in the UAE is not required. The stated minimum was entry once every six months to keep the visa active.
Qualifying properties
Potentially qualifying:
- Completed residential property worth at least AED 2M: apartment, villa or townhouse.
- Off-plan property from a DLD-licensed developer with at least 50% of instalments paid. A single payment had previously been sufficient, but the requirement tightened in 2024.
- Several properties with an aggregate value of AED 2M or more. Aggregation has been permitted since 2022; previously, one property was required.
Not qualifying under this route:
- Operator-managed hotel apartments. Some Address, Five and Atlantis hotel residences require case-specific confirmation.
- Commercial property, which has a separate investor-visa route.
- Property outside Dubai or the UAE.
Mortgages: the crucial detail
Since 2022, a mortgage-backed purchase could qualify for Golden Visa, but:
- The buyer's equity, excluding bank finance, had to be at least AED 2M.
- An AED 3M apartment with an AED 2M mortgage and AED 1M cash contribution did not qualify.
- An AED 4M apartment with an AED 2M mortgage and AED 2M cash contribution did qualify.
This was the most common misunderstanding. Buying a property for AED 2M did not automatically secure the visa; the buyer needed AED 2M of their own equity, not merely that total purchase price.
Step-by-step process
- Property selection and transaction: screening, DLD checks and legal review. 2–4 weeks.
- DLD registration: receive a Title Deed for completed property or Oqood/Initial Sale Contract for off-plan. 1–3 days.
- DLD Property Card: obtain the document required for the visa application. 2–5 days.
- Application: submit through the ICP portal, the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security, or DLD One Stop Service. Review takes 1–2 weeks.
- Medical examination and Emirates ID: 3–5 days.
- Golden Visa issuance: passport endorsement plus Emirates ID. 1–2 weeks.
Total: an average of 6–12 weeks from transaction to visa.
Procedure costs excluding the property
Corrected on 17 September 2026. The previous version of this section carried five approximate figures with no link to any primary source — hedged with "approximately", given as ranges, and one offered as a family total. Checking them against the Land Department's service card showed discrepancies of several times over, so the old figures have been withdrawn entirely and are not reproduced here even as a quotation: an uncheckable number in front of a reader is worse than no number. Below is what the Department prints line by line:
| Line | Amount | Where stated |
|---|---|---|
| Medical examination | AED 700 | DLD card |
| Emirates ID, 10 years | AED 1,153 | DLD card |
| Confirmation of residency permit, 10 years | AED 2,856.75 | DLD card |
| Dubai Land Department fees | AED 4,020 | DLD card |
| Administrative fees | AED 1,155 | DLD card |
| Total as stated by the Department | AED 9,884.75 | DLD card |
| Family member or parent, 10 years, each | AED 5,774.50 | DLD card |
| Sponsorship file opening | AED 318.75 | DLD card |
The old "family of four" estimate rested on nothing checkable. By the card, an applicant plus three is AED 9,884.75 + 3 × 5,774.50 + 318.75 — and the reader adds that up: the Department prints no such total.
The full breakdown of all three routes — two-year, five-year and ten-year — with their bills and thresholds now lives in a separate article, which also covers why the two-year visa costs more than the ten-year one.
Transaction pitfalls
- Off-plan with less than 50% paid. A buyer on a 20/80 payment plan who makes the first payment and applies can be refused. The paid amount must reach 50%, or the buyer must wait until handover.
- Joint ownership. If two owners hold 50% each in an AED 3M property, each owns AED 1.5M and does not qualify. Ownership must either be consolidated or each applicant must hold AED 2M+ in property.
- Purchase through an offshore company. Many jurisdictions, including BVI and Cayman, do not qualify. A personal purchase or a UAE company may be required; take advice before the transaction.
- Older property. For a unit more than 15 years old, a bank valuation may fall below AED 2M even if the agreed price is higher. ICP may then raise questions. An independent valuation is prudent.
Alternative Golden Visa routes
- AED 2M+ business investment in a UAE company, with a more complex KYC process.
- Highly skilled professional, for eligible roles with a minimum salary of AED 30K per month.
- Outstanding talent, including artists, scientists and athletes, through nomination.
Conclusion
- Exactly AED 2M: one completed property without a mortgage offers the clearest route.
- AED 2–4M: mortgage finance may be possible, but AED 2M+ cash equity remains essential.
- AED 1M plus a Golden Visa objective: the threshold has not yet been met.
If the purchase is being structured for Golden Visa, confirm the route before signing. Investors sometimes pay 20% on an off-plan purchase and only then ask when the visa will arrive; under the scenario described in the source article, they must reach 50% paid or wait two years for handover.
For a selection restricted to potentially qualifying properties, contact us on Telegram. Rules can change, so final eligibility should always be confirmed with GDRFA.
Sources
- Golden visa — The Official Platform of the UAE Government — states verbatim: "Minimum capital of AED 2 million" and a term of "5 years (real estate investments)". Applications are filed through ICP and GDRFA.
The AED 2 million threshold and the five-year term are checked against the official page; the specific structuring scenarios (mortgage, own-funds share, off-plan) are not set out there and are decided by GDRFA case by case.
