Dubai Golden Visa 2025: Rules, Benefits & Guide

There has been a major update to the Golden Visa program here in Dubai, which is already the most popular Golden Visa program in the globe. I'm here today to share with you one of the biggest experts in the Golden Visa program to discuss what is happening. Stay tuned. So today I have Zeba Majia back on the Dubai Connect podcast. Zeba, I'd love you to introduce yourself and what you do because you've been one of the most significant and helpful experts in my group of associates at GG Benitez International for my clients. I've been an ex banker who worked at banks like HSBC and Emirates NBD for more than a decade. Three years back we started our firm which is into consultancy. What we essentially do is corporate incorporations, company formations, visas, golden visas, assistance with banking, tax and accountancy. So Zeba, before we get into the major update, the Golden Visa program in Dubai is already, as I stated at the intro, one of the most popular on the globe. In fact, there are many others that are shutting down, such as I have an office in Spain. They just announced the end of the Golden Visa program. Portugal ended it. For American clients especially, what I'm trying to share with them is it's okay because Dubai's Golden Visa program has so many benefits. May you please share what is the actual Golden Visa program in Dubai and what are the features and benefits? Sure. Firstly, the Golden Visa is a 10-year long visa, which gives you the ability to work, study, travel, and also sponsor your family members. It's a program wherein you don't have a limited number of days that you have to be in the country. So there is no particular number of days that you have to be there in a particular year. So it's very flexible and it's something which is really nice because you get it for 10 years and it's very cost effective as well. With regards to children, you can sponsor your children until what age? You can sponsor your children until 18 for sure, but above 18 also you can sponsor. You just require an undertaking from the parents stating that the child is not married or has never been married and then you can sponsor. What about their parents? You can even sponsor the parents, which is very nice because you want your parents beside you and you have the ability to do that with a golden visa. What I'm seeing a lot, Zeba, is American Indian and American Pakistani that live and work in the United States that they're wanting to participate in this because maybe their parents still live in India or Pakistan and they want to provide them with the opportunity to come and enjoy beautiful Dubai. Absolutely. Such a safe country, right? You want your parents to be again in an environment which is safe and because you mentioned the Indo Pacific subcontinent, Dubai is very accessible. The distance is hardly anything, from 2 hours to 3 and a half to 4 hours. I would say a few years ago Dubai really catered to mostly younger working individuals. But we're seeing now more families obviously that are moving here. Job growth is still very strong, so it is pulling the talented but we're also seeing it starting to cater to the aging community here in Dubai. Absolutely. In fact, you've got a very great point. So earlier when people used to work here, this was before COVID, right? When people used to work they used to send all their earnings back home and they used to build either a business for themselves or a house which they could use in retirement. Because at that point of time the employer gave you the visa. There was no concept whether you're a working professional or salaried, or you've bought a property which means you've done an investment, or you are genuinely talented, or you're a merit student, or you have a very flourishing business. It didn't matter. You had to still be on the 2-year visa. Once you finish your job you typically go back and retire in your home country. But now with this entire thing where no matter what your job is, even if you're retiring, you still can live and work here or just stay here. So that's a very big merit. And there are a record number of Americans and Canadians that are seeking that second passport, right? And so Dubai offers such an amazing opportunity for many reasons, like you said, the safety, the lifestyle, it's a top tourist destination. It's connected as you mentioned to the rest of the world. In fact, the Al Maktoum airport is going to be the largest airport in the world. Absolutely. It's going to be crazy. 270 to 290 million passengers a year. What are we even talking about? So imagine those people that can come through here and that have that visa. Now we'll go into obviously, since I'm a real estate broker and what my career is all about helping connect global real estate investors with real estate opportunities in Dubai, which my podcast is all about, the why to do that and the just the benefits of doing that. Let's talk specifically about the Golden Visa through investment. There's been a major update since the last time you sat with me. It was there were rumors about it happening, but I remember you said to me, Gigi, it's not black and white yet, and now it is. Please share that update with us. Like I've already described the golden visa, which is 10 years, and you get accessibility for your families. You can do whatever you want to do in terms of work, travel and study over here. When we speak specifically about golden visa from a property angle, right? Because you have investments that could either be in the bank but that's not going to really fetch you much return. You rather have it in a property. So I would like to dissect this on how you can achieve it. Right? The first rule is if you have a property which is 2 million or above it qualifies for a golden visa. The first dissection that I would do is in terms of whether it could be a ready property, right? Which is fully paid up. Secondly, it could be a property which is ready but it's on mortgage. In that case you just require a letter from the bank indicating that they have no objection for you to get a golden visa. Third, you can obtain it via an off-plan property as well, which means you need not have a certain amount specifically paid which was earlier the condition. It could be whatever the amount is as long as you have the Oqood you could achieve that. However, one must note that the golden visa is very specific to the particular emirate, which means you cannot combine a Dubai property and a Ras Al Khaimah property. The fifth category is what if I have a property which is not 2 million? Can I have multiple properties which qualify in that pool? Absolutely. And even the sixth parameter is that at the time of purchase maybe the property value was lesser but now obviously we've seen the markets have peaked and you know this better than me. If the markets have peaked and the property is valued more than 2 million, can you still qualify because you bought at 1.3? 100 percent, you can. Yeah, absolutely. So, for example, my clients who maybe have already purchased and they're just at that 1.8 or 0.9 and obviously we're speaking in Dirhams, by the way, for anyone who's watching from the United States, not US dollars. So it's 2 million Dirhams the value. But is that in black and white or is that a case by case basis? No, no, no. As long as that property has a good property and is at that fair price for that property and you get a valuation report basis, that it's perfect. So not just 1.8 or 1.9. It could even be a 1.4 or 1.5 which has jumped to 2 million, right. When you say it's a good property, I want to dissect that a little bit. So does the developer matter when it comes to the golden visa? No, no, no, okay. So then may you clarify what you mean by if it's a good property? As in it's a property which has appreciated because you have certain properties. For example, I had this case of a client. It was an off-plan property and it was around 1.64, 1.7, again a reputed developer. The construction was great. People that property was in demand. That property was valued even while being under construction at more than 2 million so it qualified. But something which is not reached a certain amount of construction or that area is not increased in their price potential has perhaps not qualified. It has not reached the 2 million mark. So then it's difficult in that case. Understood. So once they've secured it and my clients have been asking me this right now because I have had a record number since November. I don't know why, but we have so many people that are really looking for the golden visa opportunity through investment here in Dubai and they've been asking me, as soon as they purchase the property, okay now what? When do I get my golden visa? It's once you get the Oqood, which comes from the DLD, which is your pre-title deed, right? Correct. And then we come to you Zeba and then what? So there are so the documents are very simple and basic. It's your clear passport. If you've ever had an Emirates ID visa you give the Emirati visa copy, your passport size picture. We require the Oqood, which like you correctly mentioned is a pre-title deed. We also need the statement of accounts from the developer which is whatever amounts have been paid. That's just there on a piece of paper and that's good enough. Do they have to come here to get the golden visa? 100 percent. They have to come here. You have to at least come once and get it right. We want to welcome you. When they come here, what is the purpose? Is it because they have to be here to start the application or is it because of some medical exams or what is the purpose for them to come? Okay, we can do a pre-qualification before which means if the client is eligible or not we could let the client know immediately. After that when the client comes in, essentially we do their medicals, which is a blood test, a simple blood test, it's a chest X-ray and it's your thumbprint and fingerprint for your biometrics and that's about it. So they need to be here for doing those things. So another benefit is once the client obtains the golden visa, especially if their clients from the European continent or they're from the American side, they could just after they've obtained the golden visa, they could go and we could help them sort the driver's license or they can do it themselves, which is very simple. You do an RTA test and they could directly just convert their license. We call it convert. It's basically the license doesn't get converted but on the basis of that license they can get the UAE driver's license. So driver's license, medical, the access to medical insurance. Okay, then the other really big one especially for investors is the ability to open a bank account. Opening a bank account is easy provided you understand the parameters underlying it. What happens a lot of times is clients don't understand that I want to open a bank account but why are you asking me for my country statements, bank statements? Why do you want to know what I do in my country? Why are you asking me for either my company document or my salary certificate? GG, I'm just going to make it very simple. It's like if you have somebody who's come to your house and rings the bell, right? Are you just going to let that person come in? Definitely not. You would vet that person, right? You would know who that person is, what that person is coming from. You would do that and then you would let the person come in. Similarly, if you're getting your daughter married, you would vet the boy, right? Right, you vet the family. Now this is a bank account that we're talking about. Obviously, before banks onboard you, they need to know everything about your background, where you've earned the money from. So that's your source of funds, your source of investments, your source of wealth. They need to know all these things. Because if the bank doesn't do its due diligence, which the client might find irritating, but if the bank doesn't do this and if the bank just onboards the account, they could face huge AML fines on the bank and sometimes these fines almost eat up half the profit of the bank. Okay, so the banks are doing all their due diligence and their measures before they onboard a client. But does it become simpler then when someone gets the golden visa or is it the same process? So again, it's very bank-to-bank specific but 100 percent it's way easier because they've obtained residency so a lot of checks and clearance has been done by the immigration. Okay. But you always have to have your source of funds and your source of wealth already. I have seen a lot of brokers place out misinformation out there that just because someone has the golden visa that means that they can secure interest mortgage loans based on the interest rate of a resident but that's not the case. It has to be based on your income being UAE based, not just because you get a golden visa. Do you know that situation? Okay, so again this is very interesting question and of course it would be interesting for your clients to know this. So first of all, mortgage is only given when the property is ready. So if somebody buys an off-plan property because they have to make payment in certain stages and the balance on handover or post stated payment plan, whatever that is, so it's only once the property is ready. Right? You've obtained the golden visa via property. You've become a resident but still your earning is not in this country which means you have to resort to international earning, which is from the country you come from or wherever else you have your operations. So on that basis you can very well declare your income. They'd ask you for payments and they'd ask you for documents from where you've come, your country, or where you have your business or your work set up. In that case you qualify for a mortgage. It could be anywhere between 50 to 60 percent but 100 percent you can get it. Okay, going back to the golden visa. So we talked about the benefits, right? And that you can sponsor unmarried children, you sponsor your spouse. So when we're taking title on a house on an off-plan project, is there a difference then? Let's say it's a man buying it and he has his wife, he's going to get the golden visa and he's going to get to sponsor his wife. Does it matter if both of their names are on the title deed or not? Okay, so first of all, if a man is, I would just say husband in this case, the husband who has the property on his name, can he sponsor his wife? Yes. And can it be vice versa also? Yes. If the wife has the property on her name, she can also sponsor the husband and the kids. There is no difference. So it makes no difference? No, no, no. Is there a maximum amount then on one property? If let's say partners were to come in, let's say four or five, as long as it's 2 million per property, yeah? Yeah, then it's okay. Yeah, okay. Fantastic. And then they have to come here for the initial. Once they come, let's say we do the pre-qualification, you tell them yes. They get on a plane, they come out here. How many days should they plan on staying here for the process of initially setting up that golden visa? So they have to be here for at least 7 to 10 working days. Okay, however, we've seen scenarios and we've helped in certain scenarios to expedite the same. But as a generic guideline, 7 to 10 working days. Is there a deadline? So if somebody were to purchase an off-plan project today, but let's say they can't come to Dubai until next year, is there some sort of deadline before they can apply for the golden visa? Absolutely not. So I'm glad you've got this point out. UAE, as you're aware of, changed things overnight. We're making things for the better. So as of now as per immigration norms, there is no pre-requirement that you have to purchase it within a particular time frame. But you never know, right? So for, okay, so thank you. There isn't. However, what I do tell my clients is just like Spain surprised us with ending the program and we know the population is expanding significantly right now, there has to be a point where they cannot be so freely giving out these golden visas. So if we're purchasing the property, just try to come out. Anyways, who doesn't want to come to Dubai? Absolutely. So right now, honestly, if you speak about 2 million, it's so good because in dollar terms, it's less than $550,000, which is very affordable and it's good. Just take advantage of this offering. It's an incredibly good offering. It's the most popular Golden Visa program in the world. And for anybody who wants to look at one of our previous podcast episodes, there are actually two really good ones that we've done. One is all the other ways someone can get the golden visa aside from investment such as talent and PhD or different education. That's a whole other topic as well. And then there's another episode that we did just talk about setting up businesses because Zeba, your finance background and how you're helping our clients and your international clients to really structure and engineer how they want to set up corporations here because we have so many Fortune 500 companies that are now in record numbers setting up their headquarters here in Dubai. Absolutely. So you also are able to help individuals and businesses do that as well. And I am so honored that you took the time to come because you really have been one of the most instrumental and key people. For me I'm not just selling property, right? I'm not just a real estate agent. What my company is doing for our investors is helping build, manage their portfolios and all the benefits that come in addition to just making the money. Absolutely. Right. So with you having your finger on the pulse of what's going on with the Golden Visa and always knowing about the updates, you're a great resource and I thank you. Thank you so much. A pleasure for me. Thank you so much. Take care. Thank you. And so with that, I hope that you secured great knowledge about the golden visa. A lot of you are asking about it. If you have more questions, you can drop them in the comments or reach out to us and I'm happy to connect you to Zeba Majia. But until then, please make sure to like, subscribe, follow, and stay tuned for the next episode of the Dubai Connect podcast. Happy investing.