Before you buy · Residence

Getting a Golden Visa through Dubai property

Property in Dubai worth AED 2 million or more can get you and your family a ten-year UAE residence permit, the Golden Visa. Off-plan and mortgaged property can count, but Dubai’s own official pages set different conditions, and the property is tied to the visa for ten years. Here is what counts, what it costs, what it does for your taxes, and what to ask before you sign.

Oston Real Estate · Last reviewed 5 October 2026

We are a Dubai brokerage, and brokers earn when people buy. A visa is a reason to buy that is easy to oversell, so this page sticks to what the authorities that issue the visa say, says where they disagree, and marks what the centres that take the applications say.

The short version

The safe case qualifies on every official page: a finished property in Dubai, bought for AED 2 million or more, without a mortgage, in your name alone. Several properties worth AED 2 million together count too. The visa runs for ten years, needs no sponsor, covers your spouse, your children and your parents, and stays valid if you spend more than six months outside the UAE.
Off-plan, mortgaged or shared property can count, but the official pages differ. The federal rules count off-plan units from an approved developer, and property bought with a loan from an approved bank, by their total value, and name no minimum paid. Two Dubai pages speak of AED 2 million paid. On the official pages, only GDRFA Dubai, which issues the permit, accepts a share of a property.
Get the answer in writing before you sign. Ask GDRFA Dubai or the centre where you will apply. If you get no written answer, plan as if the strictest page applies: the property in your name alone, and AED 2 million paid.
The property is tied to the visa. GDRFA Dubai’s terms require a block on the property, a lien, and its page says the property may not be sold or transferred during the ten years. If you may need to sell within ten years, expect to lose the visa when you do.
You can buy from abroad, but you apply in Dubai, in person. The DLD lists fees of AED 9,884.75 for you and AED 5,774.50 for each family member, for ten years: about AED 27,800 for a couple with two children. Health insurance comes on top, for all of you, for the whole period.
The Golden Visa is not a tax status. It does not end your tax residence at home. Under UAE law it can help make you tax resident in the UAE, but Germany and the US have no income tax treaty with the UAE through which that could reduce your tax at home.
Below AED 2 million, there is the two-year property investor visa, with no minimum value for the sole owner of a finished home since April 2026, and from 55 a five-year retiree visa from AED 1 million: see the other property visas.

What the Golden Visa is

A ten-year residence permit, without a sponsor. The Golden Visa, officially the Golden Residency, lets you live, work, study and invest in the UAE for ten years without an employer or a relative to sponsor you. It is a residence permit, not citizenship.

Renewal needs the conditions again. ICP’s guide speaks of “automatic renewal”, but the regulation renews the permit on the same conditions as when it was granted, and GDRFA Dubai says it “can be extended if the same conditions are met”. So in ten years you will need a qualifying property again. Meanwhile you must be able to support yourself and your family without government support, and keep health insurance for all of you.

What it gives your family. You can get residence permits for your spouse and your children, “regardless of their age”, and for your parents, and you can sponsor domestic workers. For sons and daughters over 18, the DLD asks for a written statement that they are not married. Their permits depend on yours: a dependant’s residence visa cannot run beyond the sponsor’s. Only if you die may the family members you sponsored stay until their own permits expire.

You do not have to live in the UAE. As a rule, other residence visas lapse if you stay outside the UAE for more than 180 days in a row. Golden Residence holders are “exempt from the 180-day residency law”, as GDRFA Dubai puts it. It adds that the residency is void only if it expires while you are outside the country, so be in the UAE when it is due for renewal.

What counts towards the AED 2 million

The federal rules are short (Cabinet Resolution No. 65 of 2022, annex on Golden Residence Permits, Article 8). You must own one or more properties in the UAE worth at least AED 2 million together, wholly yours. A property bought with a loan counts if the loan is from a local bank that the local authority approves. Off-plan units count if bought from a developer it approves. In Dubai, the details depend on whose page you read.

The regulation, ICP’s Golden Residency Guide (updated 10 September 2026), GDRFA Dubai’s and the DLD’s service pages, and Al Tarish’s page, read on 5 October 2026.
Your situation	What the official pages say
A finished property in your name alone, bought for AED 2 million or more, without a mortgage	Counts on every page.
Several properties in your name, worth AED 2 million together	Counts: “one or more properties” (ICP, DLD).
An off-plan unit worth AED 2 million or more	Counts under the federal rules, if the developer is approved (ICP). The DLD’s page asks for a title deed and does not mention off-plan.
Off-plan on a payment plan, with part of the price paid	The federal rules set the threshold on total value and name no minimum paid. Two Dubai pages speak of AED 2 million paid (see below).
A property bought with a mortgage	Counts under the federal rules if the bank is approved; GDRFA Dubai: “mortgaged property is acceptable”. The DLD asks for the bank’s letter with the amount paid and the balance; its summary says “2 million AED paid”.
Your share of a property you own with someone else	The federal rules, ICP and the DLD speak of property wholly owned by you. Of the official pages, only GDRFA Dubai counts a share, if it alone is worth AED 2 million; Al Tarish’s centre says the same. For couples, see below.
Bought for less than AED 2 million, worth more now	The DLD counts “the purchase value … at the time of purchase”. GDRFA Dubai “may” accept a valuation by an office the DLD licenses, and Al Tarish accepts a market value above AED 2 million with an official valuation certificate.
Commercial property	Probably: GDRFA Dubai’s page “includes all types of properties”, and no page excludes it.
A finished property and an off-plan unit together	Not settled: the federal rules list finished and off-plan property as separate conditions, and no page says whether they can be added together.
Property owned through a company	Ask first: ICP asks for property “registered in the investor’s name”.
An apartment in the DIFC	Ask first: Al Tarish, which runs the DLD’s Al Manara centre, writes that DIFC title deeds are not accepted there.

Two Dubai pages ask for AED 2 million paid. The DLD’s description of its Golden Visa service asks, for a mortgaged property, for “a bank letter indicating 2 million AED paid amount as a proof”; its terms on the same page ask only for the bank’s letter “indicating the paid amount and the balance”. GDRFA Dubai’s page on the visa for property owners says: “If at least 2 million Dirhams of the value of the property are paid, the owner is entitled to obtain golden residency”. GDRFA Dubai’s Golden Residence page names no amount paid. Of the centres the DLD lists, Al Tarish asks for the developer’s statement of account or the bank’s letter without naming an amount, and EGSH writes that no minimum need be paid.

What the difference means in money. Say you buy a finished flat for AED 2.5 million with a mortgage for half the price: you have paid AED 1.25 million. On the wording of the regulation, ICP and GDRFA Dubai’s Golden Residence page, the flat would qualify, if the bank is one the authority approves. On the DLD’s description and GDRFA Dubai’s page for property owners, which speak of AED 2 million paid, it would not. Off-plan, the gap can be wider: on a unit at AED 2.2 million with 20% paid at signing, you have paid AED 440,000.

What to do about it. If the visa is one of your reasons to buy, ask before you sign. Ask GDRFA Dubai, or the centre where you will apply, by email, so that you have the answer in writing; the DLD’s Golden Visa page lists email addresses for most of the centres. Send the price, how you will pay (cash, mortgage or payment plan, and how much you will have paid when you apply), whose name will be on the title deed, and for off-plan the developer and the project. If you get no written answer, plan as if the strictest page applies: the property in your name alone, AED 2 million paid, and for off-plan, the title deed at handover.

If you buy together with your spouse

The official pages and the centres disagree here too. The federal rules, ICP and the DLD speak of property wholly owned by the applicant. GDRFA Dubai counts a share only if the share alone is worth AED 2 million: on that wording, two halves of an AED 2.5 million flat qualify neither of you. Al Tarish, which runs the DLD’s Al Manara centre, also accepts a share worth AED 2 million, and adds a rule for married couples: if your property is worth less than AED 4 million, one of you applies and sponsors the other, and if your shares are unequal, it must be the one with the larger share. It asks for your marriage certificate, attested by the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and translated into Arabic.

The safe route is that one of you owns the property alone and sponsors the other. If you want to buy together, ask the centre in writing first. Whose name is on the title deed also decides who inherits the property, under Dubai’s rules: the guides for buyers from the UK, from the Netherlands and as a US citizen explain those rules and how a will registered in Dubai settles them (see also DIFC will in the glossary).

If you buy off-plan for the visa

Off-plan can qualify. Under the federal rules, off-plan units worth AED 2 million or more count if bought from an approved developer: ICP counts “one or more off-plan property units with a total value of at least AED 2,000,000”. The federal rules name no minimum paid, but two Dubai pages speak of AED 2 million paid (see What counts). On a payment plan, that decides whether you can apply soon after signing or only once you have paid AED 2 million; see Off-plan payment plans in Dubai.

Your purchase has to be registered first. The developer must register your contract in the DLD’s interim register within 90 days of signing, and the DLD then emails you a provisional registration certificate, often called “the Oqood” (see Oqood in the glossary). EGSH, one of the centres the DLD lists, writes that an off-plan applicant needs that certificate — “a sales contract alone is not sufficient” — and perhaps the developer’s statement of account.

Check the developer. The DLD publishes the list of developers “approved by the Land Department”. Check that yours is on it, and ask the centre whether that is the approval the visa needs.

The visa rests on a contract you must keep paying. If you stop paying and the developer ends the contract, the property your visa rests on is gone, and what the developer may keep depends on how far the building has got: see What can go wrong when you buy off-plan in Dubai.

A price just above AED 2 million needs care. The DLD counts the purchase price; GDRFA Dubai asks for the DLD’s property status statement and “may” accept a valuation. If the price is only just above AED 2 million, ask which value will be used, and if the developer offers a discount or cash back, ask what price will be registered. Compare the price with registered sales of similar homes, which the DLD publishes. The visa is worth something to you, but it does not make the home worth more.

The lien: your property is tied to the visa

GDRFA Dubai’s terms require a lien on the property, a block registered against it, “to ensure the continuity of ownership throughout the validity of the Golden Residency”. Its page adds that the “property may not be disposed of” during the ten years, and that the authority may take measures to make sure you still meet the conditions.

So the visa and a sale pull in opposite directions. If you may need to sell within ten years, or plan to resell an off-plan unit before handover, expect to lose the visa when you do. Ask GDRFA Dubai how the lien is lifted, and whether you can switch to another property that qualifies: its page does not say.

With a mortgage, the bank comes first. If you fall behind, the bank can start a forced sale after 30 days’ notice through a notary, and a judge orders a public auction (Law No. 14 of 2008). No page says how the lien affects that. Once the property is gone, so is the condition the visa rests on.

Letting it out, and falling prices. We found nothing in GDRFA Dubai’s or the DLD’s terms that stops you letting the property: the lien is about ownership. Nor did we find anything that ends a visa you hold if values fall; at renewal, the conditions apply again.

How you apply, and what it costs

You can buy from abroad, but not apply from abroad. A purchase can be signed for you through a power of attorney: the guides for buyers from Germany, from the UK, from the Netherlands and as a US citizen explain how. The visa cannot. The DLD says the applicant must be in the UAE and attend in person, with no companion and no representative, and Al Tarish writes that you may not travel while the application is processed.

If you are abroad, you need an entry visa first. ICP’s guide says Golden Residency applicants outside the UAE get a six-month multiple-entry visa, renewable once for six months. GDRFA Dubai issues property owners a visa for 60 days to complete their residence, for AED 200 plus VAT. Ask which applies to you.

Where you apply. GDRFA Dubai’s page sends property investors to the centres the Land Department accredits. The DLD lists its Al Manara centre (the Cube, run by Al Tarish), a Golden Visa office at Dubai World Trade Centre, Golden Cube, EGSH, Alyalayis and Gulf Vision. Under an agreement announced on 11 April 2026, the service is moving from the DLD into GDRFA Dubai’s system, to be handled “through a single channel”. No date for the switch has been published.

The steps and the time. At the centre you hand in the documents and pay, and you take the medical examination there; the residence permit is emailed to you, and the fees include your Emirates ID. The DLD asks for your passport, a photo and the title deed, and for a mortgaged property the bank’s letter. It gives 7 to 10 business days; GDRFA Dubai gives 5 days. For off-plan, add the up to 90 days the developer has to register your purchase.

Documents for your family. The DLD asks for certified marriage and birth certificates and, for parents, a dependency certificate from their consulate. Documents from abroad must go through attestation, the chain of certifications that ends with the UAE embassy and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs (see Attestation in the glossary), and be translated into Arabic. Start before you travel.

From the DLD’s Golden Visa page, read on 5 October 2026; it adds AED 100 for each sponsored person. On these figures, a couple with two children pays AED 27,827 for ten years, with one family file. Health insurance is not included. GDRFA Dubai lists its own fee items; ask for the total when you book. Al Tarish’s own price list gives AED 9,984.75 for the investor’s first permit and AED 9,519.75 for renewing it.
Fee (DLD, ten years)	AED
Medical examination	700
Emirates ID	1,153
Confirmation of the residence permit	2,856.75
Dubai Land Department fees	4,020
Administrative fees	1,155
Total for you, the investor	9,884.75
Each family member: spouse, child or parent	5,774.50
Opening a family sponsorship file	318.75

Health insurance, for everyone, for ten years. You and your family must keep comprehensive health insurance for the whole time the residence is valid. ICP’s entry permit asks for a “Valid Health Insurance Policy within the UAE”, and Al Tarish for insurance “from any insurance company in UAE”: ask before you count on an international policy.

The Golden Visa and your taxes

A residence permit is not a tax status. Under UAE law, you are tax resident in the UAE if one of these applies:

your usual or primary place of residence and the centre of your financial and personal interests are in the UAE;
you spend 183 days or more there within 12 consecutive months; or
you spend 90 days or more there within 12 consecutive months, hold a UAE residence permit, which a Golden Visa is, and have a permanent place of residence there, or work or run a business there.

A permanent place of residence need not be yours, but it must be “available to the natural person at all times”. So, on our reading, a flat let to a tenant does not count while it is let. The Federal Tax Authority issues a Tax Residency Certificate to those who qualify.

At home, nothing changes by itself. UAE tax residence does not end your tax residence at home. Germany has had no tax treaty with the UAE since the end of 2021, and the US has no income tax treaty with it, so for German residents and US citizens UAE tax residence does nothing against tax at home. Where there is a treaty, as with the UK and the Netherlands, it has its own test of who counts as resident in the UAE. Each country guide explains when tax at home ends: for Germany, the UK and the Netherlands; for US citizens, it does not end. Talk to your tax adviser before you count on a move.

Below AED 2 million: the other property visas

The DLD’s and GDRFA Dubai’s service pages, read on 5 October 2026.
Visa, and how long	What it needs
For comparison: the Golden Visa, 10 years	Property worth AED 2 million or more, in one property or several; health insurance for the whole period; a lien on the property (GDRFA Dubai).
The property investor visa, 2 years (the DLD’s “Investor Residence”, or Taskeen)	A finished home with a title deed, of any value if you own it alone. For a co-owner, the DLD asks for a share worth at least AED 400,000; GDRFA Dubai’s page says the property must be fully owned by the applicant. A good conduct certificate from Dubai; GDRFA Dubai also asks for a monthly income of AED 10,000, or proof that you can support yourself. Fees: AED 10,212.50 (DLD).
The retiree visa, 5 years	Aged 55 or over, with property worth AED 1 million or more; if it is mortgaged, AED 1 million paid (DLD). GDRFA Dubai’s page adds 15 years of work before retirement and, in its wording, a deposit of AED 1 million besides the property, where the regulation has the deposit as an alternative; or an income of AED 240,000 a year instead.

The two-year property investor visa. Since the end of April 2026, the DLD accepts a sole owner “regardless of the property value”; until then, the minimum was AED 750,000. It needs a finished home with a title deed, so an off-plan purchase does not qualify. On the DLD’s own lists, it costs more than the Golden Visa: AED 10,212.50 for two years, against AED 9,884.75 for ten. And if you live abroad, one more difference matters: unlike the Golden Visa, it is not expressly exempt from the rule that ends a residence visa after more than 180 days outside the UAE. The government portal u.ae lists “investors holding valid residence visas in the UAE” among the exceptions, without saying who that covers. Ask before you count on it.

Claims you will meet, checked

That the Golden Visa through property lasts five years. That is the overview table on u.ae: “5 years (real estate investments)”. ICP, GDRFA Dubai and the DLD say ten.
That a circular of 20 February 2026 removed any payment requirement. We found no published circular. The federal rules name no minimum paid anyway, but the DLD’s description and a GDRFA Dubai page still speak of AED 2 million paid.
That the lien is lifted once the visa is issued, or that you can sell and keep the visa. GDRFA Dubai’s page says the lien is there “throughout the validity of the Golden Residency” and that the property “may not be disposed of” during the ten years.
Fee totals far below the DLD’s. The DLD lists AED 9,884.75 for the investor alone, before health insurance.
That the two-year visa needs AED 750,000. Not since April 2026: the DLD now accepts a sole owner “regardless of the property value”. Its own FAQ still gives the old figure.
A five-year real estate residency for property “fully paid, not mortgaged”. That is in the DLD’s FAQ; its service pages offer two years, five years for retirees, and ten.

Before you buy for the visa: five checks

Have you asked, in writing, whether your property qualifies? Ask GDRFA Dubai or the centre where you will apply. Give the property, the price, how you will pay and how much you will have paid, and whose name will be on the title deed.
Off-plan: is the developer on the DLD’s list, and when will you have paid AED 2 million? If the strictest page applies, that is when you can apply.
Could you keep the property for ten years? The lien ties it to the visa.
Have you budgeted the trip, the fees and the insurance? You apply in Dubai, in person, and stay until it is done; there are fees for you and for each family member, and health insurance for all of you, for the whole period.
Have you asked your tax adviser at home? The visa changes nothing there by itself.

Questions and answers

Does off-plan property qualify for the Golden Visa in Dubai?

Under the federal rules, yes: off-plan units worth AED 2 million or more in total count if bought from an approved developer. But the Dubai Land Department’s page asks for a title deed and does not mention off-plan, and two Dubai pages speak of AED 2 million paid. Expect to show the DLD’s registration certificate, and get the centre’s answer in writing before you sign.

Do I need to have paid AED 2 million, or does a mortgage or payment plan count?

The federal rules set the threshold on the property’s total value and name no minimum paid, for off-plan units and for property bought with a loan from an approved bank. But the DLD’s description of its service and a GDRFA Dubai page speak of AED 2 million paid. Ask in writing before you sign; without an answer, plan on AED 2 million paid.

Can my spouse and I buy together and both get the Golden Visa?

Usually only one of you qualifies as the investor and sponsors the other. The federal rules speak of property wholly owned by the applicant; GDRFA Dubai counts a share only if it is worth AED 2 million alone. Al Tarish, which runs the DLD’s Al Manara centre, says one spouse can apply on a couple’s joint property worth less than AED 4 million. Ask in writing first.

Do I have to live in Dubai to keep the Golden Visa?

No. Golden Residence holders are exempt from the rule that ends a residence visa after more than 180 days outside the UAE. But be in the UAE when it is due for renewal: GDRFA Dubai says it is void if it expires while you are abroad. You and your family must keep health insurance throughout.

Can I sell the property while I hold the Golden Visa?

Not while the visa runs, on GDRFA Dubai’s terms: they require a lien on the property, and its page says the property may not be disposed of during the ten years. If you may need to sell, the visa is the wrong reason to buy that property. Ask GDRFA Dubai how the lien is lifted and whether you can switch to another property.

How much does a Golden Visa through property cost?

The DLD lists AED 9,884.75 for the investor and AED 5,774.50 for each family member, for ten years, plus AED 318.75 for a family file and AED 100 for each sponsored person. A couple with two children pays about AED 27,800. Health insurance for everyone comes on top, and you apply in Dubai, in person.

How long does it take to get the Golden Visa through property?

Once you hold the title deed, GDRFA Dubai gives 5 days and the DLD 7 to 10 business days, with a medical examination in Dubai; you must be in the UAE to apply. For off-plan, the developer has up to 90 days from signing to register your purchase with the DLD, and only then do you have a certificate to show.

Is there a property visa for less than AED 2 million?

Yes. Since April 2026, the sole owner of a finished home in Dubai of any value can apply for the DLD’s two-year property investor visa; on the DLD’s page, a co-owner needs a share worth at least AED 400,000. From 55, a five-year retiree visa is possible with property worth AED 1 million or more.

Does the Golden Visa make me tax resident in the UAE, or tax-free?

Not by itself. Under UAE law you are tax resident after 183 days or more in the UAE within 12 consecutive months, or after 90 days or more if you hold a residence permit such as the Golden Visa and have a home there always available to you, or work there. Tax at home follows your home country’s rules; Germany and the US have no income tax treaty with the UAE.

Does the Golden Visa lead to UAE citizenship?

No. The Golden Visa is a ten-year residence permit that can be renewed while you meet the conditions. It is not citizenship and does not give you a UAE passport.

Related guides

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Next step

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Send us the property or project, the price, how you will pay (cash, mortgage or payment plan) and whose name will be on the title deed. We tell you which of the five checks are open for your purchase, which documents the centre will ask for, and which questions to put to GDRFA Dubai in writing. If the visa is your main reason to buy and the property does not fit the rules, we will tell you.

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