Visas & immigration
Golden Visa through public investment
AED 2 million into an accredited UAE investment fund, or demonstrably held as your own capital, earns the ten-year Golden Visa — the longest term the scheme grants, and a different test from the property route.
What it is
Who this is actually for.
The public investment category is the one that carries a ten-year residence rather than five. It is satisfied either by depositing at least AED 2 million into an investment fund accredited in the UAE, or by evidencing that capital of not less than AED 2 million is personally owned by you and is not borrowed. The distinction from the property route is not the amount but the nature of the commitment: property is an asset the state can see on its own register, whereas invested or held capital has to be evidenced to a standard closer to what a bank would ask, with letters from the fund or the institution and a clean account of where the money came from.
Because the evidential burden is higher, this route is slower and more often returned for further information than the property one — but it grants twice the term and does not tie you to an illiquid asset in a single market. For someone who wants UAE residence without a view on Dubai property prices, that is the whole argument. The capital does not have to sit idle: an accredited fund investment continues to be managed and can generate returns while it supports the residence. What it cannot do is be withdrawn and still support a renewal, and the authority is entitled to ask for a current statement at that point rather than the one that satisfied the original application.
The conditions, precisely
- Threshold
- AED 2,000,000
- Form
- Accredited UAE investment fund, or personally owned capital
- Borrowed funds
- Not accepted — the capital must be your own
- Duration
- 10 years, renewable
- Evidence
- Fund or institution letter, plus source-of-wealth documentation
- Family
- Spouse and children sponsored under the same file
How long it takes
The sequence
How it runs, in order.
- Choose the form of the investmentAn accredited fund is the cleaner evidential path because the fund issues a letter in a form the authority recognises. Personally held capital is accepted but attracts more questions.
- Assemble source of wealth firstHow the AED 2 million was earned, with documents: share sale agreements, property disposals, audited accounts, tax returns. This is the part that delays files, and it cannot be assembled quickly.
- Obtain the institution's letterConfirming the amount, that it is held in your name, and that it is not financed. A generic balance certificate is usually returned.
- File and respond quickly to queriesRequests for further information have short windows. A file that goes quiet for a fortnight is a file that gets closed rather than refused.
- Complete medical and Emirates IDThen the ten-year residence issues and family members can be added.
Related
Questions
It grants ten years rather than five and does not lock capital into one property market. It is slower and asks harder questions about source of wealth. Which is better depends on whether you wanted the property anyway.
No. The capital has to be personally owned and not financed, and the institution letter is expected to confirm that.
A plain deposit is generally treated under the personally-owned-capital limb rather than the fund limb, and attracts more scrutiny. An accredited fund investment is the more predictable route.
The same conditions are retested. If the investment has been withdrawn, the renewal is at risk, and there is no automatic conversion to another category.
One question
Who is going to sponsor this residence?
Then most of this is out of your hands and that is usually fine — the employer holds the quota, files the permit and carries the cost. What is worth checking before you sign is the job title going on the permit, because it decides your skill classification, and that in turn decides whether you can sponsor a family later.
How the employment route runsOr just ask usThen the visa and the company are one decision. Quota comes from the licence and the premises, so a package chosen on price can quietly cap you at one or two visas — which is discovered at the point you want to bring your spouse or your first hire.
Compare the 40 authoritiesOr just ask usThen you are looking at the Golden Visa, the Green Visa, or the remote work permit, and they are not interchangeable. The Green Visa needs a freelance permit and an income history; the Golden Visa needs an asset, an endorsement or a nomination; the remote work permit needs a foreign employer and lasts a year.
The three self-sponsored routesOr just ask us