The Emirates continues to tweak its long-term residency regime, adding new eligible categories while media revisit the 5- to 10-year visa’s core benefits for expatriate families.
Lead & Context
The UAE has expanded Golden Visa eligibility, most recently confirming 10-year visas for nurses who have served at Dubai Health for over 15 years. The tweak underscores the program’s elasticity as authorities calibrate labor priorities and retention of skilled workers.
Program snapshot
Golden Visas typically offer 5–10 year residency for investors, entrepreneurs, exceptional professionals, and other categories, supporting family inclusion and freer labor mobility. Media explainers continue to summarize pathways and criteria for 2025 applicants.
Why it matters for wealth planners
For Asia-based families anchoring regional operations in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, the visa provides stability, schooling, and tax clarity (no personal income tax). For investors, real-estate and business routes remain predominant, though due-diligence expectations are rising with the market’s maturation.
Practical considerations
- Eligibility audit: Map your route (investment, skill, entrepreneurship) and confirm new points thresholds or sector lists.
- Document hygiene: Maintain notarized/certified financial records, source-of-funds trails, and employment contracts; banks and immigration both care.
- Renewal cadence: Track expiry windows early; visa holders often sync renewals with lease cycles and schooling terms.
Bottom line
The Emirates’ long-term residency policy is widening at the edges while staying selective at the core. Skilled professionals and capital owners remain central to the strategy.
Action for readers: If basing a family office or operating entity in the UAE, run parallel tracks for visa and banking—eligibility proofs often overlap, saving weeks.