How to get Dubai residency by buying property

Dubai offers two property routes to residency. The 10-year Golden Visa goes to owners of property worth AED 2,000,000 or more. It renews, covers your family and lets you spend long periods outside the UAE without losing status. The 2-year investor, or property-holder, visa covers qualifying purchases below the Golden Visa threshold and also renews while you own the property.

Either visa makes you a UAE resident. You can live in Dubai, open local bank accounts more easily, get an Emirates ID, register for utilities and sponsor family. The UAE does not ask you to renounce your nationality for these visas, and residency carries no personal income tax.

Both routes test the value of the property registered in your name at the Dubai Land Department (DLD), judged on the registered purchase price or an official valuation certificate. The threshold is set in dirhams, so a move in your home currency does not change it. Ready homes count, and so do off-plan homes from approved developers once the purchase is registered with the DLD.

For the Golden Visa you need AED 2,000,000, in one property or several combined. A federal policy update dated February 2026 retired the old rule that asked for AED 1M paid in cash or 50% equity in a mortgaged home: eligibility now rests on the total certified value, so a mortgaged home worth AED 2,000,000 can qualify once the bank's approval and any required no-objection certificates are in your file. With joint ownership, each applicant's own share should meet the threshold, so decide the ownership split when you buy.

For the 2-year investor visa, the minimum value and any payment conditions on a financed or off-plan purchase are set by the authorities and updated from time to time, so confirm the current figure with your brokerage or a licensed PRO before you commit.

Once you own a qualifying property, the application is administrative. You get your title deed, and a valuation certificate where required, then apply through the relevant UAE government channel. Many buyers let their brokerage or a licensed public relations officer (PRO) handle the paperwork.

You complete the medical fitness test, Emirates ID registration and biometrics in the UAE, and each takes a day or two. Your residency visa is then stamped or issued electronically, often within a few weeks of applying, and you can sponsor eligible family members on the same route.

Your budget decides most of this. With AED 2,000,000 or more to invest, the 10-year Golden Visa gives you a decade of residency, longer permitted absences and family sponsorship for the full term without frequent renewals. Buyers who want long-term roots, or who plan to keep Dubai as a second base while living mostly elsewhere, tend to choose it.

Below AED 2,000,000, the 2-year investor visa gives you the same core benefits (an Emirates ID, banking access and family sponsorship) on a shorter cycle. You renew it every two years, and you should avoid long continuous stays outside the UAE. If you expect to live in Dubai most of the year and your budget sits under the threshold, it does the job.

On top of the property price and purchase costs such as the 4% DLD transfer fee and agency fees, budget for visa charges: the application, medical test, Emirates ID and any PRO service fee. These come to a few thousand dirhams per applicant, so the total grows with each family member. Our Golden Visa cost guide itemises the fees for the 10-year route.

Your residency stays valid while you own the qualifying property and meet the renewal requirements. You renew the investor visa every two years and the Golden Visa on its 10-year cycle. If you sell, the residency tied to that property ends, so line up a replacement qualifying property before you complete the sale.

Residency through property gives you a base in a safe, well-connected global city with no property tax, no capital gains tax and no tax on rental income. You get local banking, schooling and healthcare, and somewhere to run a business, spend part of the year or move the family, all while keeping your original nationality.

Add rental yields commonly in the 6-9% range and a currency pegged to the US dollar, and the purchase works as both a home and an investment. For families, the Golden Visa adds long-term security and the freedom to come and go as plans change.