Minimum Property Investment for a UAE Golden Visa

The starting condition is straightforward: DLD's Golden Visa investor e-service requires a property purchase value "equal to or more than 2 million AED at the time of purchase" - the recorded purchase value, not a later market valuation. The property must also be registered to the applicant personally: DLD's wording requires it be "wholly owned by the investor... under the name of the applicant," which as worded does not appear to accommodate property held through a company structure, a common approach for larger commercial holdings.

GDRFA Dubai's own description broadens the picture in one respect: it refers to "all types of properties" qualifying, without the explicit residential restriction some secondary commentary assumes. Whether commercial units - offices, retail space, warehouses - qualify on exactly the same footing as residential apartments and villas is not clearly and consistently addressed across DLD's and GDRFA's own published pages; industry sources are split between describing commercial units in designated freehold zones as eligible and describing the route as residential-only. Given the capital involved, get this confirmed in writing from DLD or GDRFA before relying on a commercial purchase to meet the threshold.

Off-plan eligibility is confirmed at federal level. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism's own published conditions state that an investor may qualify by purchasing "one or more real estate units on the map with a total value of at least AED 2,000,000, provided that the purchase is made from local companies approved by the competent local authority" - in other words, off-plan units bought from an approved developer count toward the threshold, in principle, at the federal level.

More care is needed around a widely reported change specific to Dubai. Multiple industry and immigration-advisory sources describe a DLD/GDRFA policy update, commonly dated to on or around 20 February 2026, which removed a previous requirement that an off-plan or mortgaged buyer must have already paid at least 50% of the price (or AED 1 million, whichever applied) before applying. Under the revised approach these sources describe, the full Oqood-registered purchase price counts toward the AED 2 million threshold from registration, regardless of how much has actually been paid, provided the bank or developer confirms this in writing.

The underlying circular does not appear on a primary DLD or GDRFA page; the pattern comes from consistent industry reporting describing it. Notably, the Ministry of Economy and Tourism's own federal conditions, as published, do not mention any payment-percentage threshold for off-plan units at all - consistent with the 50%-paid condition having been a Dubai-specific implementing practice rather than a federal rule, though that reading is not certain. An off-plan buyer should confirm exactly what proportion of the price DLD currently expects to have been paid directly with DLD, rather than relying on a developer's sales materials.

Contrast this with the separate 2-year property investor visa, covered in our comparison of UAE residency-by-investment routes: that shorter-term product requires a completed, DLD-registered title, and off-plan property does not qualify for it under any circumstance. The off-plan allowance above is specific to the 10-year Golden Visa route.

Yes, according to three separate official sources - though with a fourth official source stating the opposite, which this guide is not going to paper over. DLD's own e-service states plainly: "the property may be mortgaged, and a no-objection bank letter to be submitted indicating that the bank does not object to issuing a residence permit on the property, indicating the paid amount and the balance." GDRFA Dubai separately describes mortgaged properties as "acceptable" for this visa category. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism's own conditions permit financing "provided that the loan is from a local bank determined by the competent local authority" - implying the lender must be on an approved list, not simply any bank.

Set against all three of those is a separate ICP description of the same Golden Residency real estate route, which states that qualifying property must be held "without loans." That statement is not easily reconciled with the DLD, GDRFA and Ministry of Economy and Tourism positions described above. An investor planning to use a mortgaged property should not assume financing is automatically acceptable; get written confirmation of the bank's approved status and required documentation before relying on a leveraged purchase.

Yes - one of the more clearly confirmed points in this guide. GDRFA Dubai's service description bases eligibility on "a property or a group of properties with a total value of no less than AED 2 million," allowing an investor to combine, for example, two AED 1 million apartments, rather than needing one property that independently clears the threshold.

Two related details are less clear from DLD's and GDRFA's own published pages. First, whether a jointly owned property is assessed on its full value or only on the applicant's registered share when combined with other holdings - GDRFA's wording allows joint ownership "if the share value" meets the minimum, but does not spell out how a partial share interacts with the combination rule. Second, whether off-plan and completed units can be combined within the same total, since sources address each property type's eligibility individually rather than confirming how a mixed portfolio is aggregated. Get any such combination confirmed in writing by DLD or GDRFA before relying on it.

DLD's Golden Visa investor e-service describes a four-stage process: a service-centre visit, document submission with payment, a medical examination, and permit issuance by email, typically within 7-10 business days. Core documents are the applicant's passport, an e-Certificate of Title or physical title deed, a personal photograph, a UAE Emirates ID if one already exists, and a copy of any current residence permit. Where the property is mortgaged, DLD requires the bank no-objection letter described above. Sponsoring family members requires marriage and birth certificates, health insurance policies, and IBAN details for each dependant.

A separate federal ICP e-service, titled "Entry Permit Issuance for Real Estate Investor Residency," covers what appears to be an earlier stage of the same journey: the entry permit that precedes in-country processing of the full Golden Residency and Emirates ID. It lists a shorter document set - passport, personal photo, and a letter from the Real Estate Registration Department (DLD) confirming ownership worth at least AED 2,000,000 - with a stated processing time of 2 days. Expect to work through both a federal (ICP) stage and an emirate-level (GDRFA/DLD) stage rather than one unified application, and confirm the current sequencing with whichever channel is used, since terminology varies between DLD's, GDRFA's and ICP's own published pages.

Costs are published inconsistently depending on which stage or channel is quoted. DLD's own e-service lists total fees of approximately AED 9,884.75 for the primary applicant's 10-year permit, broken down as roughly AED 700 for the medical examination, AED 1,153 for the Emirates ID, AED 2,856.75 for residency confirmation, AED 4,020 in department fees, and AED 1,155 in administrative fees. Sponsoring an additional family member adds approximately AED 5,774.50 per person. Separately, the ICP entry-permit e-service referenced above lists a much smaller total of AED 300, covering only its own specific stage. This guide treats the DLD and ICP figures as sequential components of one process rather than competing totals, though the fully combined, end-to-end cost is not independently confirmed; request an itemised quote from DLD or GDRFA before budgeting.

On valuation, DLD's wording is specific: eligibility is assessed against the price "at the time of purchase" - the price on the title deed, not a subsequent independent appraisal or current market estimate. That matters for an investor whose property has appreciated since purchase but whose title deed records a lower original price: the recorded purchase price, not today's estimated value, appears to be the operative figure.

The Ministry of Economy and Tourism describes the Golden Visa as "a long-term residence visa renewed every ten years depending on the visa category and upon meeting the eligibility criteria" - renewal is not automatic; the AED 2 million property condition must still be satisfied when the term comes up for renewal. GDRFA Dubai adds a point that applies during the term, not just at renewal: the property cannot be "disposed of" during the 10-year validity period, with a lien placed on the title to enforce this. Read together, selling the qualifying property mid-term looks like a risk to the visa's ongoing validity, not simply a question that resurfaces at the 10-year renewal point.

What happens if an investor sells a qualifying property and immediately reinvests in a replacement of equal or greater value is not addressed in published guidance - whether that substitution is permitted without a gap in eligibility, or triggers a fresh application regardless. Confirm this directly with GDRFA or DLD before any sale of a Golden Visa-linked property is agreed.

Four items above reflect a genuine conflict between official sources, or a claim not independently confirmed - each worth checking directly with DLD, GDRFA or ICP before relying on it for a real application:

1. Mortgage eligibility - acceptable with a bank no-objection letter per DLD, GDRFA and the Ministry of Economy and Tourism; "without loans" per ICP.
2. The February 2026 off-plan payment-threshold change - consistent industry reporting, but no primary DLD or GDRFA circular located.
3. Residential versus commercial eligibility - not explicitly settled either way by the primary pages reviewed.
4. Combined and jointly owned property calculations - permitted in principle, but the mechanics of partial shares or mixed off-plan/completed holdings are not fully detailed.

None of these should be read as this guide taking a position - they are open questions because a single confident answer would not serve an investor, where the government sources themselves disagree.