Update, 1 September 2026 — The DLD removed (April 2026) the AED 750,000 threshold conditioning the 2-year investor visa: the Taskeen route is now open to the sole owner of a completed freehold property with no minimum value; in joint ownership the AED 400,000 minimum share per co-investor remains, as does the requirement of a handed-over, titled property (off-plan qualifies only upon handover). The 10-year Golden Visa keeps its AED 2,000,000 threshold. Source: the DLD's official investor-visa service page, cited below.

Key points

  • The 10-year Golden Visa through property investment requires a purchase value of at least AED 2,000,000 at the time of acquisition — the threshold is read off the title deed, not a later appraisal.
  • Completed and off-plan properties both count; mortgaged assets are eligible. The Dubai Land Department (DLD) processes applications through its Taskeen desk.
  • In joint ownership, each co-investor must hold at least AED 400,000 for the 2-year investor visa; the 10-year visa keeps its own AED 2 million threshold per applicant.
  • The visa renews for as long as the asset condition holds: selling without replacing removes the basis of the residency.
  • Long residency changes nothing about holding taxation (no tax on an individual's rent) or designated-area ownership rules — both covered in our dedicated texts — holding and its tax, designated areas.

A right anchored to the registry, not to rhetoric

The regime's strength is verifiability: purchase value sits on the DLD registry, eligibility is assessed on documents, and the Taskeen desk centralises the chain — title, application, visa. No discretionary reading of "profile": a threshold, a deed, a file.

Off-plan, mortgaged: what counts and what does not

Two accommodations shape 2026 practice. Off-plan property counts at its contractual purchase value — the Oqood registration evidences it. Financed property counts at full purchase value, not merely the unencumbered share. Current market value, works and furnishings, by contrast, stay out of the computation: only the registered acquisition value is referenced.

What the visa does not do

The Golden Visa is a residency right, not a tax regime nor a land status. It does not widen the zones where a foreigner may hold freehold, exempts nothing that was not already exempt, and does not displace succession rules — the DIFC will remains the non-Muslim owner's planning tool, detailed in our dedicated text. That framework — zones, titles, registry — is the one our operations in the emirate work within.

General information, verified at publication date. Immigration conditions evolve: every situation calls for verification with the competent authorities.