Real estate investment is one of the routes on the UAE Government’s published golden visa list, but the detailed conditions are not national. They are set by the authority in the emirate where your property is registered, and Dubai’s test and Abu Dhabi’s test are genuinely different documents. In Dubai, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs grants a 10-year renewable visa on an investment of AED 2 million in property. In Abu Dhabi, the Residents Office grants a 10-year renewable visa on an investment of AED 2 million.
If you qualify on the property route, our UAE visa services team can handle the application alongside the land department paperwork.
The headline figure is the same in both. Almost everything underneath it is not. This page sets out each emirate’s position separately, because merging them is how applicants end up buying the wrong asset in the wrong place.
Who sets the rules, the UAE or the emirate?
The route itself is federal. Real estate investors appear on the official list of golden visa categories maintained by the UAE Government, alongside investors in public investments, entrepreneurs, specialised talent, scientists and outstanding professionals, outstanding students and graduates, and humanitarian pioneers — set out on the UAE Government’s published guide to golden visa routes.
Administration sits with the emirate. Your file is assessed by the authority where the property is registered, and that authority publishes its own conditions. A condition settled in one emirate may be unaddressed in the other, so the opening question is not how much, but which authority.
What does Dubai require?
GDRFA Dubai’s position is as follows.
- Investment amount. AED 2 million in property.
- Visa term. A 10-year renewable visa.
- Mortgaged property. A mortgaged property is acceptable, with a lien registered in favour of the lender.
- Retention. The property must not be disposed of for the duration.
Dubai accepts a mortgaged property provided the lender’s lien is properly registered — a meaningful accommodation, specific to how Dubai frames the test.
The retention condition is what applicants underestimate. The visa is tied to continued ownership of the qualifying asset, so a property bought to secure residence is not one you can trade out of opportunistically.
What does Abu Dhabi require?
The Abu Dhabi Residents Office frames the same route differently.
- Investment amount. AED 2 million in property.
- Visa term. A 10-year renewable visa.
- Off-plan property. Accepted, where AED 2 million has been paid to an approved developer.
- Mortgaged property. A mortgage is permitted only where your own capital contribution still reaches AED 2 million.
Read those last conditions together. Off-plan is expressly accommodated, but only on money actually paid to an approved developer — a signed contract and a deposit is not the same as AED 2 million paid. And where borrowing is involved, Abu Dhabi looks through the purchase price to what you contributed: your own capital must still reach AED 2 million, and a lender’s money does not count.
That is a stricter financing test than Dubai’s, alongside a more accommodating position on construction stage. Neither emirate is simply easier.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi compared
| Condition | Dubai (GDRFA Dubai) | Abu Dhabi (Residents Office) |
|---|---|---|
| Investment amount | AED 2 million in property | AED 2 million in property |
| Visa validity | 10 years, renewable | 10 years, renewable |
| Mortgage treatment | Mortgaged property acceptable, with a lien registered in favour of the lender | Permitted only where your own capital contribution still reaches AED 2 million |
| Off-plan property | No published position; confirm case by case | Accepted where AED 2 million has been paid to an approved developer |
| Disposal during the term | The property must not be disposed of for the duration | Confirm with the authority for your file |
Can I qualify with a mortgaged property, and does off-plan count?
On mortgages, the tests are not interchangeable: Dubai looks at the asset and the registered lien, Abu Dhabi at how much of the money is yours. The same purchase, funded the same way, can satisfy one and fail the other.
On off-plan, be precise about the limits of what is published. Abu Dhabi accepts off-plan property where AED 2 million has been paid to an approved developer. Dubai’s authority does not publish a position on off-plan for this route. That silence is neither permission nor refusal — the point is unresolved on the public record, and must be confirmed with the authority for your specific case before you commit funds.
You will nonetheless see off-plan described as acceptable across the UAE. The confirmed position concerns Abu Dhabi; anyone extending it to Dubai is extrapolating, and you carry the consequence. So: decide the emirate, confirm in writing how that authority treats your purchase, and only then exchange money.
What a property golden visa does not give you
It is a residence visa: long-term, renewable, granted without a national sponsor. That is a great deal, and it is also the whole of it.
- It is not citizenship, nor a step on a defined path to it.
- It is not a trade licence. If you intend to do business in the UAE you still need the appropriate licence for your activity, and a mainland business setup is a separate exercise from your residence.
- It is not unconditional. In Dubai it depends on your continuing to hold the qualifying property. Sell the asset and you remove the basis of your own status.
- It is not a substitute for qualifying elsewhere. If your real case is a business or a professional record, buying property to avoid assembling that evidence is an expensive detour. The golden visa for entrepreneurs and the golden visa for specialised talent exist for that reason.
Why so much of what you read about this route is wrong
This route attracts more misinformation than any other, because the people describing it most loudly are often selling the property rather than handling the visa. Some of it has been contradicted by the authorities directly.
A widely promoted claim that a lifetime golden visa could be secured for a modest one-off payment was publicly declared inaccurate and without legal basis, and the authorities signalled they would act against firms promoting it. Cryptocurrency does not qualify as investment under this route, whatever the holding is worth. And conditions confirmed for one emirate are routinely restated as national rules — the error this page exists to correct.
You will also see a UAE-wide validity period quoted for this route. We do not quote one, because the published sources do not agree and we will not pick whichever reads best. What we can give you is what each authority above publishes, which is what will be applied to your file. Where we cannot verify a figure we leave it out and say so.
Common questions
Does the AED 2 million have to be a single property?
Confirm this with the authority assessing your file before you buy. How the threshold may be met is part of the detail each emirate administers, and not a point to assume.
Can I sell the property once the visa is issued?
Not in Dubai, where the property must not be disposed of for the duration. The visa rests on continued ownership of the qualifying asset.
I am buying off-plan in Dubai. Does that qualify?
Dubai’s authority does not publish a position on off-plan for this route, so it cannot be assumed either way and must be confirmed before you commit. Off-plan is confirmed for Abu Dhabi, where AED 2 million has been paid to an approved developer.
Does buying property in any emirate work?
The conditions here are those published by the authorities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. If your property is registered elsewhere, a different authority assesses it, and you should have its current requirements confirmed rather than applying these.
Talk to us before you commit to a purchase
Property is the golden visa route where your money leaves your hands before the application is decided, which makes the order of operations unusually valuable. We will establish which authority assesses your file, confirm the conditions it currently applies to the purchase you have in mind, and tell you plainly whether your structure and financing satisfy them. If not, you will know before you sign rather than after. Arrange a consultation with our team and bring the details of the property you are considering.
This page sets out the position as at October 2026. Immigration rules change, and eligibility depends on your own circumstances — confirm the current requirements before you act.
