Dubai’s Land Department (DLD) has scrapped the AED 750,000 (approximately US$204,000) minimum property value requirement for sole owners applying for the emirate’s two-year property investor residence visa.
The update, published on the DLD’s Cube Centre platform on 29 April, also relaxed joint-ownership rules: each co-owner now needs a minimum share of AED 400,000 (approximately US$109,000), down from the previous requirement that every co-owner independently meet the AED 750,000 threshold.
No formal decree or gazette notice accompanied the change. Multiple immigration firms, including Fragomen and Erickson Immigration Group, have issued client advisories treating it as effective.
Not a Golden Visa
The two-year visa is a renewable residence permit tied to property ownership in Dubai. It sits well below the UAE Golden Visa in both duration and investment threshold; the ten-year Golden Visa still requires a minimum property purchase of AED 2 million (approximately US$545,000). At AED 1 million, the five-year retirement visa (restricted to applicants aged 55 and above) also retains its existing floor.
Jeremy Savory, CEO and founder of Savory & Partners, was blunt about the distinction. “It’s not a golden visa. It’s a two-year visa, the same as if you’d had a business here,” he observed. “There’s nothing golden about it.”
Propping Up the Lower Strata
Savory framed the policy as a demand-side intervention aimed at a specific price band under pressure. “This is an effort to cushion the downward pressure on property prices at a particular stratum in the real estate market,” he said. “It’s more for the low to mid-income bracket, because that is the market that has seen layoffs, specifically around real estate, tourism, and the indirect markets that operate around those two ecosystems.”
The change is one of several government measures since the Iran conflict and the Strait of Hormuz blockade disrupted trade, construction supply chains, and consumer confidence in the UAE earlier this year. “It’s one of a few measures that have been happening since the conflict started, where the government has taken a proactive approach to be on the front foot,” Savory noted.
High End Untouched, Commercial Pushing Up
Residency-linked real estate at the upper end of the market has seen no comparable policy shift. “In other parts of the market, in terms of residency through real estate, there hasn’t been any change across property owners in the high-end markets, across villa markets, and also commercial real estate markets,” Savory said.
Prices in the commercial segment have moved in the opposite direction. Supply-chain disruptions caused by the Hormuz blockade have driven up construction material costs, tightening an already undersupplied segment. “Commercial was already undersupplied,” Savory explained. “Prices have, incredibly enough, actually pushed up even higher.”
Application Requirements
Sole owners of completed properties registered with the DLD can now apply regardless of purchase price. Off-plan properties registered only under Oqood (the interim registration system for unfinished developments) do not qualify; a completed title deed is required.
Applicants with mortgaged or developer-financed properties must submit a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the bank or developer, along with a payment statement. Health insurance from any UAE provider is compulsory, as is a certificate of good conduct from Dubai Police.
Processing typically takes 10 to 15 working days, according to the DLD Cube Centre. Submissions go through the same platform.
Broader Administrative Overhaul
The threshold change lands weeks after Dubai’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) and the DLD signed a memorandum of understanding to merge three real estate-linked residency services (Golden Residency, Retiree Residency, and Property Residency) into a single administrative channel.
A separate federal policy circular in February removed the AED 1 million upfront cash requirement for Golden Visa applicants and confirmed that off-plan property qualifies based on total value recorded in title deeds or Oqood contracts.
Together, the reforms amount to a recalibration of Dubai’s property-linked residency architecture: lower barriers at the entry level, simplified administration across all tiers, and more flexible qualifying conditions for the Golden Visa’s real estate route. Whether the entry-level changes arrest the softening in low-end property demand will depend on how long the regional conflict persists and how quickly buyer sentiment recovers.
