The Golden Visa, explained: the property threshold, what qualifies, and what you get

The Golden Visa is the UAE’s long-term residence permit for property investors: a 10-year, renewable visa tied to a qualifying property investment. The threshold currently sits at AED 2,000,000, around HUF 166 million. That’s the short answer, and most listings stop right there.

The details are where the confusion lives: what counts toward the AED 2 million, whether a mortgage-financed purchase qualifies, whether several properties can be combined, and what the visa actually gives you beyond the headline. Here’s the whole picture, the way we walk our clients through it: numbers and pitfalls first, panorama second.

The short version:

• The threshold is a qualifying property investment of AED 2,000,000, roughly HUF 166 million.
• The permit runs 10 years, renews, and can extend to your family.
• A mortgage-financed purchase can qualify, depending on how it’s structured.
• You get residency. You don’t get citizenship, and tax residency is a separate question.

What is the Golden Visa?

The Golden Visa is the UAE’s long-term residence permit for property investors. It runs 10 years, it’s renewable, and it’s tied to an asset you own: your Dubai property. If your purchase clears the threshold, the application can run alongside the purchase itself, as part of the process rather than a separate project.

For some of our clients, Dubai is more than a line on a statement. They want a base the family can fly to anytime, or they’re planning longer stretches there over the next few years. For them, the Golden Visa is one of the most valuable byproducts of the purchase, and it often shapes the property search from day one.

It’s no accident the question comes up in almost every consultation. Dubai’s market closed 2025 with more than 168,000 transactions worth AED 425 billion, and for a good share of foreign buyers, the residence permit sits behind the math. We covered where the market itself stands in our 2026 Dubai property market analysis.

What property value qualifies, and what counts toward it?

The threshold is AED 2,000,000, around HUF 166 million. A Dubai property investment of that value, registered in your name, can qualify you for the 10-year residence permit. At a glance:

Question	Answer
Threshold	AED 2,000,000, roughly HUF 166 million
Duration	10 years, renewable
Who it can cover	You and your family
With a mortgage	Can qualify, depending on the structure
Citizenship	Not included

In Dubai’s investor districts, AED 2 million is a realistic entry point. Downtown apartments typically start between AED 1.5 and 3 million, Marina between 1.2 and 2.5 million, Palm Jumeirah apartments above 2.5 million. In JVC, by contrast, typical entry runs AED 0.35 to 0.7 million, so a single apartment there rarely clears the bar. The freehold zones open to foreign buyers (Dubai Marina, Downtown, Business Bay, Palm Jumeirah and others) cover most of the districts investors care about.

What exactly counts toward the threshold comes down to detail: in practice, the value on the title deed carries the weight, and on off-plan property, how much of the purchase price you’ve already paid matters too. That’s why we confirm eligibility for every purchase individually, before anyone builds a decision on the visa.

The full purchase process, including the 4% DLD transfer fee and every other cost, is laid out in our Dubai property buyer’s guide.

What does the Golden Visa give you, and what doesn’t it?

It gives you long-term residence in the UAE: 10 years, renewable, and your Dubai property can open the door to long-term residence for your family as well. The permit is tied to an asset you own, which means the basis of your residency is your own property, and you can rent it out, use it or run it as part of your portfolio in the meantime. Dubai also has no annual property tax and no capital gains tax on residential property, and apartments typically return 6 to 8% gross per year, so the asset your residency rests on keeps working.

In practice, spouses and children are the family members typically included in the application. We confirm the exact scope and conditions during preparation, because these rules do change over time.

The permit doesn’t require a local sponsor or employer, and it allows multiple entries, so you arrange your time in Dubai around your own calendar.

Two boundaries are worth seeing clearly. The Golden Visa is a residence permit, so a passport and citizenship don’t come with it. And tax residency is a separate question: holding the visa doesn’t rearrange your tax position by itself, that depends on your personal circumstances. We go through the Hungarian tax side together with your accountant; we don’t give tax advice.

“The Golden Visa is a valuable byproduct, but on its own it’s never the reason to buy. The property has to hold up in the numbers first, the visa comes after,” says Rozvany Christopher, co-founder of Nour Properties.

How do we handle the application alongside your purchase?

We run the whole thing in parallel with the purchase: we confirm whether your purchase qualifies, prepare the application, and submit it. You’re not chasing paperwork across time zones. In practice it looks like this:

1. Eligibility check at selection. Before you make an offer, we check whether the specific purchase clears the threshold, and if you’re financing, whether the structure supports an application.
2. Preparation in parallel with the transfer. While the Dubai Land Department registers the title in your name, we’re already assembling the application documents.
3. Submission and follow-through. We submit the application and stay on it until the permit is in your hands. One point of contact throughout: us.

A ready property typically closes in 4 to 6 weeks from accepted offer to title deed, and the visa application slots into that timeline.

Does a mortgage-financed purchase qualify for the Golden Visa?

It can, depending on how the financing is structured. A mortgage doesn’t rule you out on its own, but the details matter, so on financed purchases we plan the visa and the financing together, before the offer goes in.

As a non-resident, banks will typically finance 50 to 60% of the property value, so on an AED 2 million purchase you’re already planning for a 40 to 50% down payment. That matters for the visa too, because the structure decides when and how the permit can be applied for. Mortgage pre-approval takes 3 to 5 working days if you’re salaried and 7 to 10 if you’re self-employed, so you’ll see your financing frame clearly before you pick a property.

In practice, the documentation your bank issues can play a role, and so can how much of the purchase price came from your own funds. We clarify these before the purchase, because adjusting the structure afterwards is much harder.

Can you combine the value of several properties?

The honest answer: this comes down to detailed rules, and we confirm them against the current official requirements before any application goes in.

According to Dubai Land Department guidance, the threshold can be met with one or more properties held in the applicant’s name. Requirements can change, though, so we never build on this without checking right before submission.

If you’re weighing two smaller apartments against one larger one, raise that question at selection, not after the transfer, when it turns out the purchase should have been structured differently. Portfolio structure and the visa goal are connected, and planning them together costs less than fixing them later.

If the Golden Visa is part of your plan, say so at the first consultation: we look at the threshold, the financing and the application as one piece, and you’ll know exactly where you stand before you commit. The purchase itself, step by step, is in our Dubai property buyer’s guide, and the current state of the market is in our 2026 market analysis.

What investors ask us

What property value do I need for the Golden Visa?

The threshold is currently AED 2,000,000, roughly HUF 166 million. A qualifying Dubai property investment of that value can support an application for a 10-year, renewable UAE residence permit.

Does a mortgage-financed purchase qualify for the Golden Visa?

It can, depending on how the financing is structured. We confirm whether your specific purchase clears the threshold before you commit, and we handle the application as well.

Does the Golden Visa give me citizenship?

No. The Golden Visa is a residence permit. It runs 10 years and renews. Tax residency is a separate question that depends on your personal circumstances.

Does the Golden Visa cover my family?

A qualifying property investment can open long-term residence for you and your family. We confirm the exact scope of eligible family members when we prepare the application.

Does Nour handle the Golden Visa application?

Yes. We confirm eligibility, prepare the application and submit it in parallel with your purchase, then follow it through until the permit is issued.