Dubai Retirement Visa | A Complete Guide
What is retirement visa?
Retirement visas are a type of passive income visa that has been popular worldwide since the 1980s. Typically, they are issued to retirees who have sufficient retirement funds or stable income.
In general, global retirement visas have the following characteristics:
1. Applicant Qualifications: Typically, retirement visas require applicants to be retirees, reach a certain age, or have retirement funds.
2. Restrictions on Employment: Visa holders are usually not allowed to work locally.
3. Path to Permanent Residency: After residing in the destination country for a certain period, retirement visa holders can often apply for permanent residency or even citizenship.
If you’re interested in retirement visas or passive income visas, you might want to read our informative article: ‘Global Passive Income Visa | An Incomplete Guide‘.
Dubai Retirement Visa:
Dubai is one of the emirates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has its own independent visa policy.
Since 2018, Dubai has introduced a retirement visa program aimed at financially independent individuals. Currently, to apply for this program, applicants need to meet the following basic conditions:
1. Be in good health and have no criminal record.
2. Be at least 55 years old. If you are under 55 but have more than 15 years of work experience, you may still be eligible to apply for a retirement visa in other regions of the UAE.
3. Meet one of the following four financial options:
- Option 1: Have an annual income of at least 180,000 dirhams (approximately $50,000) or a monthly income of at least 15,000 dirhams.
- Option 2: Make a 3-year fixed deposit of 1 million dirhams (approximately $273,000) in Dubai.
- Option 3: Purchase real estate in Dubai worth more than 1 million dirhams.
- Option 4: Combine options 1, 2, and 3, with a total value exceeding 1 million dirhams.
Application Process:
The application process for the Dubai retirement visa can be divided into the following three steps:
1. Prepare Documents: The first step in applying for the Dubai retirement visa is to visit Dubai with a valid visa, fulfill the deposit or property purchase requirements, and gather all the necessary documents.
Required documents for this program include:
- Personal identification documents: This includes passports with more than six months of validity for both the primary and secondary applicants, a passport-sized photo, and relationship proof documents like birth certificates and marriage certificates.
If you are already a resident of the UAE, you also need to provide a copy of your current UAE ID and valid visa.
- Proof of investment or income.
- Proof of health insurance: You need to purchase local health insurance that covers each primary and secondary applicant annually.
- Medical examination report: You can complete the medical examination after your application is approved, before receiving the visa.
2. Submit the Application Offline: Different economic routes for the retirement visa determine different application methods. If you have made a deposit locally, you need to apply through the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA); if you have purchased property locally, you need to apply through the Dubai Land Department (DLD).
GDRFA applications can be submitted online, while DLD applications require you to visit their Dubai office in person.
3. Wait for Visa Approval: After paying a visa fee of 3,714.75 dirhams, you can wait for the notification of your visa approval. The entire processing time for the Dubai retirement visa is approximately 15 working days.
Dependents:
For the Dubai retirement visa, the main applicant’s spouse, boys under 18, and girls under 21 in the family can also reside locally as dependent applicants.
Visa Validity:
The Dubai retirement visa is valid for five years and can be continuously renewed under the original conditions upon expiration. Additionally, there is no minimum stay requirement for this visa; you only need to enter the UAE when renewing the visa.
In most cases, foreigners are only eligible to apply for citizenship in the UAE after legally residing there for 30 consecutive years and demonstrating proficiency in Arabic language and culture.