Moving to Dubai: What the Move Involves for Entrepreneurs and Investors

Why some entrepreneurs are moving back to Dubai

Rafael Cintron, who founded Wealthy Expat, says in the video that many entrepreneurs and investors left the UAE when the conflict in the region began in early 2026. What he sees now is more of them renewing their residence permits and coming back; only a small share cancelled their permits and moved away for good.

Some did: Rafael mentions people who went home or moved to Greece or Thailand. For many he advises, though, the UAE stays the obvious choice: no income tax on individuals, a developed city full of founders and investors, and residence routes built around property, capital or a company.

The UK government’s travel advice for the UAE (opens in a new tab), updated on 27 October 2026, still says the context in the Middle East remains deeply unpredictable, so read your own government’s current advice before you move.

A residence permit does not make you tax resident

The point Rafael presses hardest is the one people most often get wrong. A Golden Visa, a two-year investor permit or any other residence card settles whether you may live in the UAE; it does not by itself make you tax resident there, as the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) states in its tax residency guide (opens in a new tab).

Under Cabinet Decision 85 of 2022 (opens in a new tab), you are tax resident with at least 183 days in the UAE within 12 consecutive months; with at least 90 days, a valid residence permit (or UAE or GCC nationality) and a permanent place of residence, a job or a business there; or when your usual home and the centre of your financial and personal interests are both in the UAE. To prove UAE residence to another country under a tax treaty, you need a UAE tax residency certificate, which follows that treaty’s residence conditions: check the treaty and the FTA’s current requirements before relying on a stay shorter than 183 days.

The country you leave has its own rules: it may still treat you as its tax resident, and the IRS (opens in a new tab) taxes US citizens on their worldwide income wherever they live. Be wary of anyone who says a few weeks in Dubai end your tax at home. This article is general information, not tax or legal advice: take advice in each country involved.

Which residence permit fits your move

Rafael sees many people move from two-year permits to the 10-year Golden Visa. For a move to Dubai, the main routes are:

• Two-year property permit. In Dubai, a property owner can apply whatever the property’s value; where a property is jointly owned, each co-owner’s share must be worth at least AED 400,000.
• Golden Visa through investment. At least AED 2,000,000 in property, in a deposit with an investment fund or a national bank, or as a fully owned share of a company’s capital; or a company paying at least AED 250,000 a year in federal taxes. It lasts 10 years and can be renewed on the same conditions.
• Golden Visa through nomination. Entrepreneurs, specialised talents and the other eligible categories qualify on their profile, each under its own criteria.

The two permits differ most on time abroad: Golden Visa holders may stay outside the UAE for longer than the six months that usually keep a residence visa valid, the UAE government portal (opens in a new tab) says. That is an immigration rule only; days abroad still count against tax residence. Our guide to UAE residency by investment compares the routes in more detail.

Moving your business: corporate tax and Small Business Relief

The UAE does not levy income tax on individuals (opens in a new tab), the government portal states. Businesses pay corporate tax (opens in a new tab) at 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it. An individual trading in their own name, not through a company, comes within corporate tax once that business’s turnover exceeds AED 1 million in a calendar year; wages and qualifying personal investment income stay outside it (see UAE corporate tax for individuals).

Smaller companies may pay none. Under UAE Small Business Relief, an eligible resident business with revenue of AED 3 million or less, in the current and every previous relevant tax period, can elect for each period to pay no corporate tax on that period’s income. The Ministry of Finance announced on 7 August 2026 (opens in a new tab) that the relief now covers tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029; Rafael counts it among the reasons businesses are moving to the UAE.

Qualifying Free Zone Persons and members of large multinational groups cannot elect, a loss made in an elected period cannot be carried forward, and the company still registers and files a return.

Living in Dubai: who it suits

Tax is rarely the whole decision. Some of Rafael’s clients tell him what they value is a building with a café, a restaurant, a gym and their apartment under one roof, so they can work ten hours a day without going anywhere. If that is the season you are in, he says, Dubai suits it well.

Rafael himself hikes every few days and wants mountains and forest nearby, so Dubai no longer suits him as a home, though it still works for him financially and for his business. Some people he advises also find its social life too transactional. Spend real time there before you sign a long lease or buy.

Dubai as one part of a wider plan

You may not need to move at all. Rafael describes clients who spend two days a year in the UAE and keep a bank account, a company and sometimes a driving licence there, while they live and school their children elsewhere. That is a business and banking base, not tax residence: the country where you live keeps its claim to tax you, and a company run from abroad needs advice on where it is taxed. When a bank asks for your tax residence, declare every country where you are actually tax resident: a UAE permit or account does not change that, and under the common reporting standard the account is reported to those countries.

His approach is to use each country for what it does well: one for a home, one for a company, another for citizenship. Decide which job you want the UAE to do; our strategy assessment then sets the routes that fit you side by side.