How much does the UAE Golden Visa cost?

The investment is the price, the fees are the cost

The qualifying investment decides most of the budget; the government fees come on top. ICP’s Golden Residency guide and Cabinet Resolution No. 65 of 2022 set these thresholds:

• Property: real estate worth at least AED 2,000,000 in total. Off-plan property from an approved developer can qualify, and so can property financed by an approved local bank; in Dubai, the bank must then confirm the amount paid, and in Abu Dhabi the investor’s own capital in the property must be at least AED 2,000,000.
• Deposit or fund: at least AED 2,000,000 with an investment fund or a national bank. GDRFA Dubai does not permit withdrawal during the 10-year residency.
• Company: a fully owned share of at least AED 2,000,000 in a company’s capital, not financed by a loan.
• Tax: at least AED 250,000 a year in federal taxes, paid by the investor’s company or counted on the investor’s share.
• Specialised professionals: a salary of at least AED 30,000 a month.

Free-zone company setup costs are not a Golden Visa threshold; they belong to the company’s own budget. The comparison of UAE residency routes sets the routes side by side, the Dubai Golden Visa program page lists the documents, and Dubai residency covers the wider move.

Official fees per person, by channel

Each permit holder pays these lines: the investor and every sponsored spouse, child or parent. ICP, the federal authority, sets them; its channel is the one used outside Dubai. GDRFA Dubai publishes its own lines, used here for the deposit, company and tax routes; Dubai property buyers pay the package in the next section.

For one person already in the UAE, the federal lines add up to AED 2,800 before the medical test: AED 1,200 for the permit, AED 1,100 for the Emirates ID and AED 500 for the status change. ICP does not say whether the Emirates ID is charged as a separate smart transaction; if it is not, deduct AED 100. From abroad, the AED 1,200 entry visa replaces the status change: AED 3,500 per person.

Inside the UAE, that is AED 1,640 per person (1,100 + 10 + 10 + 500 + 20), or AED 2,740 with the AED 1,100 Emirates ID from ICP. GDRFA’s Golden cards also carry a note: “The issuance fee increases by AED100 annually whenever the residency is over two years.” GDRFA does not say whether it adds anything to a 10-year permit, which the federal schedule prices at AED 1,100 for the whole term. No total in this guide includes it.

Dubai property route: the Dubai Land Department package

For property in Dubai, the Dubai Land Department’s Golden Visa service charges the investor one package, listed line by line.

The medical test and the Emirates ID are inside the package, so they are not paid again. DLD lists a service time of 7 to 10 business days. The applicant must be in the UAE, and the property, one or more units, must be worth at least AED 2,000,000, wholly owned and in the applicant’s name.

Archived copies of the DLD page show a total of AED 9,684.75 in early April 2025 (opens in a new tab) and AED 9,884.75 by late June 2025 (opens in a new tab); between the two, the residency line rose from AED 2,656.75 to AED 2,856.75 and the family permit from AED 5,668.50 to AED 5,774.50.

Two points are open: whether DLD’s AED 4,020 covers the lien GDRFA requires on the property for the life of the permit, and whether VAT applies to any line. DLD’s two-year investor visa, which is not a Golden Visa, costs AED 10,212.50: more than the 10-year package.

Family members

A Golden Visa holder can sponsor a spouse, children regardless of age, and parents, each for a renewable 10-year permit (Cabinet Resolution No. 65 of 2022). Fees are charged for each sponsored person:

• Dubai property route: AED 5,774.50 per family member or parent, AED 318.75 to open the family sponsorship file, and AED 100 that DLD lists as “added for each sponsored person”.
• Federal lines: AED 2,800 per person inside the UAE, and the AED 200 sponsor file once.
• Medical test: adults only. EHS tests applicants aged 18 or over; GDRFA Dubai requires the test for family members over 18.

On the federal lines, with all four already in the UAE, the same family pays 4 × AED 2,800, plus 2 × AED 260 for the adults’ medical tests and AED 200 for the sponsor file: AED 11,920, plus two EHS service-centre fees.

Abu Dhabi and the other emirates

Outside Dubai, the federal ICP lines above are the published fees. For Abu Dhabi, the one official cost figure found is a range on the Department of Health’s Golden Visa page for healthcare professionals: AED 2,800 to AED 3,800 for applicants inside the UAE, and AED 3,800 to AED 4,800 for those outside, depending, DoH says, on the visa category and the type of service.

DoH does not itemise the range or say whether it is per person. The Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) sets out the criteria and documents for investors but publishes no fee; UAE residents apply for a nomination through the Abu Dhabi Residents Office. There, the medical test is taken at SEHA or DoH-approved centres, whose fee could not be found on an official page.

Renewal after 10 years

Renewal follows the standards and conditions of the first grant, after paying the prescribed fees and with ICP approval (Cabinet Resolution No. 65 of 2022). The fee schedule has one line for a new permit and a renewal: AED 1,100 per person again for 10 years.

The Emirates ID is renewed at AED 100 for each year of residence, a new medical test applies, and health insurance must stay in place. ICP grants a 180-day grace period after a Golden residence permit expires or is cancelled, for the holder and family members.

Neither DLD nor GDRFA publishes a renewal service for investors, so the channel and the package price for renewing on the Dubai property route are not published.

What the official fees leave out

The tables above are government fees only. These come on top:

• Health insurance for the investor and every family member, for the life of the permit. No official source sets a minimum premium or cover for Golden Visa holders; the cost depends on the insurer and the plan.
• Attestation and translation of marriage and birth certificates.
• Typing-centre and medical-centre service charges, which the official pages do not publish.
• A property valuation, only where the AED 2,000,000 value must be proven by one: DLD charges AED 4,000 for a residential apartment, plus the Knowledge and Innovation Dirhams of AED 10 each, and AED 230 plus VAT when filed at a registrar centre.
• The costs of buying the property, which belong to the purchase, not to the visa.
• Professional and adviser fees, where you use them.

If you are weighing the UAE against other countries, Wealthy Expat’s strategy assessment brings your route, family and budget questions together.

The “₹23 lakh lifetime Golden Visa” story

In July 2025, reports in Indian media said that Indian nationals could secure lifetime UAE residency by paying AED 100,000, reported as about ₹23 lakh, through a consultancy, under what was described as a new nomination-based visa.

ICP denied the reports on 8 July 2025, in a statement carried by the state news agency WAM and reprinted by Gulf News: “These claims have no legal basis” (opens in a new tab). Golden Visa applications, it said, go only through official government channels within the UAE, and “no internal or external consultancy entity is recognised as an authorised party”. It warned applicants not to pay fees or hand documents to anyone claiming to offer such services. Prasar Bharati’s Akashvani News (opens in a new tab) carried the same clarification on 10 July 2025.

Nomination itself is real, but governmental: under Cabinet Resolution No. 65 of 2022, applicants apply directly on ICP’s platform or through a nomination by the competent federal or local government authorities. There is no lifetime Golden Visa, no AED 100,000 nomination fee and no consultancy channel.