UAE Golden Visa Property: 5 or 10 Years 2026

Is the UAE Golden Visa for property 5 years or 10?

Four UAE authorities answer this the same way, and the answer is ten. ICP's Golden Residency Guide lists, among its categories, "10 years for investors in the UAE's real estate sector", and describes the programme as long-term residency "for a period of ten years, with automatic renewal, without the need for a sponsor". GDRFA Dubai's own service page for issuing a golden residence permit to investors says the permit "is valid for 10 years and can be extended if the same conditions are met".

The two emirate-level authorities agree. Dubai Land Department's investor service describes a property purchase value "equal to or more than 2 million AED at the time of purchase" leading to "a 10-years renewable residence permit". Abu Dhabi's Department of Economic Development prints the word DURATION above the figure 10 years on its real estate investor page, against a minimum total value of AED 2,000,000.

The dissenting source is the one most people meet first. The UAE government's own portal carries an eligibility table for the Golden visa, updated 28 July 2026 and credited to ICP, whose investor row reads "10 years (public investments)" and "5 years (real estate investments)". So the front door says five and the four authorities behind it say ten, and a buyer who reads only the summary budgets for half the residence they are likely to get.

• ICP Golden Residency Guide: 10 years for investors in the real estate sector.
• GDRFA Dubai: the investor golden residence permit is valid for 10 years, extendable.
• Dubai Land Department: AED 2 million purchase value, 10-year renewable permit.
• Abu Dhabi ADDED: duration 10 years, minimum total value AED 2,000,000.
• UAE government portal eligibility table, updated 28 July 2026: 5 years for real estate investments.

We are reporting what each page said when we read it on 17 October 2026, not resolving which is legally correct. Confirm the term for your own file with the authority that will issue it before you rely on it.

Where the five-year answer actually comes from

The five-year figure is not invented, which is why it survives. It is the residue of an earlier rule, and ICP's own archive records it: a post on the authority's site describing the launch of the Golden Residency notes that "the Cabinet reduced the residency of investors in property to 5 years, while investing in other sectors grants a renewable 10-year residency, on the condition that the investment in property is not less than 60%". That was the shape of the scheme before the 2022 expansion, and summary tables are slower to change than service pages.

There is also a live, current route where property and five years genuinely go together, and it is not the investor one. Dubai Land Department runs a separate retiree service: a property purchase value "equal to or more than 1 million AED", an applicant "whose age is 55 yeas old and above", and "a 5-years renewable residence permit". Anyone who has read about a five-year property visa may have read about this.

Commercial pages add a third layer of noise. At least one major developer's site still describes AED 5 million of property for five years and AED 10 million for ten, which were pre-2022 thresholds and do not match anything the authorities publish now. Treat any term you are quoted as attached to a specific threshold, a specific route and a specific year, because every one of those has moved.

• Pre-2022 Cabinet rule, recorded on ICP's own site: property investors 5 years, other sectors 10 years.
• Current DLD retiree route: AED 1 million property, age 55 and above, 5-year renewable permit.
• Current DLD investor route: AED 2 million purchase value, 10-year renewable permit.
• Stale commercial claims: AED 5 million for 5 years and AED 10 million for 10 years, thresholds that predate 2022.

The 10-year fee table, line by line

Dubai Land Department publishes the ten-year investor permit as five named charges rather than a single price, which makes it the most useful cost document in this part of the market. Read on 17 October 2026, the lines are a medical examination at AED 700, Emirates ID for ten years at AED 1,153, confirmation of the residency permit for ten years at AED 2,856.75, Dubai Land Department fees at AED 4,020 and administrative fees at AED 1,155. The page gives the total itself: AED 9,884.75.

What that total does not include is worth naming. It is the main applicant only. It does not cover health insurance, which is a separate mandatory purchase, nor the property transaction costs, nor any provider service fee, nor the home-country document work on certificates that have to be attested. It is the government block, and on this route the government block is published, which is more than most routes manage.

The route conditions sit on the same page and two of them cost money if missed. The property must be "wholly owned by the investor (one or more properties) under the name of the applicant", so multiple properties may be combined but the registration has to be in the applicant's own name. And "the applicant must be inside the UAE", with only the applicant permitted to attend, no escorts and no representative. Service time is given as 7 to 10 business days.

One line on that page has not kept pace with the rules. It still states that for a mortgaged property "a bank letter indicating 2 million AED paid amount as a proof to be provided", which is a paid-value test, while ICP's current investor condition allows a property "financed through a loan, provided that the financing is obtained from an approved local" lender. If your purchase is mortgaged, that is the sentence to settle with DLD before you pay anything.

• Medical examination: AED 700.
• Emirates ID, 10 years: AED 1,153.
• Confirmation of residency permit, 10 years: AED 2,856.75.
• Dubai Land Department fees: AED 4,020.
• Administrative fees: AED 1,155.
• Published total, main applicant: AED 9,884.75. Service time 7 to 10 business days.

The 5-year table beside it: the retiree route at AED 1 million

Because DLD publishes a five-year property permit as well, the two schedules can be read against each other, and the comparison is the only place in this market where the price of a permit term is visible rather than inferred. The retiree route's lines are a medical examination at AED 700, Emirates ID for five years at AED 653, confirmation of residency for five years at AED 2,456.75, Dubai Land Department fees at AED 2,020 and administrative fees at AED 1,155, totalling AED 6,984.75.

Set that next to AED 9,884.75 and the difference is AED 2,900 for twice the residence. Three lines move with the term and two do not. Emirates ID rises by AED 500, residency confirmation by AED 400 and the DLD fee by AED 2,000, which is the whole of the AED 2,900. The medical examination at AED 700 and the administrative fee at AED 1,155 are identical on both schedules, so AED 1,855 is a fixed cost of applying at all.

These are different routes rather than a choice, and the eligibility tests differ as sharply as the prices. The retiree route needs age 55 or above and AED 1 million of property "paid in full, unmortgaged", with a bank letter if mortgaged and a note that "the deposit cannot be released within 3 years". It also allows a husband and wife to "share one property" on a certified marriage contract, which the investor route's wholly-owned-in-your-name condition does not.

• Retiree, 5 years: medical AED 700, Emirates ID AED 653, residency confirmation AED 2,456.75, DLD AED 2,020, administrative AED 1,155.
• Published total: AED 6,984.75, against AED 9,884.75 for the 10-year investor permit.
• Lines that scale with the term: Emirates ID +AED 500, residency confirmation +AED 400, DLD fee +AED 2,000.
• Lines that do not scale: medical AED 700 and administrative AED 1,155, so AED 1,855 is flat.
• Retiree conditions: age 55+, AED 1 million paid in full and unmortgaged, spouses may share one property.

Thresholds, ages and fees on both routes are set by Dubai Land Department and can change. Check the current service page for your route rather than budgeting from a figure quoted anywhere, including here.

Cost per year of residence is where the difference lands

A total price tells you what leaves your account. A price per year of residence tells you what you bought, and on these two schedules it reverses the intuition that a shorter permit is the cheaper one. AED 9,884.75 over ten years is AED 988.48 a year. AED 6,984.75 over five years is AED 1,396.95 a year. The five-year permit costs about 41 percent more for each year it covers. That arithmetic is ours, from the published lines, not a figure either authority prints.

The flat AED 1,855 is what drives it. Because the medical examination and the administrative fee are charged once regardless of term, they are spread over ten years on one route and five on the other, and a fixed cost divided by half the years is twice the cost per year. Any fee block with a large fixed component behaves this way, which is a useful thing to know before comparing any two residence products by headline price.

The practical consequence is about renewal rather than choice. A five-year permit reaches its renewal decision twice as often, and renewal is its own fee event with its own schedule. If you are weighing routes you actually qualify for, count the fee blocks you will pay across the period you intend to stay, not the one you are paying now.

• 10-year investor permit: AED 9,884.75 total, AED 988.48 per year of residence.
• 5-year retiree permit: AED 6,984.75 total, AED 1,396.95 per year of residence.
• Difference per year: about 41 percent more on the shorter permit.
• Cause: AED 1,855 of flat medical and administrative fees spread over half as many years.

What GDRFA charges to issue the permit in Dubai

DLD's block is not the only published schedule a Dubai property applicant meets, because the residence permit itself is issued by GDRFA. Its investor service page lists a residence permit fee of AED 1,100, a Knowledge Dirham of AED 10, an Innovation Dirham of AED 10, a fee inside the country of AED 500 and delivery at AED 20. Added up that is AED 1,640, and whether it sits inside DLD's AED 9,884.75 or beside it is not stated on either page.

One line there deserves attention from anyone thinking in terms of years. The page notes that "the issuance fee increases by AED100 annually whenever the residency is over two years". On a permit measured in ten-year blocks that is a term-linked escalator published nowhere else in the chain, and it is another reason to get the term confirmed in writing rather than assumed.

GDRFA also sets the evidence standard for the property. The value "must be certified by a property status statement certificate issued by the Dubai Land Department", a valuation certificate from a DLD-licensed office may be accepted, a share in a joint property "must not be less than AED 2 million" in its own right, and "it is required to place a lien on the property". A couple cannot pool two AED 1 million shares to clear the AED 2 million test on this route.

The same page carries the benefit that makes the term worth arguing about. Golden Residence holders "are exempt from the 180-day residency law", which is the rule that voids an ordinary residence visa after six months outside the country. The UAE government portal puts the same benefit as the ability to stay away "for more than the usual period of six months". Ten years of that is a materially different asset from five.

• GDRFA residence permit fee: AED 1,100.
• Knowledge Dirham AED 10, Innovation Dirham AED 10, fee inside the country AED 500, delivery AED 20.
• Published GDRFA lines total: AED 1,640, our arithmetic from those five figures.
• Escalator: the issuance fee increases by AED 100 annually whenever the residency is over two years.
• Evidence: DLD property status statement certificate, a lien on the property, and a joint share of at least AED 2 million on its own.

Family and parents: where the term costs the most

The family lines widen the gap rather than repeat it. On the ten-year investor route DLD publishes a family residence permit for ten years at AED 5,774.50, a family sponsorship file opening fee of AED 318.75, and parents' residence for ten years at AED 5,774.50. On the five-year retiree route the family permit is AED 4,968.50 and parents are AED 4,968.50, each with the AED 318.75 file opening fee. The investor route also notes AED 100 "added for each sponsored person".

Per year that is AED 577.45 against AED 993.70, so the five-year family permit costs roughly 72 percent more for each year it covers than the ten-year one. The fixed component is proportionally larger on the family lines than on the main applicant's, which is why the penalty for the shorter term is larger there. Again, that division is ours; the published figures are the totals.

One ambiguity sits in the middle of this and we are not going to resolve it for you. DLD's pages give "Family residence permit for 10 years Fees: AED 5,774.50" without saying whether that is per sponsored person or for the family file as a whole. A family of four reads very differently under the two interpretations, and the AED 100 per sponsored person note can be read as supporting either. It is the first thing to put to DLD or to a provider in writing, and a quote that does not distinguish them has not been priced.

Who may be sponsored also differs by route. The investor page says "the husband or wife, children and parents can be sponsored"; the retiree page says "the husband or wife and children", while still publishing a parents' line. Health insurance appears in the required documents for family and parents on both, and it is a recurring cost neither page prices.

• 10-year route: family permit AED 5,774.50, parents AED 5,774.50, file opening AED 318.75, AED 100 per sponsored person.
• 5-year route: family permit AED 4,968.50, parents AED 4,968.50, file opening AED 318.75.
• Per year: AED 577.45 against AED 993.70, about 72 percent more on the shorter term.
• Unresolved on the published pages: whether the family fee is per person or per file.
• Not priced on either page: health insurance, which the document lists require.

Family sponsorship rules and fees are set by the issuing authorities and change. Nothing here should be read as a statement that any family member will be approved.

How to confirm your own term before you buy

The question has a cheap answer and it is not a provider's brochure. Identify the authority that will issue your permit, because that is the page whose term governs: GDRFA for a Dubai property, ICP for the federal route, ADDED and the Abu Dhabi Residents Office for Abu Dhabi. Then read that authority's current service page for your exact route and threshold, and keep the date you read it.

Ask for the term in writing before money moves, and ask for it with the route named. "Golden Visa, ten years" is not the same statement as "real estate investor route, AED 2 million purchase value, ten-year renewable permit issued by GDRFA", and only the second can be checked against a published page. Where a summary table and a service page disagree, as they currently do, the authority that issues the document is the one to ask.

Then price the blocks you can actually see. The DLD schedule for your route, the GDRFA issuance lines, health insurance, and whatever document work your certificates need. Treat anything above that as service and margin, legitimate and negotiable, and ask for it separately. A provider who will show you where AED 9,884.75 sits inside their number is a provider you can compare.

And keep the term in proportion to what it buys. Five or ten years is a real difference in renewal events, in the length of the 180-day exemption and in cost per year of residence. It is not a difference in whether you qualify, and no fee in any of these schedules buys an approval.

• Identify the issuing authority first: GDRFA for Dubai, ICP federally, ADDED and the Abu Dhabi Residents Office for Abu Dhabi.
• Get the term in writing with the route and threshold named, not as the words "Golden Visa".
• Where a summary table and a service page disagree, ask the authority that issues the permit.
• Price the visible blocks: DLD schedule, GDRFA issuance lines, health insurance, document work.
• Record the date you read any fee, because every figure in this article is dated 17 October 2026.