UAE Golden Visa thresholds in September 2026
Two thresholds carry the ten year Golden Visa. Property: AED 2,000,000 of real estate. Salary: AED 30,000 a month, which is AED 360,000 over a year. Alongside them sits the two year investor visa, and that is where the change of this year happened: for a sole owner there is no minimum amount any more, since April 2026. Where a property is held in shares, AED 400,000 per share still applies.
The thresholds, side by side
Thresholds in AED, as of 2 September 2026. Each row is one route, and the term is written out in words so it is not mistaken for a case count. There is no sample behind this table: these are published thresholds, not measured values.
| Route | Threshold | Term |
|---|---|---|
| Golden Visa through property | AED 2,000,000 | ten years |
| Golden Visa through salary | AED 30,000 a month, AED 360,000 a year | ten years |
| Investor visa, sole owner | no minimum amount since April 2026 | two years |
| Investor visa, share of a jointly held property | AED 400,000 per share | two years |
Two arithmetic points make the table easier to hold in your head. The property threshold is exactly 5 times the per share figure for the investor visa, so a property at AED 2,000,000 split evenly among 5 owners puts each of them on AED 400,000. And the property threshold equals about 66.7 months of the salary threshold, since AED 30,000 a month has to run that long to add up to AED 2,000,000.
What changed in April 2026
Until April 2026 a sole owner had to reach a minimum purchase price for the two year investor visa. That minimum is gone. The practical effect is that the investor route no longer has a price floor for someone buying alone, while joint ownership is still measured per share at AED 400,000. A couple buying together are not assessed on the price of the flat, they are assessed on what each of them holds, and a share below AED 400,000 does not reach the line even when the flat costs far more.
Note the difference in term while you are comparing. The property and salary routes above carry ten years. The investor visa carries two, and a two year cycle means the fees below come around five times as often over the same decade.
The fees and the waiting time behind the threshold
Fees in AED and periods of time, as of 2 September 2026. The periods are durations, not amounts.
| Item | Amount or period | What it refers to |
|---|---|---|
| Emirates ID, three year card | AED 370 | the card that goes with a three year residence term |
| Emirates ID, two year card | AED 270 | the shorter card, AED 100 less |
| Medical test | AED 320 to AED 750 | per person, the spread depends on the centre and the speed |
| Medical result | 24 Stunden | time from the test to the result |
| Emirates ID issue | 5 bis 10 Werktage nach der Biometrie | counted from the biometrics appointment |
| Whole visa run | 2 bis 3 Wochen | from the start of the process to a stamped residence |
| With a bank account | 4 bis 6 Wochen | the same run when an account is opened alongside it |
Read those last four rows as planning figures rather than promises. They are periods of time, so they belong in a calendar and not in a budget. The two amounts that do belong in a budget are the Emirates ID card at AED 370 or AED 270 and the medical test between AED 320 and AED 750 for each person going through the process, which for a family is the line most often counted once instead of per head.
What this page deliberately does not say
It does not name an application fee for the Golden Visa itself, it does not list the categories for specialists, scientists or founders, and it does not compare free zone routes against mainland routes. Those numbers are not in the data set behind this page, and a threshold quoted from memory is worse than no threshold at all. What is here are the amounts we can point at: AED 2,000,000, AED 30,000 a month, AED 400,000 per share, and the fees and periods in the second table.
Source and how these numbers were built
Thresholds, fees and periods as of 2 September 2026, from our own running list of UAE fees and processing times. Only the amounts printed above are taken from it; the two comparisons in this text, 5 shares and about 66.7 months of salary, are calculated from figures already on this page. For a sense of scale in another asset, AED 2,000,000 is about 3,852 grams of 24K gold at the Dubai rate of AED 519.25 a gram. Threshold changes are the kind of thing that make an old page dangerous, so we post them the day they land on our Telegram channel, t.me/dxbradar.
FAQ
How much property do I need for the UAE Golden Visa?
AED 2,000,000, as of 2 September 2026. The alternative route is a confirmed salary of AED 30,000 a month.
Is there still a minimum for the two year investor visa?
Not for a sole owner. That minimum was removed in April 2026. For a property held in shares, AED 400,000 per share still applies.
What does the salary threshold come to over a year?
AED 360,000, being AED 30,000 a month for twelve months.
How long does the paperwork take once I qualify?
2 bis 3 Wochen for the visa run, 5 bis 10 Werktage nach der Biometrie for the Emirates ID counted from the biometrics, and 4 bis 6 Wochen if a bank account is opened alongside it.
What will the fees be?
AED 370 for a three year Emirates ID or AED 270 for a two year card, plus AED 320 to AED 750 for the medical test, per person.