UAE residency visa for retired expats

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, chaired the Cabinet meeting at Expo 2020 Dubai.

“Today, we approved the conditions for granting residency to an expat retiree… We welcome everyone to our country,” Sheikh Mohammed said in a tweet.

As per the amendment, if the retiree fulfils one of the following criteria, he/she will be eligible for retirement residency. The criteria are: a single property or more than one property worth Dh1 million (evaluation to be carried out by the related entity in each Emirate), or a bank deposit of no less than Dh1 million, or an active income of no less than Dh180,000 per annum.

Earlier in September 2018, the UAE Cabinet had approved a law to provide retired residents over the age of 55 a long-term renewable visa for a period of five years.

The amendment would help attract this valuable category and support the UAE efforts to achieve more flexibility in terms of residency laws and visa requirements. The initiative will strongly contribute to the growth of tourism and also attract high networth individuals to the UAE. There are around eight million expat workers in the UAE and it’s estimated that a sizeable proportion of the white-collar community might want to retire in the UAE.