From AED 2 million of certified property value: a ten-year renewable permit, for any nationality. What it changes — and what it cannot change — for your taxes at home.
The Emirati property Golden Visa is a ten-year renewable residence permit granted, whatever your nationality, to the buyer of a property worth at least AED 2 million (value as certified by the Dubai Land Department). It is a residence visa — distinct from tax residence: your home country's residence tests keep applying until they genuinely tip (for France, Article 4 B of the CGI; other systems use comparable home, presence or economic-ties tests, and some tax by citizenship regardless). The visa is the beginning of a residence strategy, never its proof.
Introduced to attract investors, the Golden Visa rewards the acquisition of an Emirati property worth at least AED 2 million with a renewable ten-year residence permit, extended to the family. The conditions of grant (eligible assets, off-plan purchase, financing) are set and adjusted by the Emirati authorities; financing conditions were eased in early 2026: under a federal circular of February 2026, eligibility is now assessed against the property value certified by the Dubai Land Department, the former requirement of a minimum 50% down payment for a financed asset having been lifted (a bank no-objection certificate being required for a mortgaged asset). These parameters fall within Emirati law, evolve, and must be checked at the date of the project.
This is the most common — and most costly — confusion. A Golden Visa allows you to reside in the Emirates; it does not, by itself, determine where you are tax-resident. Tax residence is assessed under article 4 B of the CGI and, in the event of conflict, under the tests of the France-UAE treaty (permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode). Keeping your home, your family or the bulk of your activity in France may be enough to maintain tax residence there, Golden Visa or not.
Believing that a Golden Visa "erases" French tax is a major source of reassessments. As long as you remain a French tax resident, your worldwide income — including that from Dubai — stays taxable there, and your worldwide real estate stays within the IFI base. The residence permit does not change this analysis.
The Golden Visa can form part of a coherent expatriation strategy — but only if the transfer of tax residence is real and documented, and if its consequences are anticipated, starting with the possible exit tax (art. 167 bis CGI) on latent capital gains on departure. This subject goes beyond real estate and must be handled globally: see UAE tax residence and exit tax.
Distinguishing residence permit from tax residence, anticipating exit tax: the framing before you invest.
Have my project reviewedThe UAE government portal describes a long-term, renewable residence permit issued without a sponsor: the holder may live, work or study in the Emirates, remain outside the country beyond the six months that normally void a standard residence visa, and sponsor family members. For a property investor it is an instrument of stability: the right of residence attaches to the asset, not to an employer.
| What the Golden Visa provides | What it does not provide |
|---|---|
| Long, renewable residence without a sponsor | No tax-residence status, on either the Emirati or the French side |
| Tolerance of extended absence from the UAE | No protection against the criteria of Article 4 B of the French Tax Code |
| Sponsorship of spouse and children | No effect on IFI, rental income or capital gains while the tax domicile remains in France |
| Stability to organise a genuine expatriation | No automatic Tax Residency Certificate (the TRC has its own presence rules) |
In practice the investor's path runs: acquisition of a property meeting the required threshold, its value assessed on the basis certified by the Dubai Land Department; assembly of the file (title deed, passport, insurance, compliant photographs); submission through Dubai's official channels; medical and biometrics; then issuance of the Emirates ID and visa. Eligibility conditions — notably for mortgaged or off-plan property — evolve regularly: they are checked at filing date against official sources, never on the strength of a sales brochure.
The real point of attention is not obtaining the visa — usually smooth for a clean file — but what one does next: the Golden Visa is the possible beginning of a residence trajectory, not its conclusion.
Whatever your nationality, your home country's residence tests keep applying after the visa is issued — a residence permit is an immigration status, not a tax domicile. The French case illustrates the trap with unusual clarity: while the home, the professional activity or the centre of economic interests remains in France, a Golden Visa holder remains a French tax resident (Art. 4 B CGI): rent, gains, IFI and succession then follow the rules described in this silo, and Article 19(2) of the treaty defeats paper residences. Conversely, a genuine, documented transfer of domicile — preceded by exit-tax treatment where applicable — flips the whole matrix: no more IFI on the Emirati property, no French tax on the future gain, TRC available under Emirati presence rules. Between those two states there is no comfortable middle ground: that switch is precisely what the firm prepares, from exit-tax treatment to securing UAE residence.
References current as at 12 July 2026. The Golden Visa conditions fall within the remit of the Emirati authorities and evolve; this page is informative and does not constitute Emirati-law advice.