United Arab Emirates Start-up Visa

The entrepreneur category of Golden Residency sets no capital investment; the two figures the authority states measure business results. First, the applicant owns or is a partner in an entrepreneurial venture registered in the UAE, classified as a small or medium-sized enterprise and operating in an approved field, with annual revenues of at least AED 1,000,000. Second, the applicant is the founder or one of the founders of one or more entrepreneurial ventures that have previously been sold, with a total value of at least AED 7,000,000.

The third basis carries no figure: the applicant's venture idea is approved by an accredited business incubator, the Ministry of Economy, the residence authority itself or a relevant local authority, in order to establish and operate the proposed business activity in the UAE. It is the only basis that assesses an idea not yet operating, rather than a business that already earns revenue or has been sold.

The authority's page does not state whether an applicant must meet one basis or several at once, so that point has to be confirmed with the authority. One condition applies across the category: the applicant and their family members must hold comprehensive, valid health insurance at the time of applying.

A further figure sits on the same authority's service card for the entrepreneur entry visa: its document list requires a letter from an accredited auditor confirming a project value of at least AED 500,000. That figure does not appear on the Golden Residency guide, so two pages of the same authority state two different measures for the same entrepreneur group, and applicants should ask the authority which one applies to their file.

The outcome is Golden Residency in the entrepreneur category: ten years, renewed automatically, with no sponsor required inside the country. The Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security states that duration for entrepreneurs with established businesses or successful business plans, whether based inside or outside the UAE.

The government portal u.ae, in its summary table of eligible categories, gives five years for the same entrepreneur group. This cell takes the duration from the issuing authority's page, updated on 10 September 2026 and more recent than the u.ae table updated on 28 July 2026; applicants should confirm the duration when they apply.

According to the authority's page, Golden Residency holders may obtain residence permits for a spouse and children regardless of age, and for parents; may sponsor domestic workers under the applicable rules; and if the holder dies, family members may remain in the UAE until their residence permits expire.

Eligible applicants outside the UAE receive a six-month multiple-entry entry visa, renewable for a further six months, to complete the procedure.

The category is distinct from Green Residence, a five-year status for skilled workers, freelancers and the self-employed, and investors and business partners. The same authority's Green Residence page has no entrepreneur or start-up category.

The residence authority publishes a completion time for two steps of this route, and each is two days. The first is the residence visa for an entrepreneur, issued to a person outside the UAE to complete the procedure for the ten-year Golden Residency; its service card gives a completion time of two days. The second is the issue of the residence permit linked to an Emirates ID application; its service card also gives two days, and the ID card is delivered by an authorised courier once the residence is notified.

Both figures are the processing time of each service once the file is complete. They do not include the time needed to obtain approval from an incubator, the Ministry of Economy or a local authority, nor the time for an auditor's confirmation letter.

The Golden Residency guide also provides a buffer for applicants abroad: eligible applicants outside the UAE receive a six-month multiple-entry entry visa, renewable for a further six months, to complete the procedure.

As for the term of the status itself, the authority's page gives ten years with automatic renewal, unlike the five-year Green Residence, which the same authority describes as renewable upon meeting the requirements. The legal outcome cell sets out the discrepancy with the five-year figure in the u.ae summary table.

The Golden Residency guide sets no minimum number of days in the UAE. The measurable difference lies in the opposite direction, namely time spent outside the UAE. An ordinary resident who stays abroad for more than six months must obtain a separate permit, applied for from outside the country with a valid reason and subject to a fee for each month of delay. That service card of the residence authority states expressly that Golden, Green and Blue Residence holders are exempt and may enter the UAE at any time while the residence remains valid. The government portal u.ae likewise lists the ability to stay outside the UAE beyond the usual six months as a benefit of the golden route.

Holders need no sponsor inside the country, so the status is not tied to an employer. The guide describes the status as renewing automatically and states no mid-term review of the revenue, the approved idea or the ventures sold.

The Golden Residency guide sets out the right to sponsor family among its key benefits: holders may obtain residence permits for a spouse and children regardless of their age, as well as for parents. Holders may also sponsor domestic workers under the applicable rules, and if the holder dies, sponsored family members may remain in the UAE until the residence permits granted to them expire.

Set beside ordinary family residence the difference is plain: according to the same authority's residence permit service card, an ordinary foreign resident may sponsor only a spouse, unmarried daughters, sons under 25 and children with special needs, subject to a minimum monthly income.

A condition common to the entrepreneur category is that the applicant and their family members hold comprehensive, valid health insurance at the time of applying.

The status this programme grants, whether a visa or a residence permit, does not replace the holder's passport. The holder still travels on the passport of their own country, so the figure below belongs to the United Arab Emirates passport and becomes the holder's only once they are issued a United Arab Emirates passport.

According to the Passport Index of Prosperous Intelligence, on data dated 30 September 2026, the United Arab Emirates passport reaches 188 destinations without applying for a consular visa in advance. The figure combines three forms of entry and does not count an e-Visa that must be obtained beforehand:

It is therefore a measure of how easily the holder travels, not a count of visa-free countries in the narrow sense.

For comparison, on the same source and the same method of counting, the Vietnamese passport reaches 44 destinations. The two lists of destinations do not nest inside one another, so the difference is an indication rather than a list of places newly opened.

Prosperous Intelligence dates its data and advises checking with the destination’s official authorities before travelling.

The Golden Residency guide of the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship mentions tax only in the investor criteria, namely a company paying at least AED 250,000 a year in federal tax, and sets no tax regime for entrepreneur holders; a holder position is settled by the Corporate Tax Law, and the Federal Tax Authority guide on natural persons states two things that matter more to a visa holder than any rate.

First, at section 3.4: physical residence in the UAE, whether by virtue of citizenship or by virtue of a residency visa, is not the criterion that determines whether a person is a Resident Person for Corporate Tax purposes, or whether their income is taxable.

Second, in the same section: whether a natural person is resident for Corporate Tax purposes is not affected by whether immigration, work permit and business licensing requirements have been correctly dealt with or not.

The guide illustrates the converse with a worked example in which a person holding only a visit visa nonetheless becomes a Resident Person because turnover crosses the threshold.

That threshold sits in Article 2(1) of Cabinet Decision No. 49 of 2023: a natural person is subject to Corporate Tax only where total turnover from business activity in the UAE exceeds AED 1 million in a Gregorian calendar year.

Article 2(2) places three categories outside the scope and outside that threshold regardless of amount: wage income, personal investment income, and real estate investment income.

The rates applicable to a natural person, under Article 3 of the Corporate Tax Law together with Cabinet Decision No. 116 of 2022, are 0% on Taxable Income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it.

Section 3.11 forecloses a common misreading: there is no exemption for the profit relating to the first AED 1 million of turnover — the million is a threshold that switches the obligation on, not an allowance.

Crossing it triggers registration with the Federal Tax Authority, filing a Corporate Tax Return and paying the tax.

Small Business Relief under Article 21 of the Corporate Tax Law and Ministerial Decision No. 73 of 2023 allows a person to be treated as having no Taxable Income where revenue for the tax period does not exceed AED 3 million.

Read this cell within its scope: the guide expressly excludes the potential implications of a Double Taxation Agreement, says nothing about VAT, and contains no section specific to Golden Residency holders — it works from activity, not from visa class

Federal government fees are small and published service by service. The residence visa for an entrepreneur, issued to a person outside the UAE to complete the procedure, carries three fees of AED 100: the application fee, the issuance fee and the smart services fee. The ten-year Golden Residence permit carries an application fee of AED 100, an issuance fee of AED 100 for each year of validity and a smart services fee of AED 100. Overstaying the entry visa incurs a fine of AED 50 a day.

The larger cost is the paperwork that proves the basis of the grant. The service card for the entrepreneur visa requires a passport valid for at least six months, valid health insurance within the UAE, a letter from the competent authority in the emirate confirming that the project is innovative or future-oriented, and a letter from an accredited auditor confirming a project value of at least AED 500,000.

In Dubai, the emirate's residence authority applies a different schedule to the same entrepreneur group: a residence permit fee of AED 1,100, two charges of AED 10, AED 500 if filed inside the country and AED 20 for delivery, plus AED 100 for each year of validity beyond two years, and the file must carry a nomination letter from the Dubai Future Foundation. None of these figures includes the Emirates ID fee or the medical examination fee, because the service cards read do not state them.