Market Insights

Golden Visa: What Changed in 2026

If you looked into the Golden Visa a year or two ago and walked away because the numbers didn’t work for you, it’s worth looking again — the rules genuinely changed.

The property investment threshold is still AED 2 million, that part hasn’t moved. What did change, in February 2026, is the requirement that used to trip up half the investors I spoke to: you no longer need to have paid 50% of the property value upfront. That rule is gone. Mortgaged property now qualifies once the certified value hits AED 2 million, and off-plan properties from approved developers qualify too, as long as the bank or developer provides the right documentation.

That single change opens the door to buyers who were financing their purchase and previously couldn’t get anywhere near qualifying. You can also now combine multiple properties to reach the AED 2 million threshold, rather than needing one single asset at that value — genuinely useful if your capital is more comfortably split across two smaller units than locked into one.

What hasn’t changed: it’s still a 10-year, renewable residency with no employer sponsor required, no minimum stay to maintain it, and full rights to sponsor your spouse and children. That combination — self-sponsored, no strings, real estate-backed — is still one of the strongest residency-by-investment offers globally.

If the math didn’t work for you before this year, it’s genuinely worth running again now.