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Is the Property Golden Visa 5 Years or 10? The Official Sources Disagree
The UAE federal portal says five years. Dubai's own two authorities both say ten, for the same AED 2 million property route. Here is the exact wording from each, with the date we read it.
For a Dubai property purchase, the Dubai authorities that actually process your application both say 10 years - and they are the ones who decide. The federal portal's summary table currently shows 5 years for real-estate investment. We cannot tell you which is a drafting artefact and which is policy, because no source explains the difference. Get the duration confirmed in writing for your specific case before you rely on it.
What Each Source Says, Word for Word
| Source | Says | Exact wording |
|---|---|---|
| u.ae Federal portal |
5 years | "5 years (real estate investments)" - in a comparison table of Golden Visa categories, listed separately from "10 years (public investments)". Page stamped updated 28 July 2026. |
| GDRFA Dubai Issues the residence |
10 years | "The residence permit is valid for 10 years and can be extended if the same conditions are met." Conditions given as "Ownership of one or more properties with a value of no less than AED 2,000,000". |
| DLD Certifies the property |
10 years | "This service allows the real estate investor owning a property the purchase value of which is equal to or more than 2 million AED at the time of purchase, to apply for a 10-years renewable residence permit." Page stamped 19 August 2026. |
Why This Is Not a Small Discrepancy
Five years versus ten is the difference between one renewal cycle and none across a decade. It changes what you tell a school, a bank underwriting a mortgage, and any employer or authority that asks how long you may remain. It is also the single most repeated fact about this visa, and the two numbers now sit on government websites at the same time.
The direction of travel matters too. The federal page carries an older stamp, 28 July 2026, than DLD's, 19 August 2026, and the Dubai pages still carry ten years. The two levels are not converging - they have been out of step for over a month.
Every change to this rule, dated
The 28 July federal restructure also removed the off-plan sentence. The Rule Tracker records what changed, when, and what is still unreconciled.
See the Rule Tracker →What Changed on 28 July 2026
The federal page was restructured that day. Two things went with it: the explicit sentence that off-plan purchases of AED 2 million or more from approved local developers qualify, and the route referencing loans from approved local banks. Both survive only in archived copies. The replacement summary table, attributed to ICP, is where the five-year figure appears.
The Dubai position on those points did not change. GDRFA Dubai still names a value test with mortgaged property acceptable, and DLD still describes the ten-year renewable permit at AED 2 million.
What to Do About It
Apply through the Dubai channel and get the duration stated in writing before you commit money. Since the April 2026 unification, DLD verifies the property and value while GDRFA Dubai processes and issues the residence, so the operative answer for a Dubai property is the Dubai one. Ask the Cube Centre or GDRFA Dubai to confirm the term on your specific file, and keep the confirmation.
Be careful with anything that quotes only one of these numbers without saying which authority it came from. Most published guidance states one figure confidently; as of today, no single source can be confidently correct for every case, because the sources contradict each other.
What We Could Not Verify
We do not know why the federal table shows five years. No source we can reach explains it, and we will not guess: it could be a drafting simplification, a category being collapsed in a summary table, or a policy change that Dubai has not adopted. We also could not confirm whether the GDRFA page's "last updated" stamp reflects a real content revision or is generated on page load, so we do not rely on it as a date.
These pages were read through an automated fetch that converts them to text. The wording above is quoted as returned; if a figure is load-bearing for your decision, open the source links below and read them yourself. That is why we publish them.
Frequently Asked Questions
So is it 5 years or 10 years?
For a Dubai property at AED 2 million or more, both Dubai authorities that handle the application state 10 years, renewable. The UAE federal portal's summary table currently shows 5 years for real-estate investment. The sources contradict each other and none explains the difference, so confirm your specific case in writing with GDRFA Dubai before relying on either figure.
Which source should I trust for a Dubai property?
The Dubai ones, because they run the process. Since April 2026, DLD verifies the property and value and GDRFA Dubai issues the residence. Both state 10 years. That said, get it confirmed on your file rather than relying on any website, including this one.
Did the rule change on 28 July 2026?
The federal page was restructured that day and the 5-year figure appeared in a new summary table. The same restructure removed the sentence about off-plan purchases qualifying and the local-bank loan route. Dubai's own pages were not changed to match and still state 10 years.
Does this affect a visa I already hold?
Nothing in either source describes a change to permits already issued. If your residence was issued as a 10-year permit, that is what your file says. Confirm with GDRFA Dubai if you need certainty.
Why does other guidance state one figure with confidence?
Most guides cite a single source without naming it, so the contradiction is invisible to them. We publish the wording from each authority with the date we read it, so you can check whether the position has moved since.
Sources
- u.ae - Golden visa, federal portal, page stamped updated 28 July 2026 - read 1 September 2026.
- GDRFA Dubai - golden residence for property investors, service card - read 1 September 2026.
- Dubai Land Department - Golden Visa (Investor), service page stamped 19 August 2026 - read 1 September 2026.
Every quotation above is reproduced from the live page on the date given. This is general information, not legal or immigration advice; rules change and the sources currently disagree - confirm the current position with DLD and GDRFA Dubai, or a licensed adviser, before you apply.