UAE to extend property residency visas from six months to three years
Posted on 29 June 2011 with 4 comments from readers
The UAE government is to extend residency visas granted to foreign property owners in the emirates from six month to three years, although the terms and conditions to be attached have not yet been published.
At present foreign residents with property worth more than $270,000 can apply for the six-month visa. Many have set up companies cheaply to provide themselves with the standard two-year visa for an employee.
However, the lengthening of the visa time allowed to foreign property owners is undoutedly a good move in restoring confidence among overseas buyers in the UAE real estate market which crashed badly almost three years ago. Anybody who bought property in 2007-8 is still nursing big losses and more than 200 off-plan projects have been cancelled.
Erratic change
Reducing the visa period for foreign buyers to six months in 2009 was not a measure designed to inspire confidence, and the sudden change is not the sort of thing that long-term property owners will forget that quickly. Property markets do not like erratic and unpredictable shifts in government policy.
On the other hand, property markets bottom out when everything is stacked against them, and recover as these restrictions are gradually removed. The news about the three-year visa is therefore welcome and brings the UAE back into line with international standards.
The big debate now is over how long it will take for the real estate market to recover, and talk of a further downshift in prices is being gradually forgotten. But that could still happen if the global economy takes another turn for the worse, and the new supply of UAE real estate remains empty.
4 Comments posted by readers:
The editor continues to talk in riddles about the Dubai property circus. More short term noise…3 year residency visas brings the UAE back into line with international standards…Oh well, that’s that fixed then! The talk of a further downshift in prices is being gradually forgotten – by who exactly?? You need some mates! But values could continue on this entertaining and positive collapse if the global economy takes another turn for the worse?? – wakey..wakey..it already has! and the new supply is as empty as the nearly new supply!
i don’t have the $..what i can’t grasp is why the UAE is not benchmark..why haven’t they espoused a 20 year exemption for all forever..they can’t fear immigrants of poor caste inundating the land.
Ed Note: Middle Eastern politics are just not that simple.
If I recall the facility to purchase through an offshore/freezone company was forbidden as a means for individuals to obtain ownership of property, let alone a visa.
The slim volume of UAE property law needs to be revised, Federally, for the benefit and peace of mind of both UAE and property owners.
Ed Note: RAK freezone set ups from AED16k are advertised on the JBR Walk – but you are right these are for residency visa purposes (and trading) and cannot be used for buying property. In the UAE the authorities like to see the actual name of the owner and not a front company.
Dubai outlawed the use of any offshore company for holding property assets some months ago with the exception (for some reason) of JAFZA. It is still possible to establish a company there for both trading and the holding of real property for less than AED30k