The UAE has introduced a new visa named Green Visa as part of the celebrations of the country’s golden jubilee. The Green Visa distinguishes between work permits and residency visas.
Previously the residency status of the expats was in coordination with employment, where the employer acted as the expat’s sponsor. The Green Visa targets highly skilled individuals, investors, entrepreneurs, and top students and graduates. It will also ease visa restrictions for freelancers, widows and divorcees.
The Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) announced that expats, both men and women working in UAE can sponsor their family members (spouse, children under-18 and unmarried daughters) if they earn a monthly salary of Dhs4,000 or Dhs3,000 plus accommodation provided by the employer.
Previously, a man had to earn a monthly salary of at least Dhs4,000 or Dhs3,000 plus accommodation to sponsor his family, while a woman had to make a minimum of Dhs10,000 per month to bring her family to the country.
The new regulation comes after the UAE Cabinet adopted a decision to allow expats to sponsor their family members in the country based on income rather than their profession.
The move encourages more foreign nationals to reside in the UAE, where expats cover more than 80% of the country’s population and are responsible for the economic growth of the country.
Green Visas will make the person self-dependent and he can get attached to companies and can sponsor children up to 25 years instead of 18 years. This can be considered as a benefit accruing to the visa as before a parent could sponsor their daughter’s residency visa until she was married and son’s residency till the age of 18.
The visa comes with one more advantage, the ability to sponsor parents. Previously, strict conditions were imposed under which people could sponsor their parents, which included a minimum salary and a rental contract for an apartment big enough for the family.
Other new changes include the extension of business trip permits from three to six months and extending the grace period for leaving the country after losing a job or retirement to 190 days instead of 30.
Freelance visas will also be granted to owners of independent businesses or self-employed individuals. Freelancers will have specially dedicated visas. This feature is added to attract experts, retirees and specialized people to niche sectors. (A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focused).
Generally, foreigners are only given visas tied to their employment, and long-term residency is difficult to obtain.
In 2019, the UAE launched the 10-year Golden visa to attract wealthy individuals and highly skilled workers. Similar programs have since been launched in other resource-rich Gulf countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The UAE has not yet announced the application procedures for the Green Visa.
