19/12/22

CITIZENSHIP AND RESIDENCY: UAE Golden Visa drives Dubai to top spot in global citizenship ranking, according to report.

As published on arabianbusiness.com, Monday 19 December, 2022.

Dubai has retained itself as the leading hub for residence and citizenship by investment (RCBI) for the second year, as over 150,000 Golden Visas have been issued, according to a report by Swiss boutique firm Passport Legacy.

The UAE leads the world with 35 international RCBI specialists in 2022, climbing up from 30 in the previous year, the report said, adding that the nation will be able to “sustain its growth with the the minimum investment required recently having been reduced and access being opened up to talented individuals across multiple industries”.

The UAE Golden Visa, is surging in popularity with over 150,000 people now having secured it. This has helped the country maintain its grip as the top hub for RCBI, the report said.

The benefits of Golden Visas extend to immediate family members. Children can be sponsored by a Golden Visa or Green Residence visa holder until the age of 25 – an increase from the previous rule of 18 years – with no age limit for unmarried daughters. Children of determination are granted a residence permit, regardless of their age.

The UAE Golden Visa residency programme was first implemented in 2019 and enables expats to live, work, and study in the UAE without the need of a national sponsor and with 100 percent ownership of their business on the UAE’s mainland.

Under the new regulations, the UAE Golden Visa will grant 10-year residence to investors, entrepreneurs, exceptional talents, scientists and professionals, outstanding students and graduates, humanitarian pioneers, and frontline heroes, who meet certain eligibility parameters.

As part of its expansion, more professionals and highly skilled workers with educational qualifications and professional experience in all disciplines can now qualify for a Golden Visa. This includes those working in medicine, sciences and engineering, information technology, business and administration, education, law, culture, and social sciences.

“The UAE’s rank as the best RCBI hub in the world, is supported by several appealing factors such as world-class infrastructure, a business-friendly environment, a strategic geographic location, and favourable government policies promoting trade and investment. This has also helped the country stand pat with the first-ranked passport in the world,” Passport Legacy UAE HQ managing partner and founder Jeffrey Henseler said.

Henseler added: “With approximately 5,000 people around the world looking to secure dual citizenship through RCBI each year, and the ongoing success of the UAE Golden Visa incentive, the country will continue being increasingly sought out as a leading destination of choice. “.

The UAE passport is also the world’s most powerful travel document.

According to a Passport Index published by Arton Capital that features a top-ten dominated by European countries.

With a UAE passport travellers can enter to 180 countries hassle-free — seven more than European countries such as Germany and Sweden, and nine more than Japan, whose travel document was ranked as the world’s best earlier this year in a list published by Henley & Partners.

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