The UAE government, as part of its "Fifty Projects" initiative, announced on Sunday a new residency pathway in the country, along with updates to the residency law and a package of improvement measures.
The updates included a "green residency" system that separates residency permits from work permits, making residency self-granted to the individual or employee rather than the company. This system targets highly skilled individuals, investors, entrepreneurs, and top students and graduates. Additionally, the updates introduced a first-of-its-kind federal free residency program for self-employed individuals, along with other updates and benefits to the country’s residency system, according to the Emirates News Agency.
Green Residence
This is a self-registration program for individuals or employees, where the residency permit is separate from the work permit. The system targets highly skilled and qualified individuals with bachelor's degrees or higher, as well as investors, entrepreneurs, and top-performing students and graduates. It includes a range of new benefits compared to regular residency, such as extending the residency period for children under their parents' sponsorship up to 25 years, granting residency to parents, and extending the grace period upon residency expiration from 30 days to 90-180 days.
Free accommodation
The Freelancers Visa, the first of its kind at the federal level, was introduced, and is intended for self-employed individuals who do not need a work permit or employment contract.
Legislative and procedural improvements
Extending the entry permit for a business mission visit for a long trip to 6 months instead of 3 months, adding parents within the resident's residence permit - family members' residence permit - and allowing the extension of residence for humanitarian cases to another additional year to enable the family member to obtain a job in the country, raising the age of children included within their parents' residence from 18 years to 25 years, and extending the mandatory time period for leaving the country in case of job loss or retirement to 90 to 180 days.
New updates and categories
Among the most prominent updates to the system for the entry and residence of foreigners is the introduction of categories at the self-residence level, such as those with high skill levels, investors, entrepreneurs, top students and graduates, and the introduction of independent work residency, which benefits those working independently for their own account from outside and inside the Emirates in new economic fields such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, future technologies, digital currencies and other important fields. Meanwhile, the scope of the golden residency has been expanded to include managers, CEOs and specialists in science, engineering, health, education, business administration and technology and other fields, and the necessary improvements have been made to the controls and conditions for obtaining the golden residency in order to ensure the provision of the best stimulating environment for talented people.
New facilities
The new system provides an integrated pathway for the journey of highly skilled and specialized residents in the UAE, investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, gifted individuals, top students and graduates, from entering the UAE to easily obtaining the Golden Visa.
The Golden Residence benefits multiple categories, in addition to facilities regarding visit visas, for the purpose of tourism, treatment, or for the purpose of visiting, or in the event of carrying out a mission of an economic, scientific, medical, or any other field.
