There are several types of visas issued by the UAE with the goal of attracting tourists to visit the country and also business professionals and exceptional talents and their families to work and live in the UAE.

• Tourist visa – This standard tourist visa to the UAE can be issued for 30 days or 90 days for single or multiple entries. It can be extended for 30 days twice, without the need to leave the country.

• Multi-entry tourist visa – This 5-year visa enables to enter and exit the UAE as many times as the visa holder wishes and with each entry, she/he can stay in the country for up to 90 days, extendable by another 90 days. It is open to all nationalities and no guarantor is needed.

• UAE Golden Visa: Long-term residency scheme – This is 5-year or 10-year automatically renewable visa and enable foreigners to live, work and study in the UAE without the need of a local emirati sponsor and with 100% ownership of their business on the UAE’s mainland. Amongst the classes of professionals eligible to get the Golden Visas are people who hold PhD, doctors, engineers specialised in computer science, electronics, programming, electricals and biotechnology. Such visas are also issued to specialised talents and researchers and bright students with promising scientific capabilities, also students who are get high scores (3.8 or more) in approved universities.  

• Work-in-Dubai residency programme – The scheme provides workers and their families to live in Dubai on an annual basis and enjoy a safe and high-quality lifestyle while continuing to remotely work for their employers in their home country. Amongst the application requirements are a passport with a minimum six-month validity, an employment with a one-year contract validity and salary of at least $5,000 per month. 

• Remote work visa – This 1-year visa can be used by professionals to reside in the UAE as they connect to work virtually abroad, basically, it enables professionals from all over the world to live and work remotely from the UAE even if their companies are based in another country.

• Students can sponsor their family members – Foreign university students can sponsor their family members, e.g. parents, as long as they can afford suitable housing.

• Retirement visa – This 5-year renewable visa are for retirees over 55 years of age. The following criteria applies: (i) investment in a property worth at least AED 2 million, (ii) financial savings of no less than AED 1 million, (iii) active income of a minimum of AED 20,000 per month.

• Medical treatment visa – This visa is issued to an individual or a group for 90 days, and renewable if the hospital issues a request, allowing foreign patients to be treated in the UAE.

• Special visa – These 1-year residency visas are intended for the citizens of countries suffering from wars and disasters, moreover, it allow widows, divorced women and their children to renew their residency visas without a sponsor for one year.