UAE Green Visa
The Green Visa is a 5-year self-sponsored residence permit, meaning no employer or UAE national needs to sponsor you. There are three routes: skilled employees, freelancers and the self-employed, and investors or partners. It is still being issued — both the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship and the Dubai residency authority run live issuance services for it.
RIGHT FOR
Skilled employees classified in MoHRE occupational levels one to three, holding at least a bachelor’s degree, on a salary of AED 15,000 a month or more. Also freelancers and the self-employed holding a MoHRE freelance or self-employment permit with the required income history.
WRONG FOR
Anyone below the salary or income thresholds, or without the qualification and permit the route requires. It is a threshold-based permit rather than a discretionary one, so a near miss is a miss.
DESK TAKE
This is the route most people actually mean when they say “Golden Visa for skilled workers”. It is less glamorous and considerably more attainable, and being self-sponsored is the part that matters — it decouples your residency from a single employer.
WHAT CATCHES PEOPLE OUT
The freelancer route needs a two-year income history
Annual income from freelance work over the previous two years must be at least AED 360,000, alongside a MoHRE freelance or self-employment permit and a bachelor’s degree or specialised diploma. It is not a route for someone who has just gone independent.
The salary threshold is specific
Skilled employees need a salary of no less than AED 15,000 a month, a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, and MoHRE occupational classification in the first, second or third level. All three, not one of them.
It is five years, not ten
The Green Visa runs for five years and is self-sponsored. People often conflate it with the Golden Visa’s ten-year term when comparing options.
WAYS TO PAY LESS, LEGALLY
Self-sponsorship is the real benefit, not the length
Because the permit does not depend on an employer, changing job or going independent does not put your residency at risk. For a founder still employed elsewhere while building, that is often worth more than the extra years a Golden Visa would add.
These are published thresholds and discounts, not advice. Your circumstances decide whether any of them apply — confirm with a tax or legal adviser before acting.
QUESTIONS
Is the Green Visa still being issued?
Yes. Both the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security and the Dubai General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs publish live services for issuing green residence permits under the skilled-worker and self-employment routes, checked on 7 September 2026.
Green Visa or Golden Visa?
If you are a salaried professional or an established freelancer, the Green Visa is the route built for you — five years, self-sponsored, threshold-based. The Golden Visa is for investors, entrepreneurs with an innovative project, and people with exceptional talent or rare specialisations. Meeting a salary bar does not make you an exceptional-talent case.
Figures last checked September 2026. Fees and rules change without notice, and packages differ by activity and visa count — we date everything so you can judge how stale it is. Source. Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and we will correct it in public. No free zone or setup agent pays for placement on this page, and none ever will — the ranking and the wording here are not for sale.