Dubai Dropped the AED 750,000 Property Visa Rule. Does a Cheaper Apartment Get You Residency Now?

A studio that used to buy you nothing but the apartment

For years, owning a completed apartment in Dubai only opened a residency route if that apartment was worth at least AED 750,000. A studio in Jumeirah Village Circle or International City, bought outright for less than that, was a real asset. It was just not a visa.

That line has moved. Guidance published on the Dubai Land Department’s Cube platform on 29 April 2026 removed the AED 750,000 minimum for the two-year Property Investor Visa, also known as the Taskeen visa, for buyers who own their property outright, according to Gulf News and immigration firm Fragomen.

A buyer who closed on a AED 500,000 studio last year and assumed residency was out of reach should look at that assumption again.

What actually changed, in plain terms

The rule change is narrower than some of the headlines around it suggest. It is worth separating what moved from what did not.

• A sole owner of a completed, title-deeded residential unit now qualifies for the two-year investor visa regardless of the purchase price.
• Off-plan and other uncompleted units still do not qualify for this visa tier. The property needs a registered title deed.
• Joint owners no longer each need to independently meet AED 750,000. Each co-owner now needs a share worth at least AED 400,000, per Gulf News and IMI Daily.
• The visa remains renewable every two years, not permanent, and is tied to continued ownership of the qualifying property.

Why this is guidance, not yet a published law

No formal decree or gazette notice has accompanied this change. It arrived as an update to the DLD’s Cube digital platform, and it is being treated as effective because immigration firms including Fragomen have issued client advisories confirming it, not because a new law was published.

That distinction matters for a buyer relying on it. Platform guidance can be clarified or narrowed with less notice than a gazetted law. Anyone planning a purchase specifically to use this route should get written confirmation of current eligibility from a licensed immigration advisor at the time of application, not rely on this article or any other from April or May.

Where the arithmetic actually changes

Studio apartments in Jumeirah Village Circle currently start from around AED 425,000, according to Bayut listings data. Studios in International City trade lower still, commonly in the AED 280,000 to 380,000 range.

Both figures sit well under the old AED 750,000 line. Illustratively, a buyer who owns a AED 450,000 studio in JVC outright, with a registered title deed, previously had no residency route through that specific property. Under the new guidance, as sole owner, they now do.

That is a real change for buyers at the smaller end of the Dubai market. It is not a reason to buy a smaller apartment than you would otherwise choose, purely for the visa attached to it.

This is not the Golden Visa, and it never was

The two-year investor visa and the ten-year Golden Visa are separate routes with separate thresholds. The Golden Visa’s property route still sits at AED 2 million, based on the Dubai Land Department certified valuation, and may support eligibility, subject to criteria, for a residency period five times as long.

Nothing in the April guidance touches that threshold. A buyer choosing between the two is choosing between a smaller property and a shorter, renewable permit, or a larger one and a longer, more independent residency. That is a planning decision, not a shopping decision, and it is worth making before a deposit moves rather than after.

The property still has to work on its own numbers

A residency permit is not a return. Before any client treats a Dubai property as a visa route, we still verify the same things we would verify regardless of the visa attached to it. Title at the registry, the developer’s delivery record, the realistic rental evidence, and the running costs once service charges and vacancy are counted.

A cheaper apartment that now happens to qualify for a residence visa is still a property first. If it does not work as a property, the visa attached to it does not rescue it. Independent advice. Clear numbers. No pressure to buy.