General and Legal News from the UAE – May 2022 № 1

The UAE Cabinet has approved new rules for visa regulations for people living and working in the UAE as well as for tourists. The approval of these executive regulations of the Federal Decree-Law on Entry and Residence of Foreigners is one of the biggest changes in recent years in the UAE’s immigration policy. 

 

The most prominent change concerning tourist visa regulations is the prolongment of a tourist visa from a 30- to a 60-day visit visa. 

 

As the UAE keeps diversifying its economy in line with its futuristic vision the country aims at attracting more skillful professionals across a wide range of job backgrounds including but not only professionals from medi­cine to science and tech-minded backgrounds. Furthermore, wealthy investors as well as the brightest students and entrepreneurs and company owners are sought after. In order to make life in the Emirates more attractive to these individuals the UAE government has formally approved the so-called 10-year Golden Visa, which al­rea­dy caught attention when details were made public a few months ago. 

 

A new 5-year so-called Green Visa is aimed to make life in the UAE more attractive to middle-income in­di­vi­du­als be it self-employed, freelancers or skilled workers. In order to qualify for the Green Visa an applicant must earn a minimum monthly salary of 15,000 Dhs and hold a bachelor’s degree in fields such as law, education, science, social sciences or culture amongst others. Holders of the Green Visa can sponsor family members for residency for five years instead of as previously two years. 

 

Costs for the Green Visa have not yet been specified. 

 

Furthermore, parents can sponsor their male children until they reach the age of 25 in contrast to previously 18. Parents of disabled children will be able to sponsor them into adulthood. Unmarried daughters can be spon­so­red without any age boundary. 

 

All changes will come into effect in September of this year. 

 

For further details and more detailed information please do contact our office and we will be more than happy to assist you. 

 

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic the population of the Emirate has increased by more than 100,000 since 2020. 

 

The raise in population is due to an influx of foreign expats – particularly those with high-net worth income who found a new, attractive home in the Emirate after its successful handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Dubai was one of the first cities to open its borders after the Covid-19 pandemic, thus many people had moved back to the city creating more job and business opportunities in the market, which seemed attractive to foreign expatriates.

 

The increase of population and the successful handling of the pandemic further resulted in a strong economic recovery as private companies in sectors that are frequently used by the population such as tourism, aviation, hospitality, retail and real estate have been increasing their headcount. 

 

The total population of Dubai stood at 3,478 million at the end of 2021 compared to 3,411 million at the end of 2020. Women accounted for 1,07 million while men accounted for 2,4 million of the total population at the end of 2021. 

 

According to the Dubai Statistics Centre, despite the increase of population, the unemployment rate in Dubai remained at 0,5 percent, which equals to one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world. 

 

In the first quarter of 2022 DMCC has achieved the highest Q1 performance since its inception in 2002. 

 

DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre) is the world’s flagship Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise. Within the first three months of 2022 a record 665 new companies have been registered. Most of the newly registered companies originate from Germany, China, France, the UK and India, whereas increased interest in setting up a company in Dubai comes from Israel, Turkey, Vietnam as well as from Indonesia due to specific outreach programmes to these markets. 

 

As Dubai has issued its first crypto law regulating virtual assets and since DMCC launched its Crypto Centre in May 2021, the crypto market has been booming in Dubai. In the first three months of 2022 a mere of 16 per­cent of all new company registrations in DMCC were for crypto-related activities. 

 

The success of DMCC is proof of Dubai being a world-class business destination with its “ease-of-doing-busi­ness” approach.