Residence Visa in the United Arab Emirates – useful data

Persons who wish to do business in the country must obtain residence visa – it gives the right to legally live and work on the territory of the UAE. You will need it in order to open a bank account, register a car and do a number of other important things. There are several ways of getting a residence visa in the UAE.

The first way is to register a company in one of the Emirates. This might be an option to consider if you’re planning to launch a business. The second way to obtain it is to buy property in the UAE – this will allow you to get a 6-month multiple entry visa. If you’ve been hired by a company in the UAE, your residence visa will be automatically issued.

You are also eligible to obtain a residence visa if you’ve been enrolled in one the UAE universities or have a relative living/working in the Emirates. The validity of the residence visa depends on its type usually varying from one year to three years. The whole procedure is rather simple and straightforward – you will be asked to submit a standard set of documents. If you are trying to get a visa for your wife/husband or children you will have to correspond to minimum salary requirements.

Please, note that visas expiration is a legal procedure. In case you don’t want to renew it, you have to contact the authorities for it to legally expire. Otherwise, you might be rejected to enter the state later on a different kind of a visa. This means that even if the visa has expired, it has to be cancelled.

Your residence visa might be cancelled automatically if you leave the country for more than 6 months. However, there are exceptions to this rule as, for example, in case of foreign students who are doing a part of their course abroad but study in one the UAE universities.

The status of the resident will allow you to enjoy numerous advantages of doing business in the UAE, in particular, the state’s tax benefits. There is no income or corporate tax in the Emirates both for locals and foreigners. Free trade zone are also exempt from import and export tax.