Green Visa vs Golden Visa
The Green Visa and the Golden Visa are different ICP residence permits. Green Residence is five years, renewable, with no sponsor, aimed at skilled workers from MOHRE levels 1 to 3 on at least AED 15,000 a month, freelancers, and investors whose proof the guide describes without a dirham floor. Golden Residency, on ICP’s Golden Residency Guide, is a ten-year residence without a sponsor, with family cover that includes parents, and with a property route at AED 2 million. Neither permit is a passport, and neither turns into the other.
Published differences
Where the two official pages disagree with a third page, this table says so. u.ae still shows five or ten years for some Golden Visa categories. ICP’s Golden Residency Guide describes ten-year residency. Confirm the term for your category before you rely on it. The same caution is on what the Golden Visa is.
| Green Visa | Golden Visa | |
|---|---|---|
| Term on the ICP guide | Five years, renewable | Ten years on ICP’s Golden Residency Guide. u.ae still shows 5 or 10 by category. |
| Sponsor | None inside the UAE | None. u.ae states the same privilege. |
| Time outside the UAE | Not given a “more than six months” sentence on the Green Residence Guide | u.ae: holders may stay outside the UAE for more than the usual six months that keeps an ordinary residence valid. See time outside the UAE. |
| Family | Spouse and children, under approved requirements. Parents are not named. | Spouse and children regardless of age, and parents. Domestic workers can be sponsored under UAE rules. See family sponsorship. |
| Skilled work | MOHRE levels 1–3, bachelor’s degree, UAE contract, AED 15,000 a month | MOHRE levels 1–2, bachelor’s degree or equivalent, UAE work permit and contract, AED 30,000 a month |
| Freelance | MOHRE permit, qualification, and at least AED 360,000 freelance income in each of the previous two years | Not a category on the Golden Residency page this site cites |
| Property | Not the category. Investors show proof of a venture and its licences. | AED 2 million, including the Dubai rules on mortgage and off-plan. |
| If the holder dies | Not stated on the Green Residence Guide | ICP: sponsored family may remain for the validity of their own permits |
| Grace after expiry | ICP says specified grace periods, and does not print the number of days | Not described as a grace-period product. The permit is still a residence that can expire. |
Salary and property figures are the ones already used on this site from ICP, MOHRE and DLD. No new threshold has been added for this comparison.
Which file to open
- AED 15,000 to just under AED 30,000, in MOHRE level 1, 2 or 3, with a degree and a UAE contract: read the Green Visa skilled test first.
- Level 3 specifically: that level is on the Green Visa guide. It is not the Golden Visa skilled-professional line, which stops at level 2.
- AED 30,000 or more in level 1 or 2: both skilled tests can be in reach. The Golden Visa is the longer permit and the wider family list. Compare renewal and family before you pick on salary alone.
- A MOHRE freelance permit and two years at AED 360,000: that is the Green Visa freelance category. It is not a Golden Visa.
- Property worth at least AED 2 million in your name: that is the Golden Visa property route. It is not a Green Visa investor file unless you also have the venture evidence the Green guide asks for, and even then they are separate applications.
- You want to sponsor parents: the Golden Residency guide names them. The Green Residence guide does not.
THAJ will tell you when neither permit fits. The ordinary two-year employment visa, which the employer applies for, is described on the employee visa page. Forcing a Green or Golden file that the evidence does not support is how applications get refused. The rejections page is written for the Golden Visa, and the habit it describes applies here too.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Green Visa or Golden Visa?
The one whose published test you meet, and whose family and absence rules you actually need. The Golden Visa is the longer ICP permit. The Green Visa is available at a lower published salary and to freelancers. Better is not a third category.
Can I hold both?
They are separate applications. A Green Residence does not convert into a Golden Visa. If you later meet a Golden Visa category, you apply again under those rules.
Is the Green Visa cheaper?
The Green Residence Guide does not publish a fee, so this page will not claim it is cheaper. The only government fee table we print for a long-term residence is the DLD investor Golden Visa schedule.
Do both let me stay outside the UAE for more than six months?
u.ae says that about the Golden Visa. The Green Residence Guide does not. Do not copy the Golden Visa absence rule onto a Green Visa.
Official sources
Facts on this page were checked against these sources on 5 November 2026. Rules and fees can change; the authority’s current page always prevails.
- Green Residence Guide (page updated 12 September 2026) — Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security (ICP)
- Golden Residency Guide — Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security (ICP)
- Golden visa — eligible categories — The UAE Government portal (u.ae)
- Work visa — green visa and the standard employment visa — The UAE Government portal (u.ae)
- Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation — services — MOHRE
- Golden Visa application — Investor (fees, documents, terms) — Dubai Land Department (DLD)
Bring the facts you have
Salary and level, a freelance permit, or a title deed. We will say which permit those facts support.