Life in UAE advantages & disadvantages

[rowena]

why do they require 5M AED in order to get residency through investment into property? I find that strange when there is the company route or the newly introduce remote work visa that are so cheap. other countries have way lower limits as well so why is that?

UAE is not a cheap country, they're not interested to give investment-based residency to low income people.

You can get 5 years or 10 years visa by investing 5M AED or 10M AED to real estate or you can incorporate a company that will cost a minimum of $5K-$7K per year and you can get a 2-3 year visa. The cheapest option is a 1-year remote working visa. If you're not making at least $15-20K per month then UAE doesn't make sense.

 

[glengoolie]

i have seen only the 5M option on the official website(links are above on this page). either way, my question was about the price of the real estate for visa. as i have said, plenty of cheaper options out there with other countries and with the other long stay visas you have mentioned, the property visa makes no sense so that is my point - why is that? i would speculate that it is an older visa that has not been updated to catch up with the times and demand so maybe in near future they will refactor it a bit and lower the price. especially now that they have seen what a coof can do to their economy. more people = stronger economy.

 

[rowena]

plenty of cheaper options out there with other countries and with the other long stay visas you have mentioned

Which country can you give me an example?

 

[glengoolie]

it depedns on where you're from(eu, usa, other) but universally georgia, thailand, portugal or malaysia come to mind.

 

[rowena]

it depedns on where you're from(eu, usa, other) but universally georgia, thailand, portugal or malaysia come to mind.

They are not zero tax countries.

 

[Kermit]

why do they require 5M AED in order to get residency through investment into property? I find that strange when there is the company route or the newly introduce remote work visa that are so cheap. other countries have way lower limits as well so why is that?

Not sure if this applies to Dubai but in the Caribbean, these programs have a minimum investment level to ensure foreign investment does not price poor locals out of the local real estate market.

 

[zzzzzz]

UAE is not a cheap country, they're not interested to give investment-based residency to low income people.

You can get 5 years or 10 years visa by investing 5M AED or 10M AED to real estate or you can incorporate a company that will cost a minimum of $5K-$7K per year and you can get a 2-3 year visa. The cheapest option is a 1-year remote working visa. If you're not making at least $15-20K per month then UAE doesn't make sense.

What is the best non-real estate option for a private investor/trader (stock/crypto/derivatives) to get residence in UAE for the next 10 years? 1-year remote working visa, freelance visa, visa via dummy freezone company....?

 

[glengoolie]

Not sure if this applies to Dubai but in the Caribbean, these programs have a minimum investment level to ensure foreign investment does not price poor locals out of the local real estate market.

actually, it works exactly the opposite way. if the price is too high, the developers and owners will cater to this market and they will price out the locals. the same is happening in malaysia with empty buildings because developers build them with the price point in mind which means certain size which is too expensive and too big for locals. but of course, if you have cheap entry price point you will bring in foreign competition. but then it is a matter of either free market or price control for foreigners which results in the initial problem yet again. so you have either the option to determine areas where foreigners can buy properties, which will condense the competition and shoot prices through the roof die to low supply and high demand, like quatar does in doha, or you can mitigate this by things like forbidding investment properties for foreigners and allowing only residencies or you simply limit the number of visas per year to ease the inflow of capital over time. it is quite complex topic but in the context of UAE/dubai that has a ton of properties and low demand, with millions of empty square footage, you should incentivize people to come in and buy/invest/live since you have massive oversupply. additionally, uae/dubai lives off of "people" economy. they need trade to take place so the more people there are and spend money, the more vat is paid and more income for the government. since there is no income or wealth tax, the number of people is what matters, not how much they earn.

 

[troubled soul]

UAE is not a cheap country, they're not interested to give investment-based residency to low income people.

You can get 5 years or 10 years visa by investing 5M AED or 10M AED to real estate or you can incorporate a company that will cost a minimum of $5K-$7K per year and you can get a 2-3 year visa. The cheapest option is a 1-year remote working visa. If you're not making at least $15-20K per month then UAE doesn't make sense.

For Low income better to Pay tax in your home country , Tax Free living in Dubai is Costly. If you want to live Decent life.

 

[TravelAfficionado]

What is the best non-real estate option for a private investor/trader (stock/crypto/derivatives) to get residence in UAE for the next 10 years? 1-year remote working visa, freelance visa, visa via dummy freezone company....?

Start on the remote work visa for year 1, and keep renewing it for as long as the programme exists.

If the remote work visa programme ends in the future, then switch over to a freelance visa.

Eventually you can set up a freezone company or buy a property, after benefitting from a few initial years on lower cost visas.

 

[ilpablo]

Start on the remote work visa for year 1, and keep renewing it for as long as the programme exists.

If the remote work visa programme ends in the future, then switch over to a freelance visa.

Eventually you can set up a freezone company or buy a property, after benefitting from a few initial years on lower cost visas.

It's 100% legal to move to Dubai under the Remote Worker Programme while Owning and Managing an LLP Uk company?

Also you just have to get a permanent address and show up every 180 days right?

 

[wheelspin]

Please be aware that if you want to get a tax residency certificate you have to stay at least 183 days in Dubai. To maintain your visa you need to enter every ~180 days.

It's not just getting the visa and traveling twice a year to become a legal tax resident. If you life in Dubai you can do what ever you want

 

[Konstanz]

Please be aware that if you want to get a tax residency certificate you have to stay at least 183 days in Dubai. To maintain your visa you need to enter every ~180 days.

It's not just getting the visa and traveling twice a year to become a legal tax resident. If you life in Dubai you can do what ever you want

in theory yes 183 days. But in practice 2 days per year is enough.

 

[Piano]

Start on the remote work visa for year 1, and keep renewing it for as long as the programme exists.

If the remote work visa programme ends in the future, then switch over to a freelance visa.

Eventually you can set up a freezone company or buy a property, after benefitting from a few initial years on lower cost visas.

Does that remote work visa make you tax resident in Dubai ?

 

[TravelAfficionado]

Does that remote work visa make you tax resident in Dubai ?

From who's perspective?

Tax residence is not really a meaningful concept in UAE given that it's zero tax.

You could probably obtain a UAE tax residence certificate if you meet the conditions for it, just like anyone else. But you don't necessarily need such a certificate to legitimately be a tax resident of the UAE.

The more important consideration is whether your 'home' country will still continue to regard you as tax resident. That depends very much on the country. If it's the UK, you can easily consult the rules of the Statutory Residence Test. In which case, whether you are resident or not in the UAE (or have a certificate or not) is irrelevant.

 

[Bill D]

From who's perspective?

Tax residence is not really a meaningful concept in UAE given that it's zero tax.

You could probably obtain a UAE tax residence certificate if you meet the conditions for it, just like anyone else. But you don't necessarily need such a certificate to legitimately be a tax resident of the UAE.

The more important consideration is whether your 'home' country will still continue to regard you as tax resident. That depends very much on the country. If it's the UK, you can easily consult the rules of the Statutory Residence Test. In which case, whether you are resident or not in the UAE (or have a certificate or not) is irrelevant.

This might be right for the UK.

However more and more countries do require you to show the proof that you are tax residence somewhere else (by an annual declaration or a certificate of residence). If you cannot show the proof in case of a residence challenge, they would automatically recall you tax resident from there (your nationality for the countries I am referring to), with applied the penalties on undeclared incomes.

Sometimes this is not even written in the definition of tax resident in the country law, I can take the example of France : there is three criteria that makes you tax resident in France according to the law :
1)you have your principal place of living in France
2)you work (for your principal professional activity) in France
3)you have your center of economic interest there

Any of these criteria automatically will make you french tax resident, you see none of them talk about nationality, or having an other tax residence.

However someone who did not put any feet in France, had not any good in France, and had no work in France, no family there, could be in the past forced to pay his tax there because he was not able to prove his tax residence somewhere else with an annual declaration of TRC, despite this is not in any text (that one need an other residence to avoid to be recalled), and he was not triggering any criteria displayed in the text, the tribunals decided so. Because these criteria we often see in the laws are not exclusiv.

More than all you should check not only the law but the case laws which set a precedent.

For UAE it is clearly stated you need to work 6 months there, receive a salary from this one work to become tax resident.
Also keep in mind an ordinnance law of one line, taken in a matter of a week, can make a 0% tax residence useless for any national as I think Italia did

 

[TravelAfficionado]

Thank you @Bill D

That's exactly my point! It depends entirely on the country in question - UK, France, Italy, whatever.

@Piano asked if a remote work visa makes you tax resident in Dubai. And the answer is that it depends entirely on the tax regulations of the 'home' country (including any DTC in place).

 

[ilpablo]

This might be right for the UK.

However more and more countries do require you to show the proof that you are tax residence somewhere else (by an annual declaration or a certificate of residence). If you cannot show the proof in case of a residence challenge, they would automatically recall you tax resident from there (your nationality for the countries I am referring to), with applied the penalties on undeclared incomes.

Sometimes this is not even written in the definition of tax resident in the country law, I can take the example of France : there is three criteria that makes you tax resident in France according to the law :
1)you have your principal place of living in France
2)you work (for your principal professional activity) in France
3)you have your center of economic interest there

Any of these criteria automatically will make you french tax resident, you see none of them talk about nationality, or having an other tax residence.

However someone who did not put any feet in France, had not any good in France, and had no work in France, no family there, could be in the past forced to pay his tax there because he was not able to prove his tax residence somewhere else with an annual declaration of TRC, despite this is not in any text (that one need an other residence to avoid to be recalled), and he was not triggering any criteria displayed in the text, the tribunals decided so. Because these criteria we often see in the laws are not exclusiv.

More than all you should check not only the law but the case laws which set a precedent.

For UAE it is clearly stated you need to work 6 months there, receive a salary from this one work to become tax resident.
Also keep in mind an ordinnance law of one line, taken in a matter of a week, can make a 0% tax residence useless for any national as I think Italia did

So that being said, do you think that getting the UAE tax residency + UK llp is useless and just a potential trouble maker for an Italian or french national?

 

[yngmind]

I live in Dubai, weather sucks in summer, but fine because there is a/c everywhere.
I've got freelance visa, very good option, it's good place for tax optimization and for crypto.

Things that annoy me, that I can't open most of European EMI's since i'm not EU resident.

City is not big and I love that you can get to any place on taxi on 5-15 minutes which is really cool (I lived in the city where it takes 1,5-3 hours to get to the airport).

Location is really great, easy to get to Asia or Europe, there are many expats and you can easily make friends.

The cool thing that Dubai is a new city and it will get better and better every year, I can't name any better place for digital nomads. It's lovely to just go outside on Marina or Downtown, also there is will be a new tower Dubai Creek.

Girls definitely are gold diggers here, it's very common in expensive cities. Girls likes Dubai because of it's always sunny and it's instagram city.

You can live cheap here, just get your visa and lease long term, my friend is renting apartment in s**t location for 1000$ per month.

for Marina you can find nice apartments for 1500-2000$ per month, also keep in mind that you have to pay for insurance, for visa, medical services might be more expensive than in your home country but some costs your insurance will cover (please dont buy the cheapest one).

Many pakistans and indians etc which barely speaks English, so yeah every place has cons and pros, before moving here consider all the cost of maintaining life here.

In my opinion it's very expensive to open companies here, I would have some European company and residence here.

Also you won't get the citizenship.

In my opinion best nomad setup will be UAE residence, some Caribbean passport for visa free travel and UK LLP.

There are many crypto events and other digital events, so it's nice place to live.

 

[ilpablo]

I live in Dubai, weather sucks in summer, but fine because there is a/c everywhere.
I've got freelance visa, very good option, it's good place for tax optimization and for crypto.

Things that annoy me, that I can't open most of European EMI's since i'm not EU resident.

City is not big and I love that you can get to any place on taxi on 5-15 minutes which is really cool (I lived in the city where it takes 1,5-3 hours to get to the airport).

Location is really great, easy to get to Asia or Europe, there are many expats and you can easily make friends.

The cool thing that Dubai is a new city and it will get better and better every year, I can't name any better place for digital nomads. It's lovely to just go outside on Marina or Downtown, also there is will be a new tower Dubai Creek.

Girls definitely are gold diggers here, it's very common in expensive cities. Girls likes Dubai because of it's always sunny and it's instagram city.

You can live cheap here, just get your visa and lease long term, my friend is renting apartment in s**t location for 1000$ per month.

for Marina you can find nice apartments for 1500-2000$ per month, also keep in mind that you have to pay for insurance, for visa, medical services might be more expensive than in your home country but some costs your insurance will cover (please dont buy the cheapest one).

Many pakistans and indians etc which barely speaks English, so yeah every place has cons and pros, before moving here consider all the cost of maintaining life here.

In my opinion it's very expensive to open companies here, I would have some European company and residence here.

Also you won't get the citizenship.

In my opinion best nomad setup will be UAE residence, some Caribbean passport for visa free travel and UK LLP.

There are many crypto events and other digital events, so it's nice place to live.

View attachment 2649

It's completely legal to manage your llp from Dubai? There is an official statement for this?