A Magnet for Talents: The UAE Has a Lot to Offer and Young Generations are Seizing the Opportunity!

Meeting their expectations is not easy, however, the UAE has a lot to offer. A world class infrastructure, security, connectivity and a great positioning to benefit from a time zone that catches the “working times” of both Asia and the EU.

In this regard, Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade in the UAE, noted that the Emirates has until 2024 to achieve its goals. In order to fulfil that, the government is trying to attract tech companies through granting golden visas to the talents.

“The plan is to gradually reduce the UAE’s dependency on oil and branch out wholly into the digital economy after notching significant gains in tourism. We want to make sure that we are harnessing the fourth industrial revolution, meaning the latest technologies, whether it’s the Internet of things, blockchain, AI, etc.”, Al Zeyoudi said.

Golden vs. Green visa

According to U.ae, the UAE’s ‘Golden visa’, on one hand, is a long-term residence visa which enables foreign talents to live, work or study in the UAE while enjoying exclusive benefits, including:

• An entry visa for six months with multiple entries to proceed with residence issuance
• A long-term, renewable residence visa valid for 5 or 10 years
• The privilege of not needing a sponsor
• The ability to stay outside the UAE for more than the usual period of six months in order to keep their residence visa valid
• The ability to sponsor their family members, including spouses and children regardless of their ages
• The ability to sponsor unlimited number of domestic helpers
• A permit for family members to stay in the UAE until the end of their permit duration, if the primary holder of the Golden visa passes away.

On the other hand, the UAE’s ‘Green visa’ is a type of residence visa, that allows the holder to sponsor themselves for 5 years, eliminating the need of a UAE national or employer to sponsor their visa.

The Green visa provides more benefits to family members, compared to the regular residence visa. Benefits include:

• Easy access to residence permits for family members, including spouse, children and first-degree relatives
• The ability to sponsor their male children up to 25 years (previously 18 years), with no age limit for unmarried daughters
• Children of determination (those with special needs) are granted a residence permit, regardless of their age
• Longer flexible grace periods that reach up to 6 months to stay in the UAE after the residence permit is cancelled or has expired

It is important to note that the residency of family members will be the same as that of the original residence visa holder.

Companies migrating to the UAE because why not?

Many companies would like to be UAE-based due to inflation- the tighter regulatory environment in many parts of the world- including Asia, especially Singapore and Hong Kong. 

For example, Binance and Crypto.com are some of the firms to have set up bases in the country, while other firms are using the UAE as their headquarters in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

European software development company Softserve is also relocating technical staff, coders, consultants and executives to the UAE while two fintech firms, Currency.com and Capital.com, are setting up a regional headquarters under the program. 

In addition to that, Exchange Bybit announced plans to move its headquarters to Dubai from Singapore in March, joining rivals like Holdings Ltd. and FTX in expanding in the UAE.