Can several properties be added together to reach the threshold?
Yes. The published requirements are written around a total, not a single title deed. The Dubai Land Department’s Golden Visa application for investors describes a property value of AED 2 million or more held in the applicant’s name, expressly as “one or more properties”.
The federal position reads the same way. The ICP’s Golden Residency guide states that the investor must own one or more properties in the UAE with a total value of at least AED 2 million, registered in the investor’s name. GDRFA Dubai’s investor permit page uses the same formulation.
So a buyer holding, for example, two apartments that individually fall below the threshold may still be assessed on their combined registered value. The practical questions are whose name sits on each title, how each property is valued, and what evidence the authority will accept.
Whose name must appear on each title deed?
Ownership is the point the guidance is strictest on. ICP requires full ownership of the qualifying property to be registered in the investor’s name, and DLD’s service notes that the AED 2 million is to be wholly owned by the applicant.
That matters when properties are held with a spouse, a business partner or through a company. A part share in a building does not automatically count in the same way as sole ownership, and company-held property raises separate questions about who the beneficial owner is. Jointly held property has been treated differently across visa categories: DLD’s separate investor residence service, a shorter permit rather than the Golden Visa, allows a co-owner to apply where their own share is at least AED 400,000.
Because these conditions are applied case by case, the ownership structure is worth settling before exchange rather than after registration. Where a portfolio is being assembled deliberately, the title arrangement on the first purchase can constrain the second.
Do mortgaged and off-plan units count towards the total?
Mortgaged property is not excluded. DLD’s investor service states that a mortgaged property may be used where the bank provides a no-objection letter confirming the amount paid and the outstanding balance. Federal guidance similarly contemplates property financed by an approved local bank.
Off-plan units bought from approved local developers have also been recognised in federal guidance, which changes how a combined portfolio can be built. A buyer may be holding one completed unit and one under construction and still be assessed on the total.
The detail here moves. Thresholds, down-payment rules and accepted evidence have all been amended since the programme began, so the position should be confirmed with DLD, GDRFA or ICP at the time of application rather than assumed from an older summary.
How is the combined value evidenced?
Through the registry, not through an agent’s estimate. DLD’s service lists an electronic title certificate or title deed among the required documents, and ICP asks for a letter from the real estate registration department confirming ownership of property worth at least AED 2 million.
Where a portfolio is being aggregated, that usually means a valuation position for each unit rather than one headline number. DLD’s investor route refers to the purchase value at the time of purchase, so a property bought below the threshold and since revalued may be treated differently from one purchased at a higher price. This is one of the few places where buyers are routinely surprised, and it is worth checking before committing to a second purchase intended to top up a first.
What does assembling a qualifying portfolio involve in practice?
Two purchases mean two sets of transaction costs, two registration processes and two payment chains. The fees a buyer pays on a Dubai purchase apply to each transaction, which affects how a target total is reached.
Funding is the other half. Every buyer is subject to KYC, and the source-of-funds documents a Dubai buyer needs are requested for each transfer, not once per client. Where the capital originates in digital assets, conversion to dirhams is handled by a VARA-regulated payment partner before funds reach the seller, and settlement can run through a DFSA-engaged escrow agent.
Revest represents the buyer, never the seller or the developer. Our Golden Visa pathway support within Additional Services sits alongside buy-side sourcing and payment work, and we do not give financial, tax or legal advice. Residency eligibility is determined by the issuing authority, and applicants who need a formal opinion on structure should take independent legal advice.
What the permit is, and what it is not
The Golden Visa is long-term, renewable residency. It is not citizenship, and it is not a passport. It allows the holder to live in the UAE without a national sponsor and to sponsor family members, as set out on the government’s Golden Visa page.
Renewal depends on continuing to meet the conditions, which is a live consideration for anyone who may sell part of a combined holding. Selling one of two properties that together met the threshold can change the position at renewal.
On tax, the UAE levies no personal income tax and no capital gains tax on property for individuals. Corporate tax applies at 9% above the threshold, with exemptions, and property held through a company sits in a different analysis from property held personally.
