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United Arab Emirates · digital nomad visa · 2026

United Arab Emirates's digital nomad visa

12months
Virtual Work Residence VisaOpen · checked 2026-08-18 · u.ae

United Arab Emirates runs the Virtual Work Residence Visa, an initial 12 months for remote workers earning $3,500 a month.

Next step

One email when the app can count this stay for you.

How we know

Every figure here is as u.ae publishes it, checked 18 August 2026. Where a number is our own arithmetic rather than a printed figure, the row says so.

Status
Open
Visa
Virtual Work Residence Visa
Initial stay
12 months
Renewal
One year, extendable; neither u.ae nor GDRFA Dubai publishes a renewal cap or renewal fee
Income required
$3,500 a month — GDRFA Dubai's service page requires proof of "monthly income of no less than (3,500) US dollars or the equivalent"; u.ae states the same $3,500 salary-certificate minimum without naming the period. The higher USD 5,000/month company-owner tier and the six-month bank-statement rule reported elsewhere appear on no official page and are not published here.
Fee
200 AED — GDRFA Dubai: AED 200 + 5% VAT, plus AED 10 Knowledge Dirham, AED 10 Innovation Dirham and AED 500 in-country processing if you are already in the country. The older "USD 287 per person" figure sat on a u.ae page that now returns 404 and is not citable as current.
Processing
48 hours, per GDRFA Dubai
Who qualifies
Work remotely for an entity outside the UAE. Documents: passport valid 6+ months, proof of remote work for a non-UAE employer, salary certificate, valid health insurance, medical fitness test. Entry is under self-sponsorship.
Family
GDRFA Dubai allows family sponsorship for the same period as the holder's residence; dependant thresholds and fees are not published.
Where to apply
Apply through ICP (smartservices.icp.gov.ae) or, for Dubai, GDRFA (gdrfad.gov.ae) — online with UAE Pass or at an AMER centre. GDRFA notes an initial 60-day residence period from entry before the one-year residence completes.
Official page
u.ae
Checked
18 August 2026

Sources are listed further down the page.

What to know before you apply

u.ae was restructured: the old /residence-visas/ URLs including the Dubai Virtual Working Programme page now 404, and the live page (last updated 07 Aug 2026) no longer publishes fees or family rules, so GDRFA Dubai is the authoritative source for those. Tax treatment is not addressed on any official page, so nothing is claimed here.

What it means for your tax days

A visa is permission to stay; tax residency follows the days. United Arab Emirates treats you as tax resident once you are present 183 days 183 days or more within the relevant 12 consecutive months — a rolling period, not a calendar year. Any day or part of a day, however brief, counts as a full day, and the days need not be consecutive; days spent in the UAE due to exceptional circumstances may be disregarded. — though the system is territorial, so foreign income may fall outside it. Days are not the only test: Article 4 of Cabinet Decision No. 85 of 2022 gives three alternative tests, any one of which makes a natural person a UAE tax resident for domestic purposes: (1) physically present in the UAE for 183 days or more within the relevant 12 consecutive months; (2) physically present for 90 days or more within the relevant 12 consecutive months AND being a UAE or GCC national or holding a valid UAE Residence Permit, AND having a Permanent Place of Residence in the UAE or carrying on an employment or Business in the UAE; (3) having their usual or primary place of residence AND their centre of financial and personal interests in the UAE — both limbs must be met. A Permanent Place of Residence is "a furnished house, apartment, room or other form of dwelling, which a natural person has arranged to have made continuously available to them"; it need not be owned, and a dwelling occupied only occasionally or temporarily for travel, leisure or education does not count. The full tests and the official source are on our United Arab Emirates tax-day page.

Sources

  • u.ae — official source, checked 2026-08-18
  • gdrfad.gov.ae (official), retrieved 2026-08-18

Questions people ask about United Arab Emirates

Does United Arab Emirates have a digital nomad visa?

Yes. United Arab Emirates runs the Virtual Work Residence Visa, which grants an initial stay of 12 months (one year, extendable; neither u.ae nor gdrfa dubai publishes a renewal cap or renewal fee). Checked 18 August 2026 against u.ae.

How much do you need to earn for the United Arab Emirates digital nomad visa?

$3,500 a month — GDRFA Dubai's service page requires proof of "monthly income of no less than (3,500) US dollars or the equivalent"; u.ae states the same $3,500 salary-certificate minimum without naming the period. The higher USD 5,000/month company-owner tier and the six-month bank-statement rule reported elsewhere appear on no official page and are not published here.. That is the figure as published; check the official page for the current amount before you apply.

How long can you stay on the United Arab Emirates digital nomad visa?

12 months on the initial permission; one year, extendable; neither u.ae nor gdrfa dubai publishes a renewal cap or renewal fee. Stretch counts the days either way and tells you the date you must be out.

Does a digital nomad visa in United Arab Emirates make you tax resident?

Not by itself — but staying does. United Arab Emirates treats you as tax resident once you are there 183 days 183 days or more within the relevant 12 consecutive months — a rolling period, not a calendar year. Any day or part of a day, however brief, counts as a full day, and the days need not be consecutive; days spent in the UAE due to exceptional circumstances may be disregarded., though the system is territorial. See our United Arab Emirates tax-day page for the tests and the official source.

How does Stretch help with the United Arab Emirates digital nomad visa?

Log the day you land and Stretch counts the days against the permission you are on, shows the date you must be out, and reminds you at 14, 7, 3 and 1 days. It also tallies the days that count towards tax residency, so the 183-day question answers itself. The counting and the alerts are free, forever.

Other digital nomad visas

United Arab Emirates, the rest of it

Stretch is a tracker, not legal advice, and this is not tax advice. Visa and tax rules change and are applied by the authority, not by an app — every figure here shows its source and the date we checked it. Checked 2026-08-18; confirm on the official page before you apply or file.