The Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security (ICP) capped a year of sweeping immigration reforms by publishing a single reference list of the 11 most significant visa updates on 11 December. The round-up, released through Khaleej Times, highlights measures that have already come into force during 2025 but that many residents and corporate mobility teams have yet to digest.
Among the headline items:
• Multiple-entry visit visas can now be issued for up to five years without a local sponsor, provided applicants maintain a US $4,000 bank balance.
• Salary thresholds for sponsoring relatives or friends have been tiered at Dh4,000, Dh8,000 and Dh15,000 depending on degree of kinship.
• Four new specialist visit-visa categories were added to attract AI experts, cruise-line crew, entertainment professionals and luxury-yacht staff.
• Golden-Visa eligibility has been widened to include creatives and Waqf donors, while the minimum property-investment requirement was standardised at Dh2 million.
Navigating this fast-evolving rulebook can be challenging. VisaHQ’s UAE portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) offers a one-stop resource for up-to-date entry requirements, online filing, and renewal tracking, helping both corporate mobility teams and individual travellers stay compliant with the new visit-to-work conversion options, salary bands, and insurance mandates.
![Eleven visa rule changes every UAE traveller and employer must know for 2025]()
For multinational employers, the most consequential change is the ability to convert certain visit visas to work or residency permits without leaving the country, cutting assignment start-up times by up to three weeks. HR teams must, however, monitor the new mandatory health-insurance provisions that accompany conversions.
Mobility consultants are advising companies to audit assignee populations against the updated salary bands to ensure that dependants remain compliant after contract renewals or currency fluctuations. Travel-management firms meanwhile report a spike in demand for visa-switch services as expatriates seek to leverage the more flexible framework.
The ICP’s year-end compilation is part of its “Zero Bureaucracy” communication drive, aimed at consolidating disparate announcements into a single source of truth for residents and employers.
Among the headline items:
• Multiple-entry visit visas can now be issued for up to five years without a local sponsor, provided applicants maintain a US $4,000 bank balance.
• Salary thresholds for sponsoring relatives or friends have been tiered at Dh4,000, Dh8,000 and Dh15,000 depending on degree of kinship.
• Four new specialist visit-visa categories were added to attract AI experts, cruise-line crew, entertainment professionals and luxury-yacht staff.
• Golden-Visa eligibility has been widened to include creatives and Waqf donors, while the minimum property-investment requirement was standardised at Dh2 million.
Navigating this fast-evolving rulebook can be challenging. VisaHQ’s UAE portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) offers a one-stop resource for up-to-date entry requirements, online filing, and renewal tracking, helping both corporate mobility teams and individual travellers stay compliant with the new visit-to-work conversion options, salary bands, and insurance mandates.
For multinational employers, the most consequential change is the ability to convert certain visit visas to work or residency permits without leaving the country, cutting assignment start-up times by up to three weeks. HR teams must, however, monitor the new mandatory health-insurance provisions that accompany conversions.
Mobility consultants are advising companies to audit assignee populations against the updated salary bands to ensure that dependants remain compliant after contract renewals or currency fluctuations. Travel-management firms meanwhile report a spike in demand for visa-switch services as expatriates seek to leverage the more flexible framework.
The ICP’s year-end compilation is part of its “Zero Bureaucracy” communication drive, aimed at consolidating disparate announcements into a single source of truth for residents and employers.
