Green Visa

The Green Visa is a five-year, self-sponsored UAE residence introduced in the 2022 immigration reforms, sitting between standard employer-sponsored residence and the ten-year Golden Visa. It targets skilled employees meeting salary and qualification criteria, freelancers and self-employed professionals holding the requisite permits and demonstrating income, and certain investors and partners. Its defining feature is independence from an employer: the holder sponsors themselves, so losing a job does not collapse the residence, and the post-expiry grace period is longer than standard categories. Green Visa holders can sponsor family members under the applicable rules. In practice the Green Visa is the main answer for freelancers formalising their UAE base, professionals wanting job-change freedom without visa risk, and consultants serving multiple clients; the recurring legal work is evidencing income and qualifications to the standard ICP or GDRFA require, and pairing the visa with the correct freelance or business permits so the work itself is lawful.