UAE citizenship in 2026: can you get it

A UAE passport cannot be bought and is almost impossible to earn: ordinary naturalisation requires 30 years in the country. We cover who the Emirates do grant citizenship to, what the passport gives and how the golden visa replaces it.

In detail

You cannot buy a UAE passport: the Emirates have no citizenship by investment programme, and online offers of a UAE passport for money are scams. Citizenship is granted in two ways: by nomination of the authorities for people of outstanding merit, and by ordinary naturalisation, which requires 30 years of living in the country.

For most families from Russia the realistic goal is not a passport but a long-term residence permit. The Emirates issue those readily, and they are covered at the end of the article.

Can you get UAE citizenship

Since 2021 UAE citizenship can be offered to foreigners the country needs: investors, doctors and specialists, scientists, inventors, people of culture and their families. You cannot apply yourself. Candidates are nominated by the rulers' and crown princes' courts, the executive councils of the emirates or the federal cabinet.

The bar is high. Doctors, specialists and scientists need at least 10 years of practice and a recognised contribution to their field. An inventor needs a patent approved by the UAE Ministry of Economy, and a person of culture an international award and a recommendation from a government body.

A nominated candidate takes an oath of allegiance, undertakes to obey the country's laws and to inform the authorities on acquiring or losing another citizenship. The previous passport can be kept: this is one of the few exceptions to the Emirates' ban on dual citizenship.

How many years you need to live in the UAE for citizenship

Thirty years is not a typo: that is how long you must live in the country legally and without breaks, as well as speak Arabic and have a lawful source of income. For a foreigner who arrived in Dubai at 35, that is a question of retirement age.

The marriage route is open only to women: the wife of a UAE citizen can apply after 7 years of marriage if the couple has children, or after 10 years without children. The husband of a UAE citizen does not qualify through marriage.

What a UAE passport gives

A UAE passport gives entry without a prior visa to 188 of 227 countries and territories. That is 74 more than the Russian passport. Schengen and Russia are visa-free, the UK and Canada require an electronic travel authorisation, and the USA requires a visa.

UAE citizens are entitled to state programmes foreigners do not have: free healthcare and education and housing support. But citizenship also brings obligations: with ordinary naturalisation the previous passport is not kept, and a citizen who acquires another citizenship without permission may lose the Emirati one.

What to choose instead of UAE citizenship

In practice foreigners live in the Emirates on a residence permit, and the most convenient is the 10-year golden visa. It is granted, for example, for property from 2 million dirhams, about $550,000, for a deposit, to entrepreneurs and to specialists with a high salary. You do not have to live in the country permanently, and it is renewed as long as the basis remains. Details are in the UAE golden visa and on the page UAE residence by investment.

A residence permit gives almost everything people look for in a passport: living and working in the country, a local bank account, a company and UAE tax residence, where there is no personal income tax. For remote work, the UAE digital nomad visa fits. How taxes and life in the Emirates work is covered in the UAE: residence, taxes and life and on the page moving to the UAE.

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