10 year visa, 100% business ownership: UAE`s Wind of Change

On the 20th. of May 2018, the UAE government announced major legislatory reforms which will have profound impact on Dubai`s property market specifically as well as the UAE as a destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) as a whole.

The new laws, anticipated to come into force by the end of 2018, will provide for visa to be granted to highly skilled professionals for up to ten years to as well as to allow 100% business ownership everywhere in the UAE for non-nationals.
While the latter step had been anticipated for quite some time, the visa reforms were unforeseen to date and are likely to yield substantial demand effects for Dubai`s economy as a whole and its property sector in particular.

To date, the majority of expats consider their stay in the UAE to be just one of several episodes within their working life. Such modern nomads hardly develop emotional ties to the country of interim residence and its customs and traditions and move on once the local economic conditions worsen or better opportunities arise elsewhere.

In light of this lacking sense of belonging, the UAE leaders have understood that retaining greater parts of a so far highly transient expat community is key to a host of desirable effects among which are the accumulation of knowledge and capital. Speaking of which, expats living in the UAE have remitted 164.3bn AED (44.8bn USD) to their home countries in 2017. Granting a longer-term perspective to foreign residents will help retain parts of the inherently mobile workforce in the country and their funds invested in the local economy.
It is likely that Singapore, notably sharing many socio-economic similarities with the UAE and having risen into the top ranks of the Global Innovation Index (also) by liberalising its immigration laws, most likely inspired the UAE`s present leap of faith.

At least for the segment of the highly skilled the reforms will lead to a de-facto uncoupling of the right of residency and employment. This in turn will greatly reduce the in- and outflows of foreign residents in the course of economic cycles, thereby considerably reducing the economical cost associated with such fluctuations.

The full article further covers the impact on Dubai`s property market and investment environment, as well as socio-economic factors and is accessible under the following link:

https://www.property-blog-dubai.com/single-post/UAE-Reforms-Property-Investment-to-benefit

The author`s blog property-blog-dubai.com covers subjects related to Dubai`s property market and its trends and influences from an institutional investor`s perspective.
The author has been actively engaged in the Dubai property market since 2005 and advises institutional investors pertaining to their overall investment strategy, ongoing asset management as well as the initiation and execution of property transactions.

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Christian Atzert
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Web: www.property-blog-dubai.com
Mail: author@property-blog-dubai.com

This release was published on openPR.