UAE
* Article rank
* 5 May 2009
* The National - News
* rditcham@thenational.ae hdajani@thenational.ae
Critics say property visas should last longer than six months “Applicants for [the six-month] visas could be politicians or businessmen who wish to have a place in the UAE to live in and they cannot leave their businesses in their home countries and stay in the UAE the whole time.
“So rather than applying for a visa every time they come in, they have the option of the six months renewable visa.”
Mr al Minhali said the department would tell existing holders of property-linked residency visas to “fix their status as per the new ruling or else they will be considered violators”. Several property developers spoke in favour of the new visa, claiming that a situation in which some emirates allowed developers to sponsor homebuyers for residency, while others did not, created confusion.
Peter Riddoch, chief executive of Damac Properties, said the law “brings much-awaited clarity on residency eligibility status for investors”.
Wael Tawil, the chief executive of Baniyas Investment and Development Company, said the decision would “ renew the confidence of stakeholders in the property sector”.
“Definition of this law was crucial for the property sector and will positively influence other sectors of the local economy,” he said.
Ameya Salatry, head of legal at the estate agency Better Homes, said one advantage of the visa is that it would ease travel for investors from countries including India, Pakistan, Iran and Russia, who had faced tighter visitor visa rules in the past.
Now they would be able to visit more frequently to manage their properties, he said.
But, he said: “Six months’ permission to stay is very low and won’t benefit the owners.
“We expected the visa to encourage foreign investment into the nation’s real estate sector, but the law should have had a longer time frame and without a restriction of being tied to a property value.”
Mr Salatry also said the Dh10,000 salary condition “would be an obstacle” in the event that the owner lost his job and had no alternative salary.
However, he said the actual purpose of the visa was to allow foreign buyers to remain in the country for long periods of time to manage their homes or offices, for example, by renting them out.
“The purpose is not to guarantee an investor [will be able] to obtain six-month visa in the event of circumstances like loss of employment,” he said.
Vincent Easton, an independent property analyst, described the visa’s conditions as “benchmarks designed to attract a certain profile of resident”.
“There is no doubt residency visas are going to be an attractive proposition for many and the Government would need to tread carefully to avoid a flood of applications that could prove problematic in the future,” he said.