Visas

A UAE business owner can obtain a Golden Visa through three routes in 2026. Route A: company stake valued at AED 2,000,000 or more (paid-up capital or share value) + FTA letter confirming tax payments — 10 years. Route B: innovative project valued at AED 500,000 or more + approval from an accredited incubator or a UAE-licensed auditor letter — 5 years. Route C: basic salary of AED 30,000 per month as director of their own company — 10 years. All routes are self-sponsored with no 180-day rule.

An employer in Hong Kong must enrol every employee aged 18 to 64 in a Mandatory Provident Fund scheme within the first 60 days of employment and remit monthly mandatory contributions of 5 per cent of relevant income from its own funds, plus 5 per cent deducted from the employee. The duty covers full-time and part-time employees alike. The regulator is the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA).

The New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme is Hong Kong’s investor entry route, open for applications since 1 March 2024. The threshold is HK$30 million: at least HK$27 million in permissible assets and a mandatory HK$3 million into the CIES Investment Portfolio managed by the Hong Kong Investment Corporation. The scheme does not confer permanent residence on entry — it grants a limited period of stay, and the right of abode arises no earlier than seven years later.

A Kazakhstan permanent residence permit is issued by the internal affairs bodies for an indefinite term, but since February 2026 most applicants pass through a pilot project that scores immigration potential: the pass mark is 600 points and the sum to be shown in a bank account is 1,320 MCI. The “Altyn Visa” that has dominated coverage since the spring of 2026 does not exist in law as at the date of publication: it is a task set by Presidential decree, to be created by 31 December 2026. Digital Nomad Residency is not a visa at all — it is a separate pilot that issues the same permanent residence permit to IT specialists through Astana Hub. The real fork is not which visa looks best but what status you end up holding: a visa, a temporary residence permit, or a permanent residence permit.

The Neo Nomad Visa (category B12-1) is a multiple-entry Kazakhstani visa for foreign nationals working remotely for foreign companies who wish to reside legally in Kazakhstan while combining work with travel, without the right to take up employment with a Kazakhstani employer.

For several years, the UAE property investor visa system remained relatively stable: a two-year visa required at least AED 750,000; a ten-year Golden Visa required at least AED 2 million, of which a minimum of AED 1 million (or 50%) had to be paid upfront. Clear, predictable, but not accessible to everyone.

There is no single concept of a "freelance visa" in the UAE. There are two fundamentally different routes. They differ in duration, cost, income requirements, and freedom of movement across the UAE.

The Remote Work Visa (officially the Virtual Working Programme, also known as the digital nomad visa) is a one-year, self-sponsored UAE residence permit for individuals working remotely for a foreign employer or foreign clients, without needing to incorporate a company in the UAE or obtain a local sponsor. As of 27 January 2026, requirements have tightened: instead of 3 months of bank statements, applicants must now submit six consecutive months, demonstrating income of at least USD 3,500 per month. Applications for Dubai are processed by the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA); applications for all other emirates go through the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP), with different fees and procedures.

Hong Kong's employment and talent visas are administered by the Immigration Department across several parallel schemes. The ones that matter to foreign nationals are the General Employment Policy (GEP) for employed professionals and for entrepreneurs, the Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) for high earners and graduates of listed universities, and the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) for those without a job offer. All of them lead to the same destination: after seven years of continuous ordinary residence, the entrant and their dependants may apply for permanent resident status.

Health insurance for employees is mandatory for all employers in all 7 UAE emirates. Dubai and Abu Dhabi have enforced this since 2006-2014. From 1 January 2025, a federal basic health insurance scheme extended the obligation to the Northern Emirates. Without an active policy, GDRFA will not issue or renew a residence visa.

A UAE residence visa is an immigration status. It authorises living and working in the UAE. It is issued by ICP or GDRFA.

UAE tax residency is a tax status. It confirms that an individual is a tax resident of the UAE. It is evidenced by a Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) issued by the Federal Tax Authority (FTA).

Hong Kong offers four main immigration pathways for foreign entrepreneurs and professionals: the General Employment Policy (GEP) — including an investment track for establishing a business, the Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS), the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS), and the new Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (New CIES).

The permit to attract foreign labour is issued by the local executive body to the employer, not to the foreign worker, and without it an employment contract with a foreign national cannot be concluded. What governs entry is not an investment figure but the quota, the category of the position and the sector: in 2026 the fee for a single permit runs from 137 to 513 MRP — the monthly calculation index, the indexation unit used across Kazakhstani legislation — that is, from 592,525 to 2,218,725 tenge. A permit is valid only in the administrative-territorial units named in it and cannot be transferred to another employer.

Three key distinctions make UAE payroll fundamentally different from most countries.

A UAE resident may bring family members into the country under article 9 of Federal Decree-Law No. 29 of 2021, with the categories and conditions set by articles 54 and 55 of the Executive Regulation, Cabinet Resolution No. 65 of 2022. The Regulation names the spouse, children who have not reached 25, unmarried daughters, and children with special needs regardless of age. Parents are not in the article 54(1) list: the Regulation ties the right to bring first-degree relatives expressly to the Green Residence. The sponsor’s income threshold — AED 4,000, or AED 3,000 where the employer provides accommodation — appears nowhere in the Regulation and sits at administrative level.

A labour ban is an administrative decision by MOHRE blocking the issuance of a new UAE work permit for one year, applied only on three legally defined grounds.