Spent a long weekend in Dubai and felt that pull of stunning weather and a passport that unlocks serious visa-free access? Heard about the tax-free salaries you can earn and think it’s a no-brainer?
Emirati citizenship is still fairly hard-won in 2025, but we’ve put together five proven routes that are your best way of obtaining it.
A decade ago, the UAE passport sat fairly mid-table, but today, it grants entry to 183 countries without a prior visa and ranks inside the global top ten, according to the latest Henley Index.
As you can see, that’s a massive jump, which was largely due to diplomacy and investor-friendly reforms. This essentially gave UAE citizens almost the same mobility as their European counterparts. So for British movers like yourself, this means fewer embassy queues and smoother business travel once you obtain citizenship.
Mobility Score: 179 (Passport Index)
Visa-Free or Visa-on-Arrival Countries: 183
GCC Perks: You get the right to live and work across the Gulf without extra permits.
Those numbers explain why the UAE passport has become so valuable in the Middle East.
Take a look at our five best routes to become an Emirati citizen:
If you have an Emirati father – or an Emirati mother and a foreign father – you’re actually already an Emirati citizen by birth.
We specify an Emirati father here first because it wasn’t always this way. Now, children born to Emirati mothers and foreign fathers can acquire UAE citizenship once they turn eighteen, which has closed an old gender gap.
The paperwork involves everything from a birth certificate and proof of parentage to a formal oath under UAE citizenship law.
Expect the UAE citizenship process here to run under a year (providing you’ve completed and submitted all the relevant documents). For UK families with mixed heritage, it’s definitely the most straightforward door, which is why it tops our list.
Marrying a local doesn’t deliver an instant navy-blue passport like it does in other countries. Under federal rules, a foreign woman married to an Emirati man may obtain citizenship after seven years of marriage (reduced to five if you have children together).
The husband must confirm the union remains intact, and the wife’s also got to have basic Arabic skills and a clean security record.
Note: The law does not yet extend the same pathway to foreign husbands of Emirati women, although reforms are frequently debated in the Federal National Council.
Yes – but indirectly. The UAE Golden Visa program gives everyone, from investors and entrepreneurs to doctors and tech specialists, a ten-year renewable residence visa. But to actually qualify as an investor in 2025, you need an asset or fund stake of AED 2 million (which is about £430,000).
Golden Visa holders can then be nominated for citizenship if they make “exceptional economic contributions”.
The short answer is yes, though the bar is high. The UAE government lists seven categories eligible for nomination:
Basically, you’ve got to have a pretty impressive CV: think patents that improve desalination efficiency or an MBE-level artistic contribution recognised abroad.
Traditional naturalisation – holding continuous residency for three decades – is still an option. Realistically, though, it’s the longest trek and mainly just suits expats who moved early in their career and set up shop without leaving. You’d need:
The Golden Visa or exceptional talent channels are a lot faster for younger UK professionals.
Search volumes for Dubai citizenship spike every month, but there’s not actually any city-level nationality. All passports are issued federally as United Arab Emirates citizenship, even though it’s the local authorities that manage day-to-day files. So if a consultant dangles a “Dubai passport” package, you’re probably looking in the wrong place.
Keep in mind that you’ve also got to budget for things like legal advice and translation fees:
Minimum Stay: n/a
Core Cost: none
Typical Timeline: 6-12 months.
Minimum Stay: 7 years
Core Cost: court fees of about AED 5,000
Typical Timeline: 7-8 years.
Minimum Stay: 0 (investment-based)
Core Cost: AED 2 million+
Typical Timeline: 5-10 years.
Minimum Stay: case by case
Core Cost: often none
Typical Timeline: 2-5 years.
Minimum Stay: 30 years
Core Cost: ongoing visa renewals
Typical Timeline: 30+ years.
Tax Structure: no income tax on salaries, and a flat 9% rate on corporate profit above AED 375,000.
Business Access: full ownership of mainland companies in many sectors.
Travel: top-ten passport mobility plus GCC freedom.
Security: quality healthcare system and one of the world’s lowest major-crime rates.
All these perks hinge on becoming an Emirati citizen, so track every requirement carefully.
We might be making it sound easy, but there are still a few issues you’ve got to keep an eye on before moving:
Some UK banks freeze accounts when clients become UAE citizens due to tax residency confusion. So make sure you notify your branch early and provide a self-certification of status.
Any firm that guarantees you’ll be granted citizenship in six months most likely oversteps. The only entities that grant UAE nationality are federal authorities, never private brokers.
If you own a UK buy-to-let portfolio, check HMRC rules on departure to avoid surprise capital gains bills.
Upscore’s Finance Passport stores your UK credit history and international income in one secure profile! That speeds up everything from mortgage approvals to Golden Visa renewals.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the median price of a house in the UK is £292,000. Sound like...
Read More
Moving abroad starts with figures. In the UK, the average house now sits at £292,000 according to the Office for...
Read More
Thinking of swapping that boring grey overcast and 10-degree weather for white sand in the United Arab Emirates? Let’s be...
Read More
