Dubai Business Visa
Live, invest, or build a company in Dubai with the right business visa. Compare the visit, investor, Green, and Golden routes by cost, validity, and who each suits.
What is a Dubai business visa?
A Dubai business visa lets you enter, invest, or run a company in the UAE. It covers everything from a short permit for meetings to 10-year residency you sponsor yourself. The route you take depends on how far you want to go.
Come for a few meetings and a business visit visa is enough. Own a licensed company and you earn a 2-year investor visa. Put real capital behind a business, or build a strong startup, and you can reach a 5 or 10-year residency with family included.
Riz & Mona has placed Dubai business owners on the right visa since 2009. We read your company status and capital, match you to the route you actually qualify for, and handle the file from document prep to Emirates ID.
The four business visa routes
| Route | Validity | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Business visit | 30–60 days | Meetings, market entry |
| Investor / partner | 2 years | Company owners |
| Green Visa | 5 years | AED 1M investors |
| Golden Visa | 10 years | AED 2M or startups |
| Sponsor family | With residency | Spouse, children |
| Self-sponsored | Green & Golden | No employer needed |
Which Dubai business visa fits?
You pick a business visa by your situation, not by its name. Match yourself to one of the lines below and your route is clear. Most owners know which one fits within a minute of reading them.
One rule sits under every residency route. Your visa is tied to your trade licence. Let the licence lapse and your renewal stalls, so the business and the visa have to stay healthy together.
- Here for meetings only? A business visit visa fits, with no residency needed.
- Own a licensed Dubai company? The 2-year investor or partner visa is yours.
- Investing AED 1M in a business? You qualify for the 5-year Green Visa.
- Have AED 2M capital or a strong startup? The 10-year Golden Visa is in reach.
- On any residency route, you can then sponsor your spouse and children.
Note: Every residency route below runs through GDRFA or the free zone that licenses you. Riz & Mona coordinates the file and sequences it with your licence. We do not issue the visa; the authority does, and approval is never automatic.
Pick your business visa route
Here are the four routes, what each one asks of you, and who it suits. Find the one that matches your plans, and open it for the full costs and steps.
Short-term entry
Business residency
Still unsure which route to file?
Tell us your company status and capital. We name the route you qualify for today, and the one you could reach as your business grows.
What does a Dubai business visa cost?
What you pay depends on your route. Here is an indicative government-fee range for each, so you can see the gap between a short visit visa and a decade of residency before you commit.
Indicative government fees
AED 200 – 7,000+
The low end is a visit visa. The high end is a residency route with medical, Emirates ID, and processing. Company setup and licence fees are separate.
What each route asks for
All figures are indicative and current at the time of writing, and they exclude company setup and licence costs. Fees differ by route, emirate, and free zone. Riz & Mona gives you a personalised, itemised quote before any payment, matched to the route you choose.
Residency routes
Working days
From a complete file with an active licence. Visit visas move quicker. Golden Visa files with audits or incubator approval can take longer.
Remember: Your residency needs the company licence in place first. If you are still forming the company, that step comes before the visa. Riz & Mona sequences both so you are not waiting on the wrong one.
How fast can you get a business visa?
A clean residency file usually takes 5 to 15 working days once your trade licence exists. A business visit visa comes through faster. The bigger the visa, the more checks it carries, so the Golden route sits at the longer end.
- Confirm your route and that your licence is active
- Prepare documents for that specific route
- Apply for the entry permit, or change status if in the UAE
- Take the medical fitness test and give biometrics
- Collect your Emirates ID and residence visa
- Sponsor family once your own visa is active
Every residency route shares one renewal rule that trips people up: your trade licence must be active first. Get that right and the rest of the renewal is straightforward.
We have set up companies and placed their owners on the right visa since 2009, from Dubai. The mistake we see most is a business owner applying for the wrong route, either overpaying for capital they did not need to show, or aiming too low and getting refused.
We are your coordinator, not your sponsor. On a free zone company the zone sponsors you; on mainland it runs through GDRFA. We match your licence and capital to the right route, sequence the visa with the setup, and file it clean.
The right business visa is the one your licence and capital already support, not the most expensive one.
Route matched to you
Visit, investor, Green, or Golden.
Setup and visa as one
Licence sequenced with the visa.
Change of status
Switch without leaving the UAE.
Family after approval
Spouse and children sponsored.
Years in setup and UAE visas
Business visa routes covered
Working days, residency file
Team for setup and visa
Every figure on this page is indicative and current at the time of writing.
Not sure which business visa is yours?
Tell Riz & Mona your company status and capital. We name the route you qualify for, quote it honestly, and handle the file from documents to your Emirates ID.