The United Arab Emirates has restated, through its official government channels, which family members a Golden Visa holder is entitled to sponsor for residence permits — a benefit the government frames around keeping the holder’s household together long-term.
According to a statement attributed to the UAE’s official government website and reported by Legit.ng, Golden Visa holders can obtain residence permits for three categories of relatives: spouses, children “regardless of their age,” and parents. The reported statement reads: “The ability to obtain residence permits for spouses and children, regardless of their age, as well as for parents, ensuring the stability of the entire family.”
Two details set this apart from the UAE’s standard residence-visa sponsorship rules, which typically cap dependent-child sponsorship at a set age. Under the Golden Visa, adult children remain eligible as dependents for as long as the primary holder keeps their Golden Residency status. The inclusion of parents is also notable: most residency programmes globally restrict family sponsorship to spouses and minor children, so a provision covering parents is a distinct feature of the UAE scheme.
The UAE’s official government portal, u.ae, separately lists “the ability to sponsor family members, including spouses and children” among the core Golden Visa benefits, alongside the visa’s long-term validity (5 or 10 years, renewable) and the fact that holders do not need a local sponsor. The Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs & Port Security (ICP) and the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) are the authorities that process Golden Visa and dependent-sponsorship applications.
Editor’s note on sourcing: the only outlet reporting the specific three-category framing and the exact “regardless of their age” / parents wording is Legit.ng, which attributes it to an unlinked UAE government statement. Zagdim could not locate that exact wording on a live ICP, GDRFA, or u.ae page at the time of writing; u.ae’s current Golden Visa benefits summary confirms spouses and children but does not spell out the age exemption or parents in that specific passage. The broader substance — that Golden Visa holders may sponsor a spouse, children of any age, and parents — is a long-standing, widely documented feature of the programme, not a new rule change, which lowers the risk associated with relying on a single outlet for the exact phrasing.
What’s next
Neither Legit.ng nor the UAE government statement it cites indicates any forthcoming change to these eligibility categories; the report presents the three-category sponsorship rule as a standing, current benefit rather than an upcoming or newly introduced one.
References
Legit.ng – UAE Lists 3 Family Members Golden Visa Holders Can Obtain Residence Permits For / The Official Portal of the UAE Government (u.ae) – Golden visa
