UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Ildar Yuvakaev, Ruslan Akhmetov, Olga Serova and Daiana Ubushaeva, Consigliere Group
Trusts and foundations may hold operating business - es, usually through a holding structure rather than by conducting business directly. 7. Citizenship and Residency 7.1 Requirements for Domicile, Residency and Citizenship Domicile, immigration residence, tax residence and citizenship are separate concepts. Under UAE internal law, domicile has a more limited planning role than in common-law systems: personal status and suc - cession questions often turn on nationality and the location of assets. For clients from domicile-based tax systems, moving to the UAE does not, in itself, end foreign estate or inheritance tax exposure. Immigration residence requires a valid visa basis, such as employment or company sponsorship, fam - ily sponsorship, property ownership, retirement resi - dence, remote-work residence, Green Residence or Golden Residence. These are renewable residence statuses, not permanent residence. Tax residence is tested separately. A UAE residence visa, including a Golden Visa, does not automatically establish UAE tax residence. Domestic residence may arise through the centre of personal and financial inter - ests, 183-day presence, or the qualified 90-day test. For treaty relief and tax residence certificates, the 183- day standard is often the more practical benchmark. UAE citizenship is primarily acquired by descent. Nat - uralisation and exceptional grants remain discretion - ary and nomination based. 7.2 Expeditious Citizenship The UAE does not operate a conventional citizenship- by-investment programme. There is no fixed invest - ment amount, application portal, form or residence period that gives an individual an entitlement to nationality. Exceptional citizenship may be granted by nomina - tion. Since the 2021 amendments to the Nationality Law, it is possible for selected investors, doctors, specialists, scientists, inventors, creative talents and
other exceptional persons to be nominated by com - petent federal or local authorities. The process is dis - cretionary and should be viewed as a strategic talent- attraction mechanism, not a private wealth migration product. Ordinary naturalisation is also limited. It generally requires up to 30 years of lawful residence, Arabic proficiency, lawful income, good conduct and, in most cases, renunciation of prior nationality. Even where formal conditions are met, approval remains discre - tionary. For most private clients, Golden Residence is the practical route. It may be available through real estate investment of at least AED2 million, business invest - ment, entrepreneurship, specialised professional sta - tus or exceptional talent. It provides renewable long- term residence and family sponsorship, but not a UAE passport, political rights or automatic tax residence. 8. Planning for Minors, Adults with Disabilities and Elders 8.1 Special Planning Mechanisms The UAE has no labelled special-needs trust, but plan - ning tools can be tailored for minors and vulnerable adults. Guardianship is governed by personal-status law (Federal Decree-Law No 41 of 2024) and, for non- Muslims, civil family-law frameworks, letting parents appoint guardians via the DIFC/ADGM or onshore wills. The courts appoint guardians for incapacitated adults. People of Determination have rights under Federal Law No 29 of 2006 and Emiratis get assis - tance under Federal Decree-Law No 23 of 2024. How - ever, expat families have no state safety net; provision is entirely private. DIFC/ADGM trusts and foundations can name minors or disabled beneficiaries, with discretionary, spend - thrift-style distributions (where the trustee controls distributions to protect the assets from a beneficiary’s poor financial decisions) and professional trustees effectively acting as protective trusts. Onshore trusts now exist under Federal Decree-Law No 31 of 2023, registrable with the SCA, but the framework is young and little used – most advisers still prefer to route
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