Dubai's golden visas help face slump

At the height of the global pandemic, as Dubai faced an exodus of expatriates competition and mounting from neighbouring business hubs, the government opened up.

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That decision is now helping the city dodge the commercial real estate crisis rippling across the globe.

The United Arab Emirates of which Dubai is a part started to break away from a decades-old economic model that prevails across the oil-rich region, linking residency to employment.

Officials widened the eligibility net for long-term 'golden' visas, abolished a requirement for companies to have a majority local partner, switched to a Monday-Friday working week, and made it legal for unmarried couples to live together.

Policymakers wanted to help Dubai shed its reputation of being a transient city by attracting expatriates and encouraging some of them to set up businesses. That seems to have paid off.

In response to questions from Bloomberg, authorities released data for last year, revealing the scale of the turnaround. The city had 411,802 active business licenses in 2023. That's a 30% jump from 2022 levels and a 75% increase from 2021.