A 10-year visa for creators, and no follower minimum is published.
The Golden Visa for content creators is live through Creators HQ. Photographers, filmmakers and writers qualify on a track record, not a number, and the review takes four to ten weeks.
The UAE's Golden Visa for content creators is open and taking applications. Launched by the UAE Government through the Dubai-based Creators HQ initiative at the 1 Billion Followers Summit in January 2025, it grants a residence visa valid for up to ten years to people who make a living from creative work, and it does it without a published follower count or income threshold.
Eligibility is judged on four things, according to Creators HQ: a proven track record of impactful content or creative work, recognition or awards in the field, strong potential to add value to the UAE's creative community, and consistent growth and engagement. The categories are broad. Social media creators are the obvious ones, but Creators HQ also names filmmakers, photographers, writers and digital storytellers, and Emirates 24|7's guide adds podcasters and video producers.
The process is unusually short on paperwork. The application form goes in on the Creators HQ website, and review takes four to ten weeks. Approval arrives as a nomination email. After that, the steps are a medical test at Smart Salem in Index Tower, DIFC, visa printing at a Services 1 centre, and Emirates ID collection. The documents listed are a passport, an Emirates ID if the applicant already has one, and a photo on a white background. Renewal is available if the criteria are still met.
The visa sits inside a larger push. The UAE announced an AED 150 million Content Creators Support Fund in January 2024, a year before Creators HQ opened, and Creators HQ has stated a goal of attracting 10,000 creators. The economic logic is that creators bring production spend, audiences and brands with them.
For a creative professional the visa changes the basic arithmetic of living here. A Golden Visa is not tied to an employer or a company, so it removes the need to hold a licence purely to sponsor a residence. It also allows the holder to sponsor family members and to stay outside the UAE for longer than the standard six months without losing residency.
It does not replace a licence for doing business. A creator who invoices UAE clients still needs a legal basis to trade, whether a freelance permit or a company, and that choice depends on revenue, clients and whether the work is done for UAE companies or foreign ones. The visa solves residence. The licence solves invoicing. Most creators who move here need both, and the order matters less than people think, because the visa can now come first.
Fees are not listed on the Creators HQ page. Applicants should expect the standard Golden Visa government fees plus medical and Emirates ID costs, and should confirm the current figures before applying.