UAE Golden Visa for skilled professionals: executive directors, specialists and PhD holders

The ICP guide groups "executive directors" and "specialists in priority scientific and engineering fields", together with PhD holders, inside the category of "individuals with exceptional talents and specialised expertise". It gives them 10 years. There is no category on the guide called skilled professionals or skilled workers; that phrase belongs to the Green visa, where it carries a salary test of AED 15,000 and a MOHRE occupation level of 1 to 3. This page uses the search term because people search for it, and then tells you what the official pages actually say.

The ICP guide contains exactly one salary number for professionals. In the document list for executive directors it requires "a salary certificate showing a salary of no less than AED 50,000". That is all. The guide does not say whether the figure is monthly, though salary certificates in the UAE state monthly pay. u.ae, which mirrors the ICP categories, contains no salary figure at all for this group.

The AED 30,000 figure that circulates on private websites, often described as the threshold for skilled professionals or for managers, is not on either official page on the review date. It may reflect earlier rules or an emirate-level practice, but we could not find it on an official page and we do not publish it as a rule. If an adviser tells you AED 30,000 is enough, ask them to show you the official page that says so, and run the ICP eligibility check for your own case.

The current ICP guide does not list them. An older ICP page, still online with 2021 wording, describes the talent groups as "all PhD holders, doctors and engineers in the fields of computer engineering, electronics, programming, electricity and biotechnology, and those who hold specialized degrees in artificial intelligence, big data or epidemiology and viruses". That page is older than the guide and we treat the guide as controlling; the list is useful as an indication of the fields the authority has recognised, not as a current rule. If your degree is in another scientific or engineering discipline, ask ICP or GDRFA Dubai before you apply.

1. Confirm the sub-category. Executive director if you meet all four items; specialist if you hold a PhD or a degree in a priority field and a contract.
2. Obtain the employer documents. Contract, salary certificate and experience letters on letterhead.
3. Attest the degree if it was issued abroad.
4. Run the ICP eligibility check or use GDRFA Dubai's Golden visa services, and submit the nomination.
5. Change status. Most applicants in this group already hold an employment residence. The employer cancels the work permit with MOHRE and the residence; you file the status adjustment (AED 500 on the ICP card) and complete medical, Emirates ID and issuance within 60 days.
6. Work permit. Your employer then obtains the two-year Golden visa holder work permit from MOHRE.

Run the eligibility checker with your salary certificate figure and your degree. If the executive-director list fits, ask for a document review; if it does not, the Green visa is usually the better use of your time. Doctors, scientists and inventors are covered on doctors and scientists.