UAE announces new green and freelance visa initiative

The UAE has announced the first phase of its plan to kick the country into high gear, and the first announcements are huge.

The country announced a green visa, which will permit residency for pioneers, entrepreneur and other professionals in the green space.

Green visa holders will able to sponsor their children’s visas until they turn 25, which is more than the usual of 18. They will also be able to sponsor their parents.

There will also be a country-wide freelance visa, making it easier for residents to stay in the country and have more flexibility with their work rather than being tied directly to one employer.

More information on how exactly it will work is to come.

Sheikh Mohammed also outlined the 10 principles guiding the UAE for the next 50 years. Read here.

Also, the UAE is attempting to attract 100 coders every single day—offering a total of 100,000 Golden Visas to the best coders in the world –to turn the country into a community of coders.

“We want to be home to the best talent — one of the Silicon Valleys of the world,” said Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence. “We want to export technology to the world and have the UAE’s data law become the gold standard for the world.”

The plan will include a push for Emiratis, too.

“Emiratis will be a part of this community and upskilling them is the current need.”

There will also be a big push for female coders, with the country aiming to have the highest ratio of female coders over the next five years.

Abdulla bin Touq, minister of the economy, has pledged AED 50 billion in the country over the next year.

There will be AED 5 billion allocated to Emirates Development Bank to support the industrial sector, as well as a new portal launched called invest.ae which will focus on attracting investment Russia, Australia, Holland, Azerbaijan, Italy, Hungary, China, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Poland, New Zealand, and Indonesia.