Eight days after relaxing certain laws on alcohol consumption and fornication, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has approved a 10-year golden visa for all PhD holders based in the country.
It also approved golden visas for graduates who have a minimum of 3.8 grade point average from UAE-accredited universities.
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prime minister of the UAE, announced the development in a series of tweets on Sunday.
According to the prime minister, the golden visa residency was also extended to specialists in Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data, virology, epidemiology and UAE-based physicians and engineers in the fields of computer science, electronics and programming, electricity and biotechnology.
Other categories granted UAE Golden Residency are specialists in AI, big data, virology, epidemiology & UAE’s high school top graduates and their families. We are keen to embrace talent that drives future development and this is only the beginning.
— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) November 15, 2020
The golden visa residency was announced in 2018 by the prime minister but it started in 2019.
It is a long-term residency programme in which top professionals are issued long-term visas.
Recently, UAE relaxed certain laws criminalizing alcohol consumption and fornication.