Playback singer K S Chithra latest to receive UAE Golden Visa

Playback singer K S Chithra is the latest to join the list of awarded UAE Golden Visa holders after Mammootty and Mohanlal, Malayalam superstars. The duo received UAE Golden Visa in August this year and shared the news with fans on Twitter.

The popular singer received the Golden Visa from Major General Mohamed Ahmed Al Marri. He is the director general of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai. The visa has 10 years of validity. In a Facebook post, Chithra expressed gratitude saying that she is pleased and honoured to have received the Golden visa from the director general of GDRFA.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) introduced this new system in 2019 for long-term residence visas. The visa enables foreigners to stay, study and work in the country without needing a national sponsor. The visitors can also have 100 per cent control/ownership of their business. The 2019 amendment was introduced to meet up with COVID led economic crisis that was faced by the entire country. This amendment attracted new foreign residents to live and find work in the city . This Golden Visa system offers long-term residency to the visa holders of 5- 10 years. It is available particularly to those entrepreneurs, investors, individuals with exceptional talents–like researchers, professionals, scientists and students with outstanding academia.

Here’s how can you apply

Those who would like to apply for the Golden Visa may visit the official website of the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship — ICA (the eChannel for residency and citizenship). They can also reach out to the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) website as it works closely with the ministry. Interested candidates would need to fill up all the required details, documents and must also be willing to relocate to the country (UAE) as per their business plans/ventures.

Indian celebrities with golden visa

Playback singer KS Chithra is the latest to join UAE Golden Visa bandwagon. Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt was honoured with a golden visa earlier this year on May 26. The actor thanked the UAE government for granting him the visa in one of his Twitter posts. Sania Mirza, Indian tennis player, also received the UAE Golden visa in July this year itself. The visa allowed both Sania and her husband Shoaib Malik 10 year residency in the United States Emirates. She is in fact the third Indian personality to be honoured with the visa after Bollywood’s King Khan Shahrukh Khan and Sanjay Dutt. Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba and Novak Djokovic are some of the other famous international sports personalities who received the UAE Golden Visa in the past.