Dubai is willing to issue more visas to attract more talents, she added, as “the government of Dubai wants to make the emirate a destination for cultural talents from all around the world”.
Sixty-nine artists and intellectuals in Dubai were granted UAE Golden Visas in 2020 after earning nominations from the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, top officials revealed on Thursday. Since the UAE Government introduced the 10-year culture visas for artists in October 2019, requests came pouring in, said Hala Badri, director-general of Dubai Culture. From these requests, however, only 124 were eligible.
So far, 69 had been approved by the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai, while the other 59 are still being examined, Badri explained during a discussion held on Thursday at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.