Dubai: A Dubai-based private company on Wednesday, July 9, issued an apology and accepted “full responsibility” for spreading “incorrect” information suggesting that the UAE government had introduced a lifetime Golden Visa.
The apology by Rayad Group, a visa advisory firm, came hours after the UAE’s Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) categorically denied the existence of any such policy. The ICP clarified that all applications for the country’s long-term residency programme — popularly known as the golden visa — must be processed exclusively through official government channels, and that no external consultancy or commercial entity is authorised to handle them.
In its official statement on Wednesday, Rayad Group acknowledged the confusion caused by statements made by its managing director and fully retracted its claims.
“We apologise unreservedly for the public confusion caused by recent reports and commentary, and we take full responsibility for ensuring future communications are clear, accurate, and consistent with the UAE’s stringent regulatory frameworks,” the company said.
It added, “We also wish to take this opportunity to acknowledge that certain public comments made by Rayad Group’s Managing Director were misplaced and have contributed to the misinterpretation of our role and the nature of the initiative in question. These statements did not accurately reflect our intent, our scope of services, or the limitations of our authority in relation to the UAE golden visa programme.”
The company further emphasised that there is no guaranteed or fixed-price golden visa product available in the UAE and that it neither offers nor endorses any such arrangement.
“In light of the confusion caused, Rayad Group is discontinuing private advisory services for golden visas,” it announced.
PTI, in its story released on July 6, had reported that the UAE government had started a new type of Golden Visa, with India and Bangladesh selected for the first phase of testing. The report also said that a consultancy named Rayad Group was chosen to pilot the nomination-based Golden Visa in India.
Based on the accounts provided by beneficiaries and individuals involved in the process, PTI reported that Indians could now obtain the UAE’s Golden Visa for life by paying a fee of Dirham 100,000 (approximately Rs 23.30 lakh) under the so-called “new nomination-based visa policy”.
With inputs from PTI
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