The UAE’s Golden Visa has become a powerful symbol of the country’s ambition to attract the best minds from across the world. Ten years of residency, no need for a local sponsor, family sponsorship rights, and the promise of professional freedom in one of the most connected hubs of the 21st century—few offers are more attractive to high-achieving graduates.
That allure only grew stronger after a landmark policy update in April 2022. In a bid to sharpen its competitive edge in the global talent race, the UAE Cabinet expanded the eligibility criteria to include graduates from the world’s top 100 universities. Whether you studied in Boston, Beijing, Bengaluru, or Berlin, if your alma mater features in the upper echelons of the QS World University Rankings, you now have a gateway to the Emirates.
The reforms are part of the UAE’s broader strategy to pivot from an oil-based economy to a knowledge-powered one, as outlined in its ambitious Centennial 2071 vision. Science, technology, research, and innovation aren’t just buzzwords—they’re pillars for national transformation.
In addition to global graduates, the programme now welcomes high-performing students in UAE schools and exceptional local university alumni. Assessment criteria include academic performance, year of graduation, and the global standing of the institution—making this one of the most merit-based visa regimes in the world.
Experts say the UAE is making a deliberate shift from a traditional sponsorship model to a self-sponsored, skills-first approach.
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Why UAE is a great destination for students Who is eligible?
According to the Emirates News Agency, the new visa policy is designed to “attract and retain global talents and skilled workers” and enhance the UAE’s competitiveness in the global job market.
The Golden Visa is open to:
- Graduates from the top 100 universities worldwide
- Outstanding graduates from UAE universities
- High-performing students in UAE schools
Applications from graduates will be evaluated based on:
- Academic performance
- Year of graduation
- University classification
These criteria are aligned with QS World University Rankings, which consider factors like teaching quality, research output, and employability.
“The UAE’s visa program shows that university rankings are an important tool for comparing university performance in a global context,” said Leigh Kamolins, Director of Analytics and Evaluation at QS.
“It highlights the importance that governments and employers are placing on reputable, quality education for enabling career mobility and driving knowledge economies.”
The updated policy also allows Golden Visa holders to sponsor family members, another step toward encouraging longer-term settlement and professional development within the UAE.
“The recent changes… mark a shift from immigration based on a sponsorship model to a self-sponsored model,” said Abeer Husseini, Partner at immigration law firm Fragomen.
Top 100 universities eligible for UAE Golden Visa
Below is the complete list of the top 100 universities worldwide, whose graduates are eligible to apply for the UAE Golden Visa:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
University of Oxford
Stanford University
University of Cambridge
Harvard University
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Imperial College London
University of London
Zurich Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich)
University of Chicago
National University of Singapore (NUS)
Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
University of Pennsylvania
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
Yale University
University of Edinburgh
Tsinghua University
Peking University
Columbia University
Princeton University
Cornell University
University of Hong Kong
University of Michigan
University of Tokyo
Johns Hopkins University
University of Toronto
Australian National University
McGill University
University of Manchester
Northwestern University
Fudan University
University of California, Berkeley
Kyoto University
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)
King’s College London
Seoul National University
University of Melbourne
University of Sydney
Chinese University of Hong Kong
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
New York University
University of New South Wales
PSL Research University (Paris Sciences et Lettres)
Zhejiang University
University of British Columbia
University of Queensland
University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Technische Universität München (TUM)
Duke University
Carnegie Mellon University
City University of Hong Kong
University of Amsterdam
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Delft University of Technology
Monash University
Institut Polytechnique de Paris
Brown University
University of Warwick
University of Bristol
Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Universiti Malaya
Hong Kong Polytechnic University
University of Texas at Austin
National Taiwan University
Universidad de Buenos Aires
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven)
University of Zurich
Sorbonne University (formerly Paris IV and UPMC)
University of Glasgow
Korea University
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Osaka University
University of Southampton
Lomonosov Moscow State University
University of Copenhagen
Yonsei University
Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Tohoku University
Durham University
University of Washington
University of Auckland
Lund University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
University of Birmingham
University of St Andrews
University of Leeds
University of Western Australia
Rice University
University of Sheffield
Pennsylvania State University
Sungkyunkwan University
University of Science and Technology of China
Technical University of Denmark
University of North Carolina