something tells me we are going to see a lot more clarifications on this over the next few days and weeks.

I don't trust any of these statements.... there can be a turn around any time. And this is the problem. Lack of consistency on policies. When the whole world was advertising 99 year visa, the govt let it be because it worked for them.

Wait for a few more clarifications in the next few days

the most important part of the law that I believe Gulf News intentionally hid, to mislead current expats in Dubai to force them to buy is :

"Officials from the Department of Naturalisation and Residency (DNR) reiterated that applicants would have to own a property worth at least Dh1 million and earn at least Dh10,000 a month, or its equivalent in foreign currency. The income must come from outside the UAE; visa-holders will not be allowed to work here. "

from http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090505/NATIONAL/705049810/0/FRONTPAGE

Now this will mean you can actually sue Gulf News for giving intentionally misleading information to support Government spin in Dubai. And you have so called real estate experts going on about how if you lose your job in dubai the 10000 dhs will be a problem. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WORK UNDER THIS VISA, AND YOU NEED 10000 DHS EXTERNAL INCOME PER MONTH, NOT FROM UAE. Now let us see how many people buy!

>>visa-holders will not be allowed to work here. " <<

Ok, excuse me for misunderstanding but does this mean that property owners are not allowed to work here??

I'm sure it doesn't but...... ok, I'm not so sure!

In the usual way information is given here Rose it's a simple concept which is expressed so badly that it actually conveys an incorrect meaning.

Residence and visit visas don't allow the holder to work here, they never have. A labour card is needed for that, which is a separate part of the system. Simple as that, but our 'journalists' seem almost incapable of putting anything clearly.

Anon@11.57, it's unlike me to come to the defence of our esteemed media, but you're mistaken. From the earliest reports of the new visa Gulf News has included the Dh10,000 a month income condition.

Gulf News did mention it seabee, but what i understood from the gulf news mention of 10000 dhs is that i need to have a salary of 10000 dhs to qualify for this visa. so i understood that I could work in UAE, and have a salary above this, and qualify. which is what most expats working in dubai want to know, so they can now go and buy.
what i understand now from National is, i cannot work in UAE with this visa, the moment i find a job, i have to get a work visa, and my property based visa gets cancelled. and as long as live on the property based visa, i cannot work, and i need to show an income of more than 10000 dhs coming to me from outside UAE to even qualify for this Visa.

So what i think it means is, this visa is strictly meant to bring money from outside, not permitted for employees in Dubai. But i wouldn't be surprised if i have got it all wrong. There is a limit to my comprehension skills too.

Anon@2.56, none of us has the necessary comprehension skills to work out exactly what the 'officials' and 'journalists' are trying to say! That's not our fault, it's theirs.

This new visa is a visit visa and like all visit (and residency)visas it does not permit the holder to work in the UAE.

To work here we need a Labour Card - and when we have that we have to be on our sponsor's residence visa.

In that case we can also buy property if we wish to, but we won't have, or need, the new property-linked visa.

You're right that it's not for people who work here, it's for people from overseas, or retired people.

seabee, over at ArabianBusiness.com there are a LOT of very angry reader's comments about this. Why should anyone buy property if after 6 months the powers-that-be can just turn around and reject your visa renewal without giving any reason? (you know it'll happen, just wait.) Also, how many people currently own property that isn't worth 1 Mio Dirhams? Take Studio apartments for example; in certain areas prices have crashed (no, not "corrected." CRASHED). What about these investors / owners? Tie that together with the recent statement by Ahmed Al Mansoori, the director general of *Watani* who said that expats should "integrate more into UAE culture" (numerous reader's comments about how we are not immigrants with rights, we are simply temporary guest workers, so why integrate?) this whole issue of how welcome we may really feel in the UAE is definitely in the headlines again.