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For a long time I have been considering purchasing an apartment in Dubai... with the hope of getting a residence visa. I am American and worked in Dubai for 3 years and was of course on an employment-sponsored visa.

Now I'd like to get one based on ownership of property. However, recently Gulf News said this is not possible... or is it?

I understand the Immigration Dept has the final say, but can/will Emmar, Nakheel etc still sponsor property owners for residency?

Purchasing a property in the emirate of Dubai entitles you to residency sponsorship.
Not all of the other emirates have the same regulations.

There were questions raised a while back as some of the developers did not have the necessary mandate from the Dubai government to simply sponsor residency when a property was purchased from them; the Dubai government advised buyers to check the credentials of the developers first. The larger players Emaar, Nakheel etc. no problem - the smaller "independent" developers, check them out first.

Buying a property does not entitle you to work in the UAE, it only sponsors you fro residency not labour sponsorship.

June 6: Buyers get residency
http://www.gulfnews.com/Nation/Immigrat ... 18957.html

June 23: Nope
http://www.gulfnews.com/Nation/Immigrat ... 23351.html

It mentions buyers being granted a 1 or 2 month visa:

""The visa will have various privileges in line with the size of the investor's investments, and expires once the owned property is sold. Those who earlier acquired residence visas linked to their properties, could have their status amended, should the new legislation take effect," he said."

Well the second part is news to me. I’m not sure whether it should be taken with a pinch of salt or not as it quotes a spokesperson from Dubai's Real Estate Regulatory Agency and not a government spokesperson per se.

You can imagine the harm that changing a major regulation like this will do to the investor market as many investors do it simply because of the residency status afforded by the investment.

Actually this is laid out in this article:

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08 ... 24035.html

There are quiet often issues like this that are raised (or laws that are altered without proper forethought), normally once they have assessed the financial damage it will cause they rescind it, or alter it to a more palatable form.

Personally I would give it another month for the dust to settle and see what has changed before making a decision.