On Friday, July 2025, a cultural event was conducted at Al Remah Fort to celebrate Emirati agriculture . The event named “Dubai Dates Festival” was organized by the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Heritage Centre. Two Thai women, owners of Orawan Farm in Thailand, participated in this eight-day festival and were awarded the UAE Golden Visa due to their efforts to promote sustainable agriculture, especially the cultivation of date palm.
The UAE Golden Visa was granted to them by Dubai’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA). Lt Gen Mohammed Ahmed AI, the director general of GDRFA met the two Thai women and awarded them with the visa.
The women manage over 5,000 fruit bearing date palm trees. These Thai women not only gained attention because of cultivation but also because of their promotion of benefits of dates through Tiktok. They attracted a huge audience on Tikok that helped in expanding the global awareness of the importance of fruits for everyone. Their content was about the significance of fruits for health and hence a number of people that were health conscious actively followed them on the platform.
Popularity of Dates in Thailand
According to Thai PBS World, dates are mostly grown in Thailand in Nakhon Pathom, Ratchaburi, Kanchanburi, and in the Northeastern provinces. Among these dates the most popular one that is liked by everyone is Barhi Date.
Anood Albooshi, Head of Events at Heritage Center said, “What makes Dubai for Dates different from other festivals is that it focuses on the palm tree itself, on its social aspect more than its economic one. Everything we have is dates, no fruits or other products.’
Hence, due to the contributions to the agriculture sector by Thai women they were honored with the UAE golden visa.
UAE Golden Visa by Investment
UAE Golden Visa is the most desired 10 year golden visa by investment program. It is a long term residency permit that allows its visa holders to live, work and study in the UAE without a sponsor or employer. This visa is specifically for entrepreneurs, scientists, investors, or professionals. These individuals invest for the UAE golden visa program so that they can benefit from the opportunities this visa offers and live a healthy and efficient life in the UAE.
It was the first time the UAE golden visa was awarded to farmers outside the United Arab Emirates in the Dubai Film Festival. This showed that UAE is expanding the eligibility for UAE golden visa , now the farmers can also benefit from this visa.
Requirement for UAE Golden Visa
The minimum that the investors can invest for UAE golden visa is AED 2 million in the designated investment options. The UAE residency by investment grants right to live that gives them the ability to secure citizenship after 30 years of living there.
Hence the investors that want to grow their business and live a healthy lifestyle should invest in UAE golden visa program.