The annual cost of maintaining residency, listed honestly

The cost of a residence visa is quoted as an application fee. That is the smallest line in it. What the status actually costs is an annual figure, and it is the one that decides whether holding it makes sense for someone who is not living here full time.

The recurring lines

• Health insurance, for you and every dependant, priced by age. For a family this is usually the largest single item and it rises every year.
• Service charge on the qualifying property, per square foot, payable whether the property is occupied, let or closed.
• Property maintenance, which in this climate is not optional — air conditioning above all.
• A licence, if the basis is a company: renewal, premises or flexi-desk, accounting, and corporate tax filing.
• Housing, if the basis requires it. Personal sponsorship of dependants is assessed against accommodation.
• Travel, where the status has to be maintained by presence — flights are a cost of the visa when the visits exist to preserve it.

The periodic lines

• Renewal of the visa and the identity card, for each family member.
• Medical examinations at renewal.
• Document attestation, which recurs as certificates are required for schools, licences and applications.
• Driving licence renewal, tied to the residence.

The line nobody writes down

The opportunity cost of the qualifying asset. Capital held in a deposit at a controlled rate for a locked period, or in a property bought for a threshold rather than for its economics, is capital doing one job. Whether that job is worth its cost is the actual question, and it cannot be answered without naming the number.

What the arithmetic is for

Two decisions.

Is the status worth holding? For someone living here, the question does not arise: these are the costs of living somewhere. For someone visiting a few weeks a year, the annual figure against what the visa actually delivers is a real comparison, and for some people the honest answer is that a visitor visa and a hotel are cheaper.

Which basis is cheapest? If you already own qualifying property, a company set up to obtain a visa is an entirely avoidable annual cost. If you need a company for the business anyway, the visa it carries is free. Working out which line is already being paid for another reason is where the saving is.