For you and your Wife...
Hi, for my two dirhams worth, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR EYES OPEN WHEN YOU COME HERE FOR A VISIT! Don't look at the place through "rose coloured glasses" as a lot of people do. The comments below come from a post on the Expatwoman website and although it was written some time ago and for someone coming from Austrailia I think it is worth reading for you in your situation.
Cheers
Living in Dubai all depends on what perspective you look at it from.
I have lived and worked in the UK, Europe, Austrailia (Sydney and Melbourne) and New Zealand, so I feel that I can comment with a degree of balance and common sense.
I can honestly say that Dubai does NOT do it for me! Four years ago it was a very different place. The city of Duabi now, is a concrete jungle construction site that is out of control. The traffic is horrendous to the point of making inner city London traffic good, and the standard of driving is enough to make you cringe. However the municipality are working on the roading and are trying to increase the number of roads to ease congestion (like building a 6 lane highway right through a supposedly higher income community!) The rulers have actively moved in to slow construction as it my guess that they have at long last grasped the idea that the infrastructure can not handle any more load placed on it. (the cancellation of the majority of the Dubai-Land projects is a case in point)
Once the "bright Light Big City" novelty value of Dubai wears off, most people find that there is not a lot to do here unless you want to be paying out all of the time. Sure there are country clubs, beach clubs, very good restaurants and the shopping is fantastic to say the least, but all of these are a continual drain on the purse/wallet. For the majority of expats that come here, they do so to save money to put towards a better future for when they head home, unfortunately Dubai is completely geared up to take all of your hard earned cash from you, in fact that is the only reason the place exists! The place is completely artificial and has no soul. There are a few places of natural beauty ie the beaches and the mountains are worth a visit or two but that is about it, and the desert is ok if you like sand! As an antipodean it really goes against the grain to have to pay to go the beach!
Today has been a nice day in Dubai. It rained this morning (the first time in months) and for once we had a really blue sky instead of a hazy murk. The temperatures at this time of year are quite pleasent and from a British expats point of view I can understand fully the lure of sunshine everyday, however summer is approaching rapidly and with that brings temps of 40-50 deg C every day, no outside living for the summer months unless you want to be a dripping mess in five minutes! (it never officially gets above 50deg here as to do so would mean sending the Sub continental labourers home from the construction sites)
Dubai is currently tax free...yes well..they get it in other ways, you will be devastated when you get your phone bill if you have been calling internationally...the local telecoms company is owned locally and charges amongst the highest call rates in the world! So you think "OK I will use the internet phones etc" but they block the majority of those (depending on where you live) so they have the monopoly - and milk it for all they can!
VAT (Value Added Tax) is on the way as well and as for assurances that it will not increase prices etc here...come on guys!
Having been here while - too long most likely I can hear some people saying - it makes me laugh to recently read in the papers about people ( mainly new expats) about how they have no rights here and that they would appeal this and argue that at court back at home....well GET REAL PEOPLE....you have NO RIGHTS here. You are Expats, always will be and that is that. Live with it! If there is a problem between an expat and an National, whether it be driving, business, rental or the like, it will more than likely not go in favour of the expat! That is just part of living in the Middle East.
If you are looking to come here, I hope you (or the bread winner)like to work long hours for your monthly pay packet. The majority of people here that I know rarely work a "standard" week as per their contact and there is always pressure to do more for less, I know full well that is the way of the world but it seems that greed is a little more prevalent here. Figures of 30k dirhams have been floating around, that is quite good money if that is over and above housing, schooling, power and water etc, if not you will struggle to save. It has got expensive here recently.
A statement made to me recently sums it up beautifully, "as an expat in Dubai, you are really nothing more than a second class citizen, living in a very nice third world city"
If you are coming here from the Antipodes think very carefully and PLEASE DON'T sell everything up at home thinking a shift here will long term...the average length of stay here for an expat is 18 months, I didn't believe this when first told it but over the time we have been here it has worked out about true. It is very difficult for the grass to be greener here when you consider that is the middle of the desert! This place is just not home, it never will be and the little annoyances gradually build up. Do a search on this site concerning: quality of service, getting things fixed, school waiting lists, traffic, litter, smelly cab drivers, smoking in shopping malls, blocking of internet, quality of medical care, etc etc the list just goes on...
With trouble definately brewing again in the area, are you sure you want to make the move? Just make sure that your eyes are wide open!
We have decided to move on. The money bucket is not full yet, but the other bucket that you get when you arrive here is full to overflowing....
I hope that this will be of some use to you.
Rachael