Working in the UAE

[wowlace]

Any professionals here with experience working in the UAE? Particularly Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I've heard a few stories about being put up with a decent home and looked after well regarding remuneration. Is it all it's cracked up to be? Is iSUSS a worry there?

 

[skilts]

Any professionals here with experience working in the UAE? Particularly Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I've heard a few stories about being put up with a decent home and looked after well regarding remuneration. Is it all it's cracked up to be? Is iSUSS is a worry there?

You would be better off spending a couple of years in gaol in Australia, rather than go to Dubai. You would, literally, be selling yourself into slavery.

 

[Juddism]

yes..Dubai, shithole, sandpit and would never go back...

 

[deltablues]

I spent many years living and working in, among others, various Gulf and Maghreb countries, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Of the 2, I much preferred Abu Dhabi.

Financially you are well looked after - some more than others, depending on your company. The oil industry pays most, and commercial construction and civil engineering less. An expat package in the UAE in my experience usually comprises a local tax-free salary (altho it may be taxable in your home country), free accommodation, a car/car allowance, cost of living allowance, free medical, free flights to your base for vacations or rotation leave. Free schooling if you have kids.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai have many western expats working there, and have a good social life. Alcohol is available to westerners, unlike many other Arab countries. If you do not get caught up too much in the social whirl you can save a lot of money and help fast-track yourself financially.

However, the Gulf is not for everyone. In order to make it work, as in all Arab countries, a western expat needs to go in with an open mind. Failure to do so can result in frustration and a number of newbie expats leave after 1 year as it is too much for them. I made a big effort to learn Arabic and to get into the mindset (the latter particularly necessary to successfully operate at a senior business level).

While on the one hand I got on well with the locals (with the usual exceptions) and enjoyed their friendship, hospitality and good sense of humor, I never admired the overall culture of the Gulf, and I don't miss that area at all (compared to say Libya, where I lived for 3 years pre-Ghaddafi death, and which I still miss to this day).

I always felt safe in the Muslim countries (except just after 9/11 when I was living in Kuwait and the fundamentalists came out of the woodwork) but as with all expats in TW countries, you need to blend in and be aware of your surroundings and the folk around you. I would not be concerned about ISIS, at least at this stage.