I've just been offered a job in Dubai.
My brain is scrambled at the mo as the wife and I decide whether to go for it. We've got a 5 year old daughter and the deal is this:
We're both teachers.
We're both guaranteed jobs in the same (private) school.
Our daughter gets a place in the school too (gratis).
An apartment is provided.
Don't yet know about health cover etc, but I expect this will be covered too.
We're only really struggling with the huge life change, the admin of sorting out all the stuff we've got going on here (renting out our house, selling the car etc) and the fact that frankly, we don't know enough about life in Dubai.
So, any insights would be gratefully received.
Cheers all.
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I cant give you any personal insight as I have only visited friends there so others that live there will be able to tell you more. My friend that live there, with kids and all seem to have a very happy life.
Go with a 5 year plan to make some money. I'd do it if it secured my future.
Keep them coming - I need to make a decision by Friday!
Cheers
http://community.tes.co.uk/tes_teaching_overseas/f/64.aspx
Dubai is quite hard to get around unless you are driving. They have a metro, but it is just one or two lines running up and down the centre and unlikely to be near your school or where you are living. Taxis are cheap but a pain in the arse to have to wait around for. Would you be able to run two cars (Petrol is cheap), assuming that you both drive.
Traffic is also quite bad, if you have to commute up and down Sheikh Zayed Road which although 6 lanes in places, can take forever to travel on, especially during rush hour. They also drive like absolute nutters. Especially the cab drivers. It might be worth taking a trip out there and hiring a car to see how well you get around.
Bear in mind that it gets up to 50 degrees plus in the summer months, so make sure the apartment is air-conditioned, although I am sure that they all are.
Look in to Ramadan and whether, or not, that might cause you any issues.
I know a lot of expats out there get a set number of flights home included in their deal, too. If you are tied to school holidays when you want to visit friends and family in the UK, flights will be expensive.
Hope that helps
To hot especially at night and busy and strange atmosphere in a false sort way!
I was expecting it to be more laid back
But there was building work going on everywhere
As this was pre palms and Atlantis type hotels
But this was about 9/10 years ago so could have changed a fair bit!
Lots of brits love it so the decision probably has a lot to do with ur life here and what ur giving up?
Best of luck in ur decision
Friends in Dubai spend approx 1500d per month on electric and water, seems to be constant whether you are there or not though. Dubai is a good place as long as you have school places sorted, which you have.
As mentioned, the traffic is a nightmare. She's doesn't like how they treat the migrant workers - by this I mean mainly the construction workers, generally from the sub-continent. But, all in all, a few years out there will set you up for many years to come. And, it'll be a great experience for you and your family.
It's the new Nord Anglia School
No school fees will help, my friend showed me a picture of the four cheques (one for each term) that the school made him hand over before his eldest starts on August.
The way I see it.....you can always return home if its terrible (which I'm sure it won't be)...things always work themselves out.
No regrets in years to come LordRomford!!!
If you dont take it you will wonder for the rest of your life what might have been.
Dubai is a fabulous place.
Just do it !!
Racism is chronic, especially towards Asians and non emiratis but overall the standard of living is good.
Western teachers are highly sought after; the population of Dubai is increasing rapidly, mainly through young, Western expat families, and all their kids need to go to school. The education & the healthcare sectors in particular have great prospects over the coming years. This means that school fees & teacher salaries will grow strongly.
The culture is very different from the UK; it is a Muslim country, albeit a liberal Muslim country. I also believe that there are in excess of 200 different nationalities that make up the workforce here. Emiratis account for only 9% of the local population, with the remaining 91% being expats. It is therefore a really great place to work with, and live with, people from all around the world. And English is the language everybody uses, so it's very easy for us Brits.
Al Barsha is a nice enough area in Dubai, with very easy access to the Mall of the Emirates. You will need a car to get around, but cars & petrol are cheap here. There is no VAT & no Income Tax - so you take home 100% of your salary every month. The weather is actually superb for about 6 months of the year (October - March) & shockingly hot for about 3 months (June, July + August). The other 3 months are hot, but less extreme. Everywhere is air-conditioned, so the summer months normally pass quickly without ever actually having to set foot outside. The very hot months, of course, coincide with the school summer holidays, so many expat wives & teachers just go home to Europe for that period. The UK is only 7 hours away by air, and Emirates is the best airline in the world, IMHO. You can actually get to anywhere really easily from Dubai, which is why it is the major airline hub in the world.
I'll be honest, I hated my first 6 months out here & I was hoping to get back home at the first opportunity. But I stuck at it, and I adapted, and now I absolutely love it & I expect to stay here until I retire. At a time when the UK economy is still struggling I would recommend anybody to get on that plane to Dubai to find work. It is a very exciting city & the opportunities are endless. Go for it Lord Romford, I really don't think that you will ever regret it. PM me if you need any additional information.
You'll need to weigh the financial benefits of extra money/less tax/cheap cashew nuts in Dubai for x years against the potential loss of significant retirement benefits or be prepared to pay money into a private pension scheme at a sufficient level to compensate. That, to me, is the significant calculation to be made.
Instead there is a compulsory "end of service gratuity" scheme, where employees earn 21 days salary for every year of service in their first 5 years of employment, plus 30 days salary for subsequent years. This is mandated in the UAE Labour Law. It is not particularly generous, so, yes - you do have to take account of missing employer pension contributions. Even so, financially you WILL be significantly better off here than back home. Salaries are higher, and tax free.
We're taking our time deciding. It's not something you jump into without a good deal of thought!
Cheers.
do you think your daughter would benefit from moving away from the UK?
what sort of future do you see your daughter having in the UK?
my biggest regret is NOT moving away when me and my family had the opportunity, still irks me now & given the opportunity again, I would go in a heartbeat.
only my opinion but I just don't see what this country offers in the long term anymore for normal, hardworking people/families.
grab the opportunity, as said above if you do it right you can always come back if it doesn't work out.
One of my mates has gone recently & said he thinks it's a fantastic place to raise children.
It's different, but there are great opportunities, a new lease of life and extra money.
May to August are very very humid though and not much outdoor life!
By the time I finish this contract it'll be 3 years since I moved to China, I'm leaving in September but the ONLY reason is I couldn't raise children here and as I'm proposing to my girlfriend tomorrow it's something I now have to think about.
The only things I really miss from home are football and family, sadly money isn't good enough in china to make even semi regular trips home viable, I'd imagine that is not the case in Dubai. You've gotta go for it, if you try and hate it you can always go home, if you don't you'll probably spend the rest of your life thinking "what if".