SuperDriveGuy

Hello All,
Looking for some genuine feedback..

I am a UK citizen and work as a IT Consultant. This involves a lot of travelling to other EU countries and sometimes USA. I was thinking of moving to the UAE(Dubai, but open to suggestions), due to residency(more than 6 months) being in a country with no income tax and a lifestyle change. Just throwing it out there, to see if anyone sees any obvious flaws or if they know someone who is doing something similar and its not that far"out of the box" as I am inclined in thinking...


Lifestyle -

We have been moving around a lot, so have friends spread all over the place, actually many live in UAE and it will not be a uprooting move even for the kids. We know not to expect Western social and economic standards, but close enough. Winters will be nicer, but Summers maybe too hot, we'll see. Place is full of expats to expect to fit in nicely.


Education -

Family with 2 teenagers. Looking for a good school(IGCSE?), not prestigious, so budgeting about AED 70K for both. Seems to be the biggest expense, used to free schooling so far.


Accomodation -

Seems similarly priced to UK so no savings there. Most likely to purchase, as potential rental yields seem good, just in case. Budgeting about AED 15 K for utilities, don't expect rental or mortage payments if buying outright,(criteria for property based visa)


Work -

Will be mostly in EU and USA with working from home a possibility too, by being tax resident in the UAE, the savings in income tax would be important factor


Visa -

2 options seem available.
(a) setup a company in the "free" zones and sponsor self and family, seems a fair bit expensive then offshore setups + the associated visa costs
(b) Purchase a property worth atleast AED 1M, - this seems most cost effective as anyway need a place to live, but a bit confusing as internet search brings up a 6 month visa, with recurring 6 monthly costs and having to exit(uncertain duration) and come back, not feasible for a family(anybody doing this?) some links say its a 2 year renewable visa


Expenses -

Budgeting about 40K for food, eating out, medical,car, household insurances, fuel etc

Travel -

Not budgeting anything as this is paid for by the client. Apart from holiday travel, which I don't expect to by Europe etc as being in this part of world, makes sense to sight see locally. This is discretionary.


Costs
70 K Education
15 K Utilities
50 K Living expenses
15 K Visa expenses
TOTAL = AED 150K = USD 40K

Brains1983

good luck. My son starts FS1 in September (pre-school) and nearly 50k a year. For teenagers, you should be budgeting 70k AED Each.

Meow

Your numbers are out.

AED 15k for utilities. Not unless you live in an apartment.

Schooling. You are looking at closer to 120k plus extras for good secondary schools.

Visa. At the moment the owner of a property worth at least AED1M can apply for a six month residency visa and has to pay to renew each time. It's unclear if they can then sponsor their family and your children need to be resident to get into schools.

Would you really want to buy here now when we seem close to a market peak?

Expenses. Way too low to cover medical and food bills for 4 people. A good medical plan could easily cost AED 25k a year, especially as costs are going up under the new rules.

Liability to UK tax isn't as simple a leaving the country either. You may still have a liability in a tax year on departure or return and you have to consider where you are working (no residing) and where the income arises too.

norsk

I don't get it to be honest. If you are consulting with your own company across the world and have a good tax accountant you should be paying 10-15% tax at most when living in the UK.

Your budget is way out and on top of that there is the 'luxury' temptations everyone who moves here seems to fall victim to.

Also living here with teenagers is no picnic from what friends have experienced...