DXBtoDOH

If they're dedicated enough to have a child together and move together as a family unit to a new country, then the simplicity of getting the marriage license shouldn't be a problem.

If it is really a problem, for whatever reason, then the easy answer is: don't move to Dubai.

scrubbedexpat141

You've kind of just proved my point....it's a license or contract or formality.

I don't see marriage as that and I think it's sad the way this forum promotes the notion that it's just a bit of paper.

Just my opinion, this person and others posting may be very different and willing to do it for an opportunity in Dubai.

DXBtoDOH

I used to understand what marriage meant.

But these days I'm not so sure. It seems to mean anything you want it to be and people get married (or don't get married) for all sorts of reasons. I think it's a bit sad, to tell the truth, but that's the way the world works today.

jam25mack

I suppose it can be both...... 1. The whole fairytale till death do us part thing or 2. A bit of paper to stop you getting arrested for co-habiting. I know plenty of folk who are an item but aren't at the getting married stay or simply don't believe in the whole thing. In the eyes of the UAE they are criminals.... As such, to a point its the law makers who have made no. 2 a reality. Surely as both parties are understanding that its just a bit of paper whats the problem?

scrubbedexpat141

That's what I meant but put better. Thanks.

See above. I'm not saying it's wrong or having a pop, I just think it's a bit sad that marriage is used like that - but then it's not the fault of the couple, but the law here perhaps.

Dunno. Always been put off rushing into it. Divorced parents and all that maybe.

mission

as a company when we have employed anyone at a senior level and they are in a relationship and want to bring their other half over as part of the deal, then we make it clear that they need to get married if they want to co-habit together. The company can't afford to have someone at a senior level who may get court for not being married.

carcajou

My organisation was the same, co-habitation was completely non-negotiable.

I understand Scamp's point, though the locals in the UAE view marriage very differently than Westerners, and do use the term "marriage contract." Marriages are still arranged for political and tribal reasons, usually to cousins, and the idea of marriage for love is seen as exotic and I don't think is fully understood as a concept.

By the way, local high schoolers, when they want to secretly court girls, they drive their pick-up trucks next to the girls' school buses, and the girls' have their phone numbers written down on pieces of paper and toss it out the windows of the bus and into the pick-up trucks.