AusDub

Which is better? Australia or Dubai

I am contemplating migrating either to Australia or to Dubai.

After reading the “Retiring in Dubai? http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=370658 post and after some research, I have outlined some advantages and disadvantages of living in Dubai and Australia

Advantages of Living in Australia

• Safe and self sustaining country
• Loads of greenery, no pollution, nature, peace and quiet
• Outdoor life style
• Laid back people
• Excelllent Education System
• Great Weather
• Transparent Democracy
• Excellent Education System
• Retirement Benefits

Disadvantages of Living in Australia

1. Isolated from other continents makes travelling abroad more expensive
2. Some Racism

Advantages of Living in Dubai

1. Great Geographic location
2. More money making opportunities.
3. No income tax
4. Higher returns on Real Estate investment than Australia
5. Specialist free trade zones for business
6. Regarded as the most sophisticated, futuristic and cosmopolitan cities in the world
7. Unsurpassed safety and security.

Disadvantages of Living in Dubai

1. Fast paced life
2. Traffic Woes
3. No long-term surety of stay. You can never become a citizen.
4. Unpredictable future of the region
5. Expensive Real Estate
6. Confusing laws and regulations
7. Cost of living is high (expensive food and rentals)
8. Extreme Climate & Unnatural/artificial beauty
9. No Real Democracy
10. Difficult to sponsor parents.
11. Expensive and limited Education System
12. No Retirement Benefits
13. Red Tape
14. Introduction of Taxation in coming months
15. Some Racism
16. Strange Islamic Laws like you cannot eat in public places during Ramadan and you need a permit to buy alcohol.

As I get close to ending this note, I guess I have already got some insight.

I forgot to mention, I am 33, married with no children yet. I would probably set up a small business wherever I go (not settle for a job) and have enough funds to out rightly buy a house. FYI, I have recently secured an Australian PR but still not sure about moving there.

Your valuable feedback would be much appreciated.

Thanks Again

Dubai_Chick

It looks like you have done your homework on Dubai. Cant comment on Oz as I have never lived there. I have given my two cents worth to some of your advantages/disadvantages. What type of business are you looking to set up? Your barriers in Dubai could be more correlated to that.

Kalenge

We go to Dubai fairly often to visit family (wife's brother is a pilot with Emirates), but we only go in the winter. Summer is unbearable with temperatures in the high 40s for weeks on end.

An interesting place for a holiday, perhaps even a short term contract, but not to live permanently.

Dubai_Chick

I like to think of the summer months being pretty much equivalent to the British winters. You cant go out much in the winter in the UK. When in Dubai you cant go out much in the summer. For the remaining 7-8 months of the year it is lovely. Yes you do yearn for the hot summer to surpass so that you can once again indulge in outdoor activities. I prefer the hot summers to the cold mornings scrapping the ice of my car.

Kalenge

Yep, I'd also sooner live in a hot place, even a really hot place, than a cold place. If Australia wasn't an option for us then Dubai might have been a consideration, but only really because we have family there. However I think if it came to that then I'd also be weighing up a lot of the valid negative points of the OP.

Dubai is for a good time not a lifetime

Dubai_Chick

Absolutely agree with you there. I would recommend it for a few years for the experience and then it is time to move on.

asprilla

If the prospects of earning decent money in dubai were very, very low, would you still want to live there? I don't think you would.

It seems to me that the number one reason people live & work in Dubai for e.g. 2 to 5yrs, is because they get paid massive amounts to do so....otherwise, they wouldn't want to live there.

I could be wrong, but you rarely hear about a family of four upping and leaving e.g. Manchester, to start a new life in Dubai "because it'll be a better place to bring up our kids".

manc1

AusDub, correct me if I'm wrong but I thought I read somewhere recently that if you buy property in Dubai you automatically get citizenship? Another consideration you may want to take into account is the time it takes to fly back to the UK for holidays or family etc.

Robbies

Lived in Perth July 06 to July 07, before moving to Dubai. Main reason for leaving Perth was distance from family & friends back in the UK.

Perth was awesome for sure - so much of an outdoor lifestyle, beaches, cycle paths everywhere, social scene was superb, lots of bars etc… But, around a 22 hour flight home made it difficult, and also very remote from other places - 5 hours to Sydney etc.

Dubai on the other hand is also good - we seem to enjoy it here more than Perth, but for different reasons. Lots of frustrations here, such as banking and traffic jams/drivers, but these are things you just need to accept and get on with it. You generally won't make a fortune here, but we are better off here than Perth. But its still a very social place, and from October to April, the weather is superb so more and more outdoor things happening each week.

One important point; in Australia, when on a 457 visa and you still own property back home, you are eligible for the LAFHA payment… this makes life very good as it can go a long way towards paying rent. If you buy property in Aus, you lose this payment (and we figured that was a lot to lose so we rented for our time there). We've bought here in Dubai and are much happier that we have bought as we live in our own place, which is important to us.

Oh, and read the "property apocalyse" thread in the mid east section - if you want a laugh. I've read through it, and don't agree with *almost* all of it. That's my personal opinion though.

JAJ

As far as I understand it is near impossible to get citizenship of the United Arab Emirates.

manc1

I think it was residency. I stand to be corrected though.

smurtaza

Please see answers:

smurtaza

Whats the importance of citizen if you start considering difference in people, who have citizenship by birth and citizenship by conferral?

DerekM

Having passed through Dubai airport recently - its the pits - I know where I would rather be! Ok I know the airport is not Dubai ....but!

Hutch

Just about the only thing you said that has any bearing on reality.