StublueKPL

Hi

I have posted on here a few times about the issues we are having with our landlord and I mentioned before that we are thinking of buying in Dubai.

I am not classed as resident as work in the oil industry and I am away for a month at a time so it never really mattered anyway.

However, my salary is a lot more than my wife and for us to afford an apartment, it will be mostly reliant on what I earn and banks would not loan the amount we need based on just my wifes salary.

to buy a house, we need 15% deposit if resident. if non resident, they want 40-60% deposit (no chance).

So, I was going to let my wife apply for a visa for me but I have read a few posts on the net that any wife sponsoring her husband must be a teacher, engineer or doctor? is this true? does anyone know of any cabin crew who have sponsored their husbands?

I really don't want to leave Dubai just now but all the hassle the last few years is really pushing my wife and if I cant get residency then I feel we will be off in a year or so back to the UK.

I really appreciate any replies.

busybee2

normally its those exempted professionals etc, but its also down to the companies as well, they sometimes can help out, so if you are talking about emirates, then perhaps the company can do it.. even if you work away you can still get a visa, a lot of people do that here.

shiva

the wife could try, they are now allowing more and more visa classes to sponsor husbands but it depends on the company.

Your easiest option would be to get a visa yourself via your current employer or start a freezone company and sponsor yourself

StublueKPL

Thanks for the replies.

My company are based in Houston, Aberdeen and Singapore. I work out of the Singapore office so I could not get a visa through them for the UAE.

I did think about the freezone route as I had heard about that before. Any ideas on costs etc?

In the meantime, my wife will speak to Emirates to see what they say on the matter.

PS: is there a max a landlord can raise the rent or has that changed again? He is asking for around 18% more but this would still be less than the current rate of rentals I am seeing on Dubizzle. Also, we were involved in that rent scam from 18 months ago, so officially, we have only been renting from this landlord for 15 month in January. Is it still supposed to be 2 years before rentals can increase?

Thanks again.

jam25mack

As far as I know you can set up a freezone company for around 10K AED.

As for the rent thing, IIRC Mikewot is the current expert. Look at the sticky: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=809984

Autonomy

Freezone route more like 17,500 AED per year (plus approx 6,000 AED for the 3 year visa - once every three years) - but quite easy to do