dcec

Hello to all,

I've been lurking on here for a while gaining plenty of advice and tips, its a super forum and have decided to post some questions to get clearer advice on UAE in regards our personal situation. My husband has been made redundant (things are getting real bad here) and is heading out to Dubai on the 18th of this month for some interviews and meetings he has set up already in the last few weeks.

He has used linked-in to the best of his ability and we each have a cousin/family in the region so hopefully the networking will pay off!

Before he goes it would be great to get an idea of what package he could expect/hope for and although prepared for a certain amount of negotiation he won't want to 'rock the boats' too much.

We almost made the move in 2008 so feel our research is a little out dated oh how things have changed since then! And of course in some ways regret that we didn't but we have had another wonderful baby boy since then and hope that now is our time if it all works out!

My husband is a Chartered Architect with Project Management experience, he has 7+ years experience in this field. We have two little ones, 7 and 2.

Have we missed the boat? We spent a few weeks in Dubai and loved it and loved spending time with our families there.

Many thanks to those who take time to read my post and look forward to some interesting replies!?

Dcec

busybee2

just make sure that your figures work out, as with the crash the money that expats are paid here is much less than it was, and the uae is not paved with gold. there are many people who are actually in dubai and have the local knowledge working in the construction industry now, and they may work out cheaper as they will be employed on a local contract etc.

norsk

I've not heard of anyone accepting a 'local' contract even if they are already here, so this is news to me.

However there is definitely less risk for the employer as the person obviously knows the place whereas if he brings someone in from outside they may hate it and decide to bugger off 6 months down the line. Also they won't have to pay relocation, although loads of companies don't pay this anyway...

busybee2

what i mean is a lot of local contracts if you are employed from here will not include flights to and from home country etc etc etc.

norsk

yeah i know, but i just don't know anyone who has taken a job like that unless it was a wife taking a admin job or teachers assistant or something like that. i guess it happens though, and obviously depends on how strong your position in the negotiation is (and how crappy the company is)..

dcec

Hello thanks for the replies,

Perhaps I should have stated my husband is only going out there for a few weeks short term for interviews.

Thanks,

Dcec

Bob

I thought flights home are part of getting the visa, so they would be included, though probably cattle class v business unless you negotiate and seniority etc, etc.

With kids, costs can be pretty high and there have been some threads on recently that might help out with costing things out.

dcec

With kids, costs can be pretty high and there have been some threads on recently that might help out with costing things out.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Bob,

Guess I was hoping maybe someone on here would be from the construction background and could perhaps share their own experiences.

I have been lurking the forums for a while and have picked up a lot of info from the forum already, both good and bad, and have concentrated on the costs quite a bit, it seems everyone has different experiences of UAE. It's all an eye opener!

Guess I'll just keep on trawling through here for now....

Thanks again!

Bob

There's a fair few, mostly in the ME Jobs section though, but a lot of the recent traffic has been Qatar as you can imagine.

busybee2

Thanks Bob,

Guess I was hoping maybe someone on here would be from the construction background and could perhaps share their own experiences.

I have been lurking the forums for a while and have picked up a lot of info from the forum already, both good and bad, and have concentrated on the costs quite a bit, it seems everyone has different experiences of UAE. It's all an eye opener!

Guess I'll just keep on trawling through here for now....

Thanks again![/QUOTE]

who's to say that they havent already commented and have a construction background.

busybee2

a lot of contracts now are all in, ie no flights or school fees, you decide what to spend yourself etc. its not part of gaining a visa as such. but with the new visa rules that have come in june 1 they are now going to be alot more fun.

busybee2

u will also find it very difficult to find a place for your 7 year old in a school. qatar or saudi are the more happening places for construction at the moment. everyone in abu dhabi is waiting for the projects that are in the pipeline to get approval and start...... still waiting.....

dcec

I've read a lot of them already Bob. Qatar and KSA seem to be the only places anything much is happening now.
Though husband has a couple of interviews for Azerbaijan and at this stage we aren't writing anything off. But in typical fashion our hearts lie in Dubai - maybe will just have to wait and see what pans out in the next few weeks...

Cheers
dcec

dcec

Am aware of school situation as have family who live in Dubai for around 9/10 years - keep trying not to worry about these things as of course he hasn't even got a definate offer as yet, but I do keep reading about the lack of school places, we looked at a few back in 2008, and they were pretty full then!

Abu Dhabi and KSA are so far the only places he hasn't been offered interviews for... typical. Perhaps they need to be next on the list to visit...

Thanks Busybee

Nid23

Dubai is great for both business and recreation