Ed Pies

How long did it take you to make your move to the UAE?
'How long is a peice of string' - is not funny.

I am making enquires for jobs, and am planning a visit early June for interviews.

Hopefully if I am offered a position then I am looking for an August / September start. This is well timed for the school year (I have young kids) and I don't want to go over my 180 day threshold in this tax year.

Is 2 months realistic? given that we have to get our UK property sorted, Let, and then get established in Dubai at the other end. My wife is going to hold off looking for work until she gets here, just in case I am thrown in at the deep end.

Do companies still offer 'relocation' benefits or short term accomadation to help?

I am not prepared to hand in my notice over here, until I have a firm offer, but then I have a notice period to work.

I work in Architecture as a Design / Technical Coordinator.

MrsHaps

Good afters,

Thought i would give my side as i am 6 weeks away from the 'move'! We decided to move abroad in January, had enough of this crap weather, working our arses off to pay the tax man etc etc the usual human moans... anyhoo..... endless CV's to agents, companies etc still nothing. We made contacts through friends of friends and we had a bite.

My hubby was offered a job after a conference call, however i was not keen to accept without going over to Dubai to see what the crack was... got there, sh!t myself at the driving, but amazed by everything that is going on!

So he accepted, the formal contract came through 3 weeks after we returned (nothing is a rush!), it has been signed, sent back and he handed his notice in today! They are putting us up for the first 3 months (probationary period) then they give us an allowance to get our own place. I can not work for the first 4-6 weeks while they sort out my visa (i certainly dont mind, it will take me this long to build up the bottle to drive over there!!!).

The tax issue is a nightmare, i dont understand it and never will so i will certainly not advise anything there!

We too have a house we are keeping but my sister is going to house sit, i didnt like the thought of someone else living here and i am not bothered about rent, she is looking after my dogs too so that is payment enough!

I certainly now see why we were told it is who you know.... we got no where with the agents as they told us there were so many ex-pats trying to get in now there is no need to pay excellent packages etc.

Hope this helps a little!

Mrs H

Inselaffen

My move was mainly delayed by having to work a 3 month notice.

Most companies will pay for you to stay in a hotel/hotel apartment for a few weeks until you can sort out your own place. You should also get some sort of relocation allowance to help furnish a place.

The Dean

I'd get that "180-day-threshhold" thing checked if I were you...........

......... I thought that only applied after you were granted non-resident status and applied to periods when you want to REVISIT the UK?

Where is Meow (our resident personal financial planner) when you need her?

Coxy the Bear

I think you might also find it takes a little longer than 2 months. It depends how good they are at sorting your Visa out or if you are coming on a visit Visa until they start processing your Residence. To give you and idea, I was interviewed for a position on 16th October and offered the position verbally there and then. My offer letter came through mid November and then all of my attested documents were finally sent and arrived in Dubai on the 20th December. My temporary Residence Visa then took until 5th February to be signed off and I arrived on the 13th February.
So in short it could take you a while longer than you expect, and that's without renting your property. I've learnt to be extremely patient since this all started, which Im certainly wasn't before! Since being out here, It took 3 weeks to find a flat to let and get the paperwork sorted, 1 week to furnish it, 5 weeks to get my residence visa through and then a further 2 weeks to get a poxy driving licence!
The last part of my puzzle fell into place this week when my bank account was finally opened and I have a new car arriving this week. All in all it has taken 6 months from offer date to being fully sorted over here. Might get a chance to see some of Dubai now!
Good luck, don't let the timing put you off, it is definitely worth the move, I should have done this years ago.

zabone

I had my one and only interview in London mid Dec 07.
Provisional Offer came through early Jan 08.
Handed notice to previous employed beg of Feb - without official contract.
Official contract offer came through via email mid Feb.
Start date confirmed for end of march.
A few complications led to flying out to Dub end of march for an April start date.

so it took me 3 and half months to get to dubai.

I expect another 4-6 weeks to get myself fully settled - permenant place to stay, residency visa to be sorted etc... having an abundance of patience and realising that you are moving not only to a different country with under developed processes and procedures for most of the simplest things we take for granted ( bank accounts, driving licenses, renting etc...) - but also a different culture is the key for the move to be as painless as possible!!! good luck.

dramaqueen

on the driving license thing - did u have to get a IDP (??) in UK first or just bring your full license out with you?

Coxy the Bear

I didn't even know getting an IDP was necessary here, so went to get my licence transferred to a temporary one when I got here.........only to find out Sharjah (yes, I know) weren't issuing temp licences any more! So I had to wait for my residency to come through to transfer it.

dramaqueen

my company told me i had to get IDP.............ive lost my paper part of my license and was told i needed both bit to get an IDP - which they wont issue without the paper bit (obviously)but hey apparently i dont need one

oh......will i need the paper one to get license in Dubai then?

Coxy the Bear

Well I gave them a copy, but the guy didn't really seem to know what it was. He only wanted the card. You might get lucky on that one. You really DON'T want to go through the test process here!

dramaqueen

test?? what test?? i thought they just checked you werent blind??

Coxy the Bear

If you've got your licence to transfer, it's no problem. These poor guys from the Phillipines, India and Pakistan have to go through the lesson and test procedure!

dramaqueen

u mean the drivers on the roads have actually been TAUGHT to drive that way?? lol

i want a mini - figure will get crushed by some huge 4x4 within my first week though

Coxy the Bear

Regardless of getting squashed, you really really don't want a Mini!

dramaqueen

why not?