nannyk

Hi Everyone!
I am moving to abu dhabi in june with my husband and daughter and would like to know a bit of info about living there plz. I have looked into the british schools, they are a bit costly but we are going to receive some kind of allowence, my problem is the accomodation, I don't seem to be able to locate any estate agents with properties for rental, its crazy! Why is this? How much would it be to rent a 3/4 bedroom villa with pool and garden, or at least share a pool. We are going to receive an allowence for accomodation but I would like to know how much more we will have to put to it. What about work for woman? Is it easy to get a job? My husband already has a job to go to. What about bills, gas, electric, water, phone etc.... are these expensive? Do you get some kind of equivelent to sky tv and english channels? Is there public transport and is it expensive or no? I would be so gratful for anyone who could give me this info. I have tried to fin an abu dhabi chat room but no luck! what is the landline phone company there and is it reasonable to call hoe to uk? My name is Karen by the way and thankyou in advance

Bob

Can't help, but welcome to BE though

IndieG

Hi and welcome,

Not many on this forum live in Abu Dhabi. Send a PM to Shak a bootie, I think he lives there. Otherwise, try the site: www.expatwoman.com

nannyk

thankyou very much. where r u living then as i thought i was on middle east forum, abu dhabi.

Gabriel

Hi,

I'll try to find a web address of a real estate agent and post it for you. But it is difficult to find a reliable one. I saw adverts for some that sound reliable, but are in Dubai. Surely, there must be someone in Abu Dhabi.
Don't get me wrong, there are hundreds of estate agents in Abu Dhabi, but you cannot trust their word. You even have to pay a viewing fee for something that you don't even know where it is or how it looks.
The guys in your husband's company will surely help. By the way! What's the company he's going to work for?

Villas with pools and gardens are rare, as far as I know, but I'm not into that, so don't take my word for it.
Work for women is available, but you have to search for it. In general it should be easier for a British.

Bills are not expensive.

There is cable tv here and you get some good channels.

There is no public transport in Abu Dhabi. However, taxis are plenty and cheap. Much cheaper than in Dubai, where they have public transport.
Fare starts at about 30p, and then it's about 7-8p for each kilometre.

The telephone company here is Etisalat (Emirates Telecommunication Company) and they recently got a competitor in du (just like that, two small letters). I don't know if calling UK is expensive. I have nobody there. But compared to other fares, I don't think it's that much.

Any more questions, just ask and I'll try to answer, as I live in Abu Dhabi.

Good luck with your move!

Bob

you got anything you want to add to the wiki about AD?

Gabriel

Don't know if I know that much or that well.

Gabriel

Oh! You meant the BE Wiki!! I was thinking of the big Wikipedia. Only now I had a look at it, and indeed, there's no chapter on Abu Dhabi.

I probably could add something....

Bob

That'll be cool if you could, just copy and paste a set up for DXB, and replace the names with AD and add the info...because I know absolutely nothing, and spent enough time sorting out the ME section as it is

nannyk

Thankyou for the answered questions, my husband is a doctor. How long have you been there in abu dhabi? are there any estate agent jobs or recruitment agent jobs do u know? What do they pay roughly?

Gabriel

I've been here for 13 years now. However, I'm leaving for Australia in September.

Here are some real estate agencies:

www.homestyle-property.co.ae
www.alshamel1.ae
www.futureviewproperty.com

You can also ask the help of your husband's colleagues at the clinic or hospital where he will join (I may be just too curious, but which is it?).

Here's a newspaper address for more research, including jobs:

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Index00.asp

As for salaries..... what kind of job?

nannyk

thankyou for the websites. I was wondering what the salaries would be for an estate agent or recruitment consultant, its for my brother. As for myself Im not sure what I want to do yet, I work in sampling at the moment but i think i may want to work in a hospital helping people. How easy is it to get a driving licence there and pass a test?

Gabriel

Unfortunately I don't know the salaries for estate agents or recruitment consultants.

If you have a UK driving licence, I think you only have to change it.
To take a test and pass.... Nationality matters a lot. If you know how to drive and you're a westerner, you get it faster, i.e. in 1-2 tries = 1-2 months.

At least this is how it was until a few years ago. I heard things started to change, but don't know what.

Anyway, when it comes to driving on these roads, it is a kind of law of the jungle. There's no road courtesy, no priority for pedestrians, no priority for cars that should have it. If you are on a main road and 20 metres ahead of you is a side street, expect to have someone come out of there and get in front of you. Of course, you have to put the brake, otherwise you hit that car from behind and you're at fault.

Stop to allow a pedestrian to cross and you get a choir of horns from the cars behind you, as to why did you stop.

While you stopped to allow someone to cross, look at the other lanes and see the cars whizzing past you, not caring about the poor pedestrian who ventured to cross a river full of crocs.

nannyk

y r u leaving? what do u do for a job? Im looking forward to coming we just need to sell our house!! I found some lovely apartments and villas from one of those links you sent me, some of them wont be avilable to rent untill june which is perfect for us!! Thanku

Gabriel

I'm a Document Controller in an engineering company.
We've got our Permanent Resident visas and sooner or later we have to move there. It's already been a while since we've had our visas and it is about time we went there.
Also, we've been here long enough and life started to be more expensive every year. Cannot cope with the expenses like we used to. Rents are the main culprit; they sky rocketed in a very short time span, while salaries remained the same. Other costs increased as well, so extending our stay defeats the purpose of living here: to save some money.

Glad I could be of help until now.