caleb

My girlfriend and I are looking at moving to Dubai and we are looking for some input from anyone living there. I am a Project Manager and from what I am seeing I can make somewhere between 200-250k US. I guess my question bakes down to is this decent amount to make live nice along with putting some away into savings?

Other than that I am curious to how difficult it is to live in Dubai?

Spugsy

what? $200-250,000 per year??

caleb

Yes 200000.00-250000.00 US per year

caleb

Re reading my first post I guess it is a relative question... I am just trying to figure out what it is like to make a life there or is it going to be a work there for a couples years then go somewhere else... just a little uncertain I have worked with alot of people from all over the world but I have never lived out of the U.S.

Eeyore

That's about 76,000 dhs per month, which is a fortune in Dubai terms (a "good" salary here is about 25-30k per month - and consider that less than 5% of the population here earns 20k per month or above).

You'll have no problems at all enjoying a good lifestyle and saving plenty. They'll probably work you until you drop, but hey, c'est la vie

caleb

I have read the unmarried couples are not allowed to live together is this true?

Eeyore

It's illegal, but many people do it; if you're a Western couple, you're far less likely to get into trouble for it than if you're Asian.

The problem nowadays may be visas. It used to be possible for unmarried partners of someone employed in the UAE to live here more-or-less permanently on a tourist visa, which they just renewed every couple of months. The rules have changed, though, and it's not clear whether it's still possible to do constant visa runs.

If you can't, and you have a partner you want to come out with you, you'll either have to get married, or your partner will need to find a job in his/her own right and get his/her residency that way.

caleb

I guess she wins... she has found an excuse for us to get married

Considering that I work in tech i assume that i would be living/working in or around Media City is this a very nice and or pricey place to live?

Eeyore

Media City is part of what's known as "New Dubai", and it's one of the more expensive areas in which to live (but that won't be an issue for you). You do definitely want to live close to work, though, because traffic here is appalling.

caleb

I have been talking with one of my clients that travels alot (they build theme parks) and he said that there is almost no point in owning a car and that cabs are pretty much the way to go.

On a side note what is it like to get computers/tv and electronics? do you just hop down to the local store or is it better to have it shipped in?

p.s. thank you for your help i am so glad i found this site.

Eeyore

Are you sure that this guy has actually been to Dubai?

After a week of trying to rely on cabs to get everywhere, you'll be screaming for your own car. Seriously.

You can get everything here that you can get everywhere else. The only difference is price - some things are cheaper than home, some are about the same price, some are significantly more expensive.

caleb

He comes in for a couples days to a week at a time just to sort out deals... so i do take his input about the living side of things with a grain of salt but he does know the work side very well.

With moving is there any point in bringing many belongings out side of clothes... i assume it is very expensive to ship large items (i.e. couches beds what not)

Eeyore

If your company will provide a decent relocation allowance, I'd personally use that to get all new stuff once you're here.

rowell

If you can get an offer for that sort of money as a project manager snap their hands off, I work for an International company and their max for project managers is 55k per month, the average being 45-47k, let me know once your sorted where they are paying that sort of money.