hey don't worry about arguing. we're all just making the point that the streets of the middle east aren't paved with gold. there are loads of people who come here for the wrong reasons and regret it hugely. others love it and would never return...

you need to consider why you want to move and ensure (as much as you can) that your expectations can be met. or at least you need to be a hugely flexible person. it is far from an easy place to live and work (even if the UK is not great either)....

Thanks! I do not think that streets there are covered with gold. I've been living in uk for a few years and think that it is time to try smth else

Construction salaries have dropped in UAE - there were lots of redundancies last year and it's still going on and it's not just Dubai. Many of the redundant workers accepted less salary to stay here because they didn't want to uproot kids from schools etc. Some we know are worse off than they were in UK as the cost of living here is high, especially rents in Abu Dhabi. The heat and humidity can really be unbearable in the summer months and you tend to stay in during these months so it's not all BBQs and dune bashing etc as some expats would have you believe! It's amazing what some people put on Facebook to impress their friends. I find the education to be of good standard (Established British Curriculum School) but you do pay for it and it's about the same as you would pay for a private school in UK.

haha - until you've experienced it, it's hard to believe what people (we) tell you. Believe us. A 5 minute walk past 10h30 in May will make your skin feel like it's frying and leave you gasping for water.

At least in the rain, you can put your wellies on and still enjoy it.

As EM said, you don't know what you're missing until you don't have it any more. So you have to pay the dentist £190 for a crown? £17 for a check-up? £49 for a filling? Here it's £50 to see the doctor/dentist, £150 for a filling... and I've been quoted over 6000AED (£1000+) for replacing a crown and associated work - that the insurance doesn't cover.

Add to that things like crud broadband will set you back nearly £100 a month and you'll see that it's not all a tax-free bed of roses.

It's funny to see people sitting there and trying to persuade how bad is there but at the same time they wouldn't come back. I'm only trying to find out what we could get there, it's only one of the options.

Unless you have a job to come to it is not going to work for you.
I know some of the top people in the construction companies here and they have moved a lot of their people to Syria/Libia/Saudi etc.
There are no big projects here. There are lots of PM's who have huge amounts of experience in the ME who are hanging on by their fingertips.....once their current projects finish there is nothing in the pipeline.

AD is also feeling the pinch, although not as bad as Dubai.
Living here is very expensive and as other people have said it is not as easy as it used to be.
Don't get me wrong, I love Dubai and don't want to go anywhere else and hopefully I will be here for a while.
Do your research, if after that you have specific questions we are always happy to help, but we do get fed up with the same questions and it is obvious that the poster hasn't done a search on this forum.

don't think 'we' are trying to do that at all...it's just that there are a lot of people that have completely wrong ideas about living here and come over with the wrong mindset and then come on and try and blame Dubai for their failure...and believe me, we have seen a few on here.
But if you want to ignore the advice from people that actually live here, please do...
I love it here, but if you do a search (yes, there's that word again) you will be able to find out for yourself if it would suit you.

We are only trying to give you an idea of life here sweetie.

The summer months are horrendous, although I don't mind the heat. You cannot walk around during the day..you take a shower and you step outside and are soaking within minutes.
School fees are very expensive so is housing, although it has come down somewhat. BUT you will have to pay either a year up front or 2/3/4 cheques.
Most, if not all, of the schools have waiting lists. On top of the fees you have other after school activities to pay for. You will need 2 cars..you will spend a lot of your time doing school runs..I don't have children but I am sure some of the other girls will tell you all about it.
A lot of companies have stopped doing "packages" You get a salary and have to find everything out of that.
Anyway if you decided to make the move I wish you luck xxx

And that is MH being nice

smug bloody know it alls...

MM, xx

lol!!!! But we are right darling.....go on admit it PS and MH are right!!

Thank you all for your advises. The grass is always greener behind the fence. We would't move unless the husband gets better money and a good package. I've been through some job sites and some vacancies don't sound bad. 80-100K $ per annum plus accom plus medical plus relocation plus tickets to uk for the family

just bored sitting at home on a Thursday, lol...

Unfortunately there is a lot of CV harvesting going on, so those jobs may not actually exist at all. They may however contact you with a 'different' role that is just slightly less money and no package..but hey I'm cynical by nature!

Good luck in your search, but make sure you move for the right reasons...

Well 30k approx a month will be hard to live on for a family of 4 if they don't pay your school fees.
Also if you call these people you may find that the reality of the offer is slightly different, otherwise all the out of work PM's who are still here searching for jobs would have filled the vacancies