alandsal1

Hi - Looking at moving out to AD on what sounds a pretty good package including AED$300K per annum housing, schooling etc.

I have some general questions though - apologies if they are already in the hundreds of threads already out there but have not found much!

1. Pets - we have an Old English Sheepdog and would like to bring him with us. Is AD "dog friendly" - does anyone on this forum have a dog had good/bad experiences etc.

2. Schools - have a 12 year old and would like to get him into a good English school (following UK national curriculum) - can anyone make any recommendations?

3. Any nice areas to live (or areas to avoid). I will be looking for minimum 3 bedrooms and not a flat/apartment - got to be dog friendly home - any pointers of where to look would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot

Al

busybee2

dogs the locals dont really like dogs, but many expats do have dogs here.
schools for brit curriculum all pretty full, 3 choices British School Al Khubairat, Pearl and Al yasmina, IB there is Raha International, what year 7? yasmina a new sch goes up to year 9 pearl only goes up to year 6 bsak all the way to sixth form
houses, it really depends on what your budget is 300k is good but there is a big shortage of anything here and it may not be near to where you work or school is, where will your office be?

alandsal1

Thanks for that info.

The job is advertised as "tax free". What do you need to do to qualify as "tax free" e.g. stay out of UK for so many months, not have assets in UK??? Any good advice - or even a link to a definitive web site would be really appreciated.

Thanks

Al

Fairydust

You need to apply for non=resident status for tax in UK from the tax office, our property management agent in UK sorted it out for us and gave us the form to file depends on how long you plan on being here???

Just read your original post did you sort school out - I know DESC has places for year 7 and probably year 8 so worth a try - bit of a drive depending on where you live but a great school

busybee2

desc what school are you referring to?
tax free, hahahahaha, not here, the tax free bit gets eaten up with the red tape and rent that you have to cover here
you have to be out of the uk for a whole of tax year, april to april, which unfortunately a lot of people who have just lost their jobs will be getting a double wammy now as they will go back to the uk and then have to pay back all the tax as well.

alandsal1

Thanks to both Busybee and Fairydust for your help. I guess a call to the tax man tomorrow will (should!!) sort it. Where is DESC? Is there a www site? Tried "googling" with no luck.

Thanks

Al

busybee2

there is no desc in abu dhabi??

Fairydust

Sorry missed the AD bit, DESC is in Academic City in Dubai, so might be just a touch too far to drive every morning