MMA

Hi expats.

I have the opportunity to possibly move to Abu Dhabi in about 4 or 5 weeks time. I will take the chance with open arms, of course, but I have to admit many a sideward glance to the unrest happening right now. As we all know - Oman and Saudi are undergoing their own issues but being right next door to the UAE, should we expect any troubles with AD?

Unrest is one thing im concerned about but second to that and probably more importantly, I wonder how stable the economy would be there. My company are giving me a years contract out there which sounds great but the last time I was under contract with them they terminated the contract and paid me off in the event of the recession. I wonder how stable AD is looking currently and what the forecast is.

Can anyone help by offering an opinion on these two points? This is not to mention the somewhat worrying trend of people saying the unrest is being helped along for the sake of western policies.

Nothing to be worrying about? Or...delay going to AD?

auzdafluff

In Abu Dhabi and Dubai, there's nothing to worry about. Sure, there's some 'concerns' about the northern emirates (Sharjah, UAQ, Amman and RAK), but it's nothing to really worry about.

To be honest, as someone joked in one of the other threads, the only thing the locals will protest about over here is wanting the working week reduced to one, one hour day, 200 days holiday a year plus national and religious holidays, and it to be made law that anything that goes wrong is the fault of the expat community.

Seriously though, there's nothing to worry about.

MMA

Thanks for your response! So you're saying things are fairly laid back then!! Cool...unfortunately though in my profession I can probably expect a 12-15 hour working day for a while until things settle. I imagined things were pretty good out that way but I wasnt sure what life was like for the average UAE citizen out AD or Du way...

All I have to do now is wait for contracts to be finalised and im off with the Mrs. I just need to find a good barber and an MMA gym and im sorted

Economy-wise, hows the place fairing? I know Dubai took a good kick to the ribs but now I am assuming most of the people who lost their jobs have gone home and things have stabilised again.

hnd

In your dreams buddy - people are still scrabbling around for/trying to keep their jobs.

MMA

Ah I thought as much mate, Im just being tongue-in-cheek optimistic.

I see the private sector is getting better numbers though so maybe it wont be long until things settle down.

auzdafluff

Just in case that wasn't a slip of the keyboard.

There's not really such a thing as a UAE citizen. You tend to be either a UAE national (and that only applies to Emirates born there) or a UAE resident, which is what almost all expats. Even their children born here are legally residents.

Atilla

I felt like that was how it worked now when I was there (up until a few months ago) Hours they turn up for maybe longer but work, 1 hour over 1 week tops

Hello.Kitty

don't believe the official numbers, they tend to echo back to the fixed grin "all's well here" PR days.

However, there's more going on in AD than in Dubai, but it's always worth having a back-up plan and taking a leaf out of the UAE's "soft opening" idea - basically, don't launch into anything fully in one go!

missunderstood

whats is this soft opening idea?

Hello.Kitty

they never seem to be able to open anything in one go, so you get restaurants opening but not being able to serve everything on the menu, malls opening, but having hardly any shops in it (and the entrances aren't finished, etc...)

Basically, it's a way to kick things off without really having worked out all the details and leaving room for lots of adjustment along the way!

MMA

To be honest I wasnt placing too much importance on the distinction between citizen, resident, or national. Ive travelled way too much to worry about it these days. Sometimes I forget my own nationality, rights of citizenship and recently had to educate my solicitor back home on the inner workings of domicile law. But thanks for pointing it out!


We are approaching the move to AD with somewhat of a soft-opening stance. Good analogy. The idea would be simply that we have a contract which, if terminated, allows us to come back to our current country with more money in our pockets than when we left. Its our intention to leave things open ended at this end and hopefully (fingers crossed) our bosses leave an opening for us in our current companies should things not work out. If things work out there in AD for even say 6 months then we will have been successful and, rather sadly, we will have made more than enough money to have justified the trip. There will always be the chance of finding something else whilst there also - I see a lot of work for my, and my partners profession.

Easy does it, thats the way. Good tip.

busybee2

just remember if you only stay in ad for 6 months you will have to pay back all your tax on return.

MMA

Tax to whom? the UK? I dont live in the UK currently mate, I live in Latin America and the taxation here is very loose! Or do you mean I would have to pay tax to AD?

Thanks for the tip... these are the things I dont know yet, this potential job offer just came out of the blue!

busybee2

no i was meaning if you were working now in the uk you would have to pay it back if you only stayed away for 6 months

Norm_uk

I'm Abu Dhabi based and think you should be worried about the driving standards and overpriced booze in some hotels.

Otherwise it's fine, you should enjoy your time here - especially if you come to my social inebriation/networking events

N.