NorthernLad

Relocaction has been 'challenging', The container left 16th March which was just in the nick of time.

Amazon has been a godsend here, they are dropping stuff off once a day, food shopping is considerably cheaper (and I still get excited when walking down the booze aisle).

And the (positive) change in people is visible - the respect for supermarket workers and delivery drivers is up there with doctors now, they are helping keep the country running (with virtually no PPE).

We keep seeing families going out for walks together, neighbours are all checking on each other, people are talking/Skyping/Zooming rather than Whatsapping. Its mindblowing.

But f*** me, that first pay slip after 16 years with deductions really hurts. I'm trying to convince myself all of it is going to help the NHS.

scrubbedexpat141

Good to hear lots of positives. Glad you're enjoying it and seeing those rather than just the deductions.

thebadger

I had been having a bit of turbulent time in the UAE. Was only there 2 months - had been threatened with the sack by the client, then I got recalled from the UAE on March 23rd as Covid was a force majuere event.

My company provide a service to decontaminate, treat and dispose of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) from oil fields and the contaminated equipment associated with it.

I think the client (a very large oil company in the middle east) will almost certainly move to cancel the contract with my company, they already have cancelled a $1.5b contract with some big companies, which was the driving force behind the urgency of the project I was running.

I can see me being out work in the UK as well.

Standanista

I left Doha for a weekend in the UK and got caught out by Qatar closing the border abruptly, two days earlier than they originally announced. Made it as far as check-in at Gatwick. It was always going to be a risk travelling at that time so it is what it is, and there are advantages to being locked down in Blighty as opposed to the Sand Pit.

Able to work from the UK for now but losing non-resident tax status is a concern, depending on how long this drags on for. Project itself is secure and long-term, but at some point they will pull the pin if I can’t get back on site.

HiHo

I'm back at work delivering infrastructure. I think this lock down has taught us some lessons for the future. 1 don't need offices and we don't need to travel to meeting. 2 We need to process and transport goods. I think we need to align our future investment and career objectives accordingly if possible. The company I currently work for (Houston, Texas based) disagree.

scrubbedexpat141

There's going to be a funny bit, Co Durham Boy will be better informed than me but imagine a job gets tendered now, get consultants on board for cheaper fees, appoint sub-consultants and designers for cheaper fees, then go out to tender. Contractors are going to have a nightmare pricing something - they'll want to be cheap but what are material prices now? Impossible to get hold of I assume, then what are they going to be for the rest of the year? Are suppliers manufacturing any materials or are they shut down? Back orders will be huge so fresh orders will be inflated prices? But it's all guess work....I'd hate to be an estimator.

thebadger

I knew things were bad, as alluded to a week ago, but didn't know how bad- my UK company went into receivership today after 23 years of trading.

We support mostly oil and gas in consultancy and engineering solutions. Downturn in work so far this year had seem redundancies at the tail end of last year. That coupled with cash flow problems from our big clients (company hasn't been paid for the middle east work) and our biggest client (in the UK) has been having cash flow problems of their own and hearing they are on the verge of liquidation too. However, I'm technical and not business so don't really know much about it. All I know is we were a fairly small and specialist company and didn't have the cash/asset reserves to absorb it.

Not sure where this will leave me with my tax liability for the work in the UAE (will things like provided accommodation that was part of the package be included in my tax liability?) but.... I'm out of a job. I was resident in the UAE (and for all intent had moved there) and my UK company was paying a salary + an allowance. The salary for my time there would be about £35,000, and the allowance about £17,000. If I have to pay HMRC tax on all of that, that is a £10k bill or there about (Scottish tax code)

I had been out in Ruwais 8 months, not 2 as mentioned. Easier to deny if somebody read my posts.

martinbkk

Any news on when you might be able to get back in?
I'm following the Doha situation as I have a new contract due to start there as soon as I can get in.
Have only really read what is posted on the Peninsula news website, their reported infections seem large relative to the size of the population, but who knows with any government figures.

Standanista

I think we’re stuck outside for months Martin, unfortunately. The Qataris were on the ball in locking down the industrial area early once the outbreak started so the rest of Doha hasn’t taken much of a hit, but they’re now running a tight ship. Returning Qataris are being put in the Hilton/Rotana etc for 14 days, and nobody else gets in. We’ve been told by the powers that be to prepare a plan to re-mobilise but have had no word on dates.

Having a guess based on what hotel chains are preparing for, it would be no earlier than September, and realistically, 2021.