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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Dubai single mum

164 replies

Shazzashaz · 10/02/2026 19:26

Hi, posting on behalf of my daughter who is just starting court proceedings to relocate to Dubai with her daughter as dad not give permission. Just seeing if there are other mums going through or have gone through this for advice and support on how to get a good outcome on a caffcass 7 report done. X

OP posts:
Hairissueshelp · 11/02/2026 14:52

Zebedee999 · 11/02/2026 14:00

Quite.

Baffles me why people go there to live or on holiday knowing that the place runs on slavery, people trafficing and a misogynistic religion.

Yet not a single protest about any of this in the UK (no Jews there I guess).

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So did the uk to be fair.. and still does to a certain extent.

Hairissueshelp · 11/02/2026 14:49

I know someone that relocated with their child and the dad faught it.
The mother was granted relocation. But these were the factors.
Mother had remarried, both mother and new husband had secure job offers in high salaries in the new country and were able to prove a secure family unit.
Mother had to agree to fly back to the uk with child for access and handover in the uk in lerson the child 4 times a year to stay with the father.
Country was a safe and wealthy british overseas territory.
Mother was able to prove the standard of living in the new country was far exceeding what they could offer here. So secure accomodation, private school place with evidence of ability to pay fees.
It took a year to go through the courts and in that time the mothers husband already had gone to the new country and set up their life there and then once granted the mother and child followed.

Zebedee999 · 11/02/2026 14:00

Nopenott0day · 10/02/2026 19:28

Why on earth would she go to a place with awful womens rights.

Quite.

Baffles me why people go there to live or on holiday knowing that the place runs on slavery, people trafficing and a misogynistic religion.

Yet not a single protest about any of this in the UK (no Jews there I guess).

MrsKnob · 11/02/2026 13:55

This has to be a troll!! Who in their right mind would do this, it’s bizarre

Christmasinmecar · 11/02/2026 13:53

Why do Brits insist on calling themselves ex pats when they are actually seen as foreigners or immigrants to the country they move to?
Does it make them feel special because they are from the U.K?
Have never understood this twatty ex pat status.

LeedsLoiner · 11/02/2026 13:50

Carla786 · 11/02/2026 12:11

Tbf 90% of Dubai ARE expats so that's most of the people there

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90% of Dubai are IMMIGRANTS - funnily enough with a high percentage of the British ones being the people who blame everything that's gone wrong in Britain on immigrants who don't speak our language and don't fit in with our culture...

GaspherYaw · 11/02/2026 13:41

LeedsLoiner · 11/02/2026 13:37

So how many mobile phones and Rolexes have you had stolen ?

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Never had a Rolex. One snatch theft of a phone

LeedsLoiner · 11/02/2026 13:37

GaspherYaw · 11/02/2026 12:14

I do....

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So how many mobile phones and Rolexes have you had stolen ?

DestituteDesperate · 11/02/2026 13:36

Carla786 · 11/02/2026 12:01

Tbf 90% of Dubai are foreign expats not conservative Emiratis.

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Divorce is permissible in Islam in fact they’re encouraged to marry divorcees so I doubt she would have much trouble in that regard.

i am more interested in why she must relocate all the way to Dubai knowing her child’s father is involved and, expect him to be ok with it.

ItsPoochie · 11/02/2026 13:34

GaspherYaw · 11/02/2026 12:14

I do....

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Must cost you a fair whack in Rolex and phones. You should move to Dubai.

ItsPoochie · 11/02/2026 13:32

Carla786 · 11/02/2026 12:01

Tbf 90% of Dubai are foreign expats not conservative Emiratis.

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They aren’t in charge of issuing the visas though. Or of the justice system.

QuietPiggy · 11/02/2026 13:22

How is the father supposed to see his child if she moves to Dubai? How is she to have a relationship with him?

Ncforthis2267 · 11/02/2026 13:02

Adelle79360 · 10/02/2026 21:35

So much misinformation on this thread about Dubai and about court proceedings for relocation. Clearly it isn’t in a child’s best interests to be left with a parent who isn’t their primary carer (assuming that is the case here), it’s in their best interest to relocate with the parent who is moving.

Your daughter needs to really do her homework. Where will her daughter go to school, how is it being paid for? What about medical care, presumably she will be covered by your daughter’s insurance? Does the child do any extra curricular activities and if so, can she continue to do those? (Of course she can - it’s Dubai!). Do they know anybody out there for friendship and support? Make a list of all these things to tell Cafcass. On the assumption the child and her dad have a relationship, how will that be managed moving forwards? How many times a year can she come back here to visit him, can he come and visit in Dubai? How will the travel be paid for and who will accompany her on the flights? It all needs to be set out really clearly. She needs a plan.

Incorrect on every aspect. It's in the child's best interest to have a positive relationship with both parents. If this means one parent doesn't move to the other side of the world (and a country with an atrocious record of women's rights to boot), then this is what the court will decide.

Christmasinmecar · 11/02/2026 12:48

Where is OP? I'm wondering if this a sort of reverse that OP is the single mum and not it's going the way she hoped.
But assuming it is the d, of all the countries she could relocate to, why such one who doesn't have a good track record for women's rights?
Does she even have a job lined up? I'm no expert but a lot of these countries have tight regulations for immigration to them, need a job, sponsor, sufficent saings to get established etc and mostly importantly somewhere to live. Some places won't allow you to live there permanantly even with all the fore amentioned.

Muffinmam · 11/02/2026 12:39

Hopefully the Courts won’t allow this.

Has your daughter zero awareness of what goes on there??? How could she be so utterly dim?

BeatrizBoniface · 11/02/2026 12:22

Anyahyacinth · 10/02/2026 21:57

Complete breakdown??

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Indeed. Some people have no idea.

GaspherYaw · 11/02/2026 12:14

LeedsLoiner · 11/02/2026 12:04

Tell me you don't live in London without telling me you don't live in London...

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I do....

Carla786 · 11/02/2026 12:11

HisNibs · 10/02/2026 21:34

As other pp have rightly mentioned, your DD will need to ensure adequate supervision whilst working or risk imprisonment up to 2 years (look up Wadeema's Law)
In the unlikely event that a UK Court allows DD to take her children there, she will need to sponsor her child for a family visa with a whole heap of hoops to jump through and those court documents granting sole custody and permission to travel need to be translated and submitted too.
Culturally, DD (and probably DGD) is unlikely to be accepted outside of an expat community.
What grounds of being in the child's best interest are you presenting to CAFCASS for a section 7 report?
Why on earth would she want to go there In the first place? Listen to other pp

Tbf 90% of Dubai ARE expats so that's most of the people there

Carla786 · 11/02/2026 12:11

Adelle79360 · 10/02/2026 21:35

So much misinformation on this thread about Dubai and about court proceedings for relocation. Clearly it isn’t in a child’s best interests to be left with a parent who isn’t their primary carer (assuming that is the case here), it’s in their best interest to relocate with the parent who is moving.

Your daughter needs to really do her homework. Where will her daughter go to school, how is it being paid for? What about medical care, presumably she will be covered by your daughter’s insurance? Does the child do any extra curricular activities and if so, can she continue to do those? (Of course she can - it’s Dubai!). Do they know anybody out there for friendship and support? Make a list of all these things to tell Cafcass. On the assumption the child and her dad have a relationship, how will that be managed moving forwards? How many times a year can she come back here to visit him, can he come and visit in Dubai? How will the travel be paid for and who will accompany her on the flights? It all needs to be set out really clearly. She needs a plan.

What incorrect statements have been made about Dubai?

Manymoresometimes · 11/02/2026 12:07

Assume the drip feed will start now about the awful father?

SumUp · 11/02/2026 12:06

Is this a reverse?

Carla786 · 11/02/2026 12:05

TorroFerney · 11/02/2026 11:31

The irony of you saying don’t be silly .

so every single person with a mobile phone in London will have it snatched off them?

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I live in S London..still got my phone, fingers crossed. I was raised not to flaunt valuables in the street but can't afford a Rolex anyway.

Carla786 · 11/02/2026 12:04

Charlize43 · 10/02/2026 21:09

After reading about Maria Kovalchuk, who had her limbs and spine broken (as well as being scalped) while visiting Dubai, I'd have serious reservations about anyone going there, especially for a single woman and a child.

Also isn't Dubai that place that prozzies and influencers go to be crapped on for money? Portable potty parties, they are called.

Katie Price has just flown out there to be with her new conman husband.

It sounds like a total cesspit.

Poor Ugandan women get tricked into it too.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct854r

BBC - World of Secrets, Death in Dubai, 5. The reality of ‘Porta Potty’

The story behind the viral “Dubai Porta Potty” rumours. We follow the trail

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct854r

LeedsLoiner · 11/02/2026 12:04

GaspherYaw · 11/02/2026 07:43

Don't be silly. Phone will get snatched and Rolex will be ripped right off you.

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Tell me you don't live in London without telling me you don't live in London...

Carla786 · 11/02/2026 12:01

forcedtonamechange · 10/02/2026 19:37

I can’t imagine that they’re at all friendly to single mums tbh 😬😬

Tbf 90% of Dubai are foreign expats not conservative Emiratis.

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