To think it's a bit much for tax excuses to expect rescue by the Brotish Government (taxpayer).

So OP would you be happy with:

1. standard UK tax resident (income based) year 25/26 expatriation flight ticket- cost £700 per seat
2. all other British nationals £1400 per seat? Point under 2 will be though that likes of Rio Ferdinand probably still paying council tax on properties in UK/plus rents at 20 per cent - and maybe still paying fair whack of tax here of some sort and probably more than 90 per cent of the population tax resident here

What about people on benefits choosing not to work and pay tax? And actually taking from the system at the same time? So a double whammy. Why are they afforded protection by the state and other taxpayers?

Who said if the UK runs expatriation flights accompanied by eg military airplanes that the air fares would be free? Surely they would charge a standard air fare price? Because the Government would surely have to pay private airlines to do so? Cost or military/planning etc would be free. Just like the cost of policing all the idiots constantly protesting in London or drunks at A&E.

The truly rich tax dodgers won’t come here to stay after we save them - they will go to Monaco, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Carribean, Ireland etc and most likely those countries will take them as they will spend there.
We will just get the more normal ones back. Like the teachers who went out there or engineers or architects.

What all 300,000 of them. Gosh!

Even if they do return to the UK, I don't think there are enough days between now and 5 April to trigger tax residency (unless you've already maxed out the allowance). It used to be something like 180 days per tax year when DH and I lived in the ME, much less if you had a permanent residence in the UK to which you were returning. Even then, I seem to recall there was a bit of discretion - I got quite close to the allowance when my DF died, all details sent to HMRC, no action taken. I doubt anyone will be queueing up to clobber forced returners, no matter how furiously Ed Davey might rub his thighs at the idea.

Most Brits in the Gulf seem to be very grateful for the generosity shown by host nations (e.g. covering all hotel bills) and for the efforts made to defend them and keep them informed. I doubt anyone is breathlessly waiting for the remaining dregs of our military resources to protect them. Last I heard, we've shot down one missile, and even that sent Keith into paroxysms of dithering angst.

Honestly, I doubt many of the 'expats' will be rushing to leave just yet. Dubai has been successfully shooting down most of Iran's missiles and if you've got a home, job, kids in school, friends, etc you're probably just hoping this nonsense will be over quickly. Has anyone actually died there? AFAIK no one has.

I wonder how many ex-pats are shitting themselves at the thought of having to return to the UK for enough days to make them "tax resident" in the UK and liable to UK taxes on their Worldwide income!! I would imagine a lot have decided to stay in Dubai until 6 April in the hope things don't get worse and that if they do end up having to come back, at least it won't affect their current tax year's UK tax status. I've already seen quite a few threads along those lines on some financial online chats/websites.

If tax Dodgers want to come back.Even if only temporarily.. They should pay the British Government the cost of the air fare. Too many fairly well off, entitled people taking the piss these days.

Or if they are working for British Companies. They should pay.

Anybody who's not an idiot would surely have seen usa threats to Iran last few weeks and therefore threat to everyone in that environment. So... Dont have too much sympathy. Live in a v undemocratic place, make a lot of money... Really why would u not look at thr downsides... Like now....

You are being unreasonable to expect that the British government would do much of anything. I was stuck in a country which was peaceful when I arrived, then descended into civil war, with a shoot on sight policy from the government if found out on streets apart from the 1 hour a day permitted to go get food. Which isn't helpful when one of your fellow volunteers gets very sick and needs to go to hospital outside this 1 hour window. My mum was the one who eventually got me out, via thousands of calls and travel arrangements under cover of darkness. Embassy was useless.

Or just the ones on linked in?

or some of the people on linked in?

Every single one of them

Because they posted about it all over LinkedIn calling us that remained a bunch of losers for continuing

Rio Ferdinand paying lots of tax is irrelevant as tax is not based upon personal returns it is a social collective responsibility. Besides, his wealth is not indicative of those that typically head to Dubai according to this thread!

Pretty sure eg Rio Ferdinand whilst here paid way more tax than any of you even if he then bounced. So on a lifetime contribution basis he has done his bit.

Plus Labour do want to sting people for inheritance tax up to 10 years after they leave abroad. Except dual Nationals can ditch their citizenship, liquidate all their assets completely so if there is no need to do probate here, good luck enforcing that one too. They could tie it to citizenship but people can just give that up. Loads of young Americans do just.
Ukraine has tried to conscript its citizens abroad - one precedent that has not gone that well. Note its up to the age of 60 in theory!

I agree with this.

No, we don’t know that every single British person who lives in the ME is a tax exile, but it’s fair to say that the ones who are are pretty bloody loud and proud about it. And the risks of living in the Middle East have been clear to anyone with half a brain for a very long time - although admittedly many British expats in Dubai are not all that bright.

Yes, they should be repatriated. But the taxpayers footing the bill aren’t obliged to be gracious and happy about it. We’re allowed an eye roll.

Then they can pay for that rescue.

Same as someone who travels without insurance and gets injured....

I ve read the gloating (on MN and other media outlets) over the last 18months of how terrible the UK is, how Labour is destroying the country and how they have such a fantastic, tax free life in Dubai....

Well, this "shit hole of country" (their words) cannot afford to save them for free......

What on earth makes you think that every single person who moved to the UAE only did so to avoid paying tax?

The only countries that tax based on citizenship are the US and Eritrea. As to why no one does it, I don’t know. Probably because enforcement is almost impossible if you aren’t the USA and can use make other countries abide by FATCA.

But you said your argument was the same whether that person was in Finland or Dubai. Assuming taxes are higher in Finland, they haven’t gone to Finland to avoid taxes yet in your previous post you said it makes no difference. So what is your point? Is it taxes? If so then someone moving to another high tax jurisdiction should get consular assistance and someone who moved to a low or zero tax jurisdiction shouldn’t? You have contradicted yourself.

Again, for clarity, the UK government does not have a duty of care to citizens abroad.

That is very clearly stated here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-deal-with-a-crisis-overseas

It is not a legal obligation of statehood that the government assists a citizen when abroad.

They might feel a moral obligation. They may feel a political incentive to. But there is no legal obligation to.

What they do have is a duty of care to their employees - so, for example, they aren't going to send diplomatic staff into a dangerous position to help some citizens.
The duty of care is to their employees so sending them into danger is a legal problem for them. The citizens are not.

I'm not saying they shouldn't help in this situation, just pointing out that there is no legal obligation for them to do so.

Although realistically, beyond signposting people to information, there isn't a huge amount they can practically do right now.

Even if they were offering flights from Dubai airport right now, I'm not sure I'd get on one given the risk of having a missile or drone flown at it.

Sitting tight at home seems like the best advice for Dubai migrants right now.

Shame you don't understand then what is actually written

I have - it’s you who’s lacking basic understanding of civics. It’s okay, plenty of people struggle with these concepts as evidenced on this thread and I respect your right to hold a misguided view.

Oh it was - read what is written instead of going off on a tangent