I live in Dubai. AMA

[TheHulksPurplePanties]

I see people ask all the time. So here you go. Been here 12 years.

Hi
What salary do you think a couple with 2 school age kids would need to earn to live comfortably in Dubai (not extravagant just comfortable)?

how long are you planning to stay there?

What are the laws like, do you feel like you're under pressure because of the laws

Do you have a maid?

Rainsim minimum 45,000 aed a month.

Through thick and thin. We waffle. DH is from South Africa and has no desire to move home, i'm Canadian and it's too expensive to move home and the job opportunities aren't as good.

needstimealone the laws may seem strict, but the first thing you learn being here is that they aren't often applied. DH and I lived together before marriage, my gay DB wants to move here, it's about being "discreet".

Honestly, if they are locking you up in Dubai as a tourist, you must have done something incredibly stupid.

Do you have kids? If so do you think it’s a good place to bring them up?

Harriet we had a live in until the kids started school. We paid her well above average. Now that kids are in school and DH is a teacher we have a maid come in twice a week. It's through a company but we tip her above and beyond. It's not what a maid or nanny would earn in the UK, but our nanny was making only slightly less then my DH as a teacher.

A teacher in South Africa or a teacher in Dubai on either a local contract or an expat one?

Sorry OP - where was your nanny from?

*ThroughThickAndThin01

Do you have kids? If so do you think it’s a good place to bring them*

Sorry for missing bits, on my phone.

Yes we have a 6.5 year old DS and a 5 year old DD.
Right now, I absolutely think it's a great place to raise kids. The schools are amazing compared to what I had in rural Canada. They are exposec to so many cultures and languages. DS speaks Arabic incredibly well despite it not being spoken at home.

That being said, I'm not sure I want them to be teenagers here. For obvious reasons about drugs, sex and alcohol.

BUT i have quite a few Emiraiti millennial friends, and my fears diminish Everytime I talk to them.

Floradoranora
He's a Teacher in Dubai on an expat contract. Our maid was from the Philippines.

Do you work as well? I heard it might be tricky to survive on just one teacher's salary out there...

Do you feel it's morally quite wrong when you consider that lots of Dubai was pretty much built on a modern day slave trade? Nepalese worked being worked into the ground to pay off their 'debt' for being brought there and having their passports taken away?

Or do you just forget about all that side of it after a while?

Elpheba yes. I'm the "breadwinner". I work for an energy company. No way would I try to raise 2 kids here on a teachers salary.

@HarrietKettleWasHere and so was Britain. Neither make it right.

Yes but that's not happening today now in the U.K. is it. societies/humans evolve and most countries no longer have their infrastructure built by enslaved workers, so it's not really the same argument.

Nepalese worked being worked into the ground to pay off their 'debt' for being brought there and having their passports taken away?

When I started here 12 years ago my Canadian passport was taken away. I couldn't leave the country without an exit visa.

Those laws have changed BUT sadly a lot of the Asian workers aren't aware of their rights. I work, as part of CSR with my company, with several embassies and the Abu Dhabi & dubai police to help those being abused.
It's not easy. There are still a lot of assholes in the government and police force who won't listen or help. But there is also a lot of pressure to get them out.

Even if they were aware of the rights, I doubt they'd be able to exercise them from their position.

But it's good that there's some awareness and pushes for change from some.

I just find it frustrating that as soon as a dubai thread goes up, this is rightly raised but never mentioned when threads are started about other countries who are consistently committing human right violations (for example Israel).

A Nepali has as many rights as I, a Canadian, does. NOW.

Is that full rights here? No. Is it better than it was when I came here? Yes. Is the leadership doing what they can to push liberalism on a conservative population as quickly as possible? Absolutely.

Will things here ever be like Canada or the UK. No.

Dubai comes up a lot, and has a huge western expat community and tourist industry worth billions so it's not very surprising that the way it is built gets mentioned, is it.

Rainsim i've no opinion on Israel. Because I've learned that some countries like the status quo and no one likes فأر . Not my opinion, but one I've sadly heard enough and quit a Job over.

He's a Teacher in Dubai on an expat contract. Our maid was from the Philippines

Is he employed as a South African?