Husband wants to move to dubai

[Dilemma87]

My husband is a businessman in property and with the recent proposed tax changes and new rules putting limits on how long he can keep doing things from the UK, he’s now saying he needs to move to Dubai and operate from there.

We actually have some friends there, and his business partner is already based out there, so on paper it all sounds easy enough. His plan is to buy a second property in Dubai and move there by himself, while I stay here with the kids.

The problem is, the children are really settled one’s in high school and the other is due to start soon, so moving them just isn’t an option. He’s suggested that we (me and the kids) fly out to Dubai every school holiday to spend time with him.

The catch is, under his visa he can only be out of Dubai for 90 days a year, so he’d basically have to live there full-time.

AIBU to think this is just not going to work long-term? I can’t help but feel like this is the start of living completely separate lives.

For the sake of integrity, neither of you should move.

Dubai allows migrant workers to be treated like slaves. They turn a blind eye to the depraved sexual exploitation of migrant women and models by the elite.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct854r&ved=2ahUKEwjM_dm-_-WQAxUMWEEAHRY-K-UQFnoECCMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0KGfiH6sIMG-V_wTiNUBq5

Yet of course they find time to throw 18yos like poor Marcus Fakana in jail for consensual sex with a 17 year old.

They are currently actively causing a genocide of non-Arabs in Sudan that is already being compared to the Rwandan genocide.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=www.theguardian.com/law/2025/may/05/sudan-fails-in-attempt-to-make-uae-accountable-for-acts-of-genocide&ved=2ahUKEwi5-ZGTgOaQAxVXT0EAHV7-KokQFnoECEYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2cEi9tb6pG22cJKsiTUXxf

Several of their princesses have been brutally mistreated and held prisoner by the ruling royal family.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=www.newyorker.com/the-runaway-princesses&ved=2ahUKEwixptrVgOaQAxUAV0EAHaJQJaYQFnoECBAQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2DRw5ySs6XVR1mSlQatUqd

Do NOT go to this depraved country.

Yeah, so you are telling me to.

As for your questions, not a good idea to share personal details with randoms on the internet.

They should have to pay some kind of back taxes before being allowed back into the country.

Sorry OP - he's telling you that avoiding paying a fairer share of tax is more important to him than keeping your family unit together.

A lot of angry posters on tonight, it's sad how we talk to each other behind keyboards.

Anyway, I'm not sure how effective his plan to avoid taxes in the UK would be if he still has businesses/a home/a family here. As PP have said it is a bit annoying that he's willing for you all to stay behind and use services/be in a government funded job, but doesn't want to pay taxes for the privilege. But freewill and all that.

I also have an issue with people fleeing to avoid taxes and then coming back to retire here and be costly pensioners when they've contributed little. I also have a massive issue with people who don't work/claim benefits their entire lives, so I'm not biased. Just an ordinary earner who pays my taxes and hopes for the best.

My biggest issue is that your DH is willing to just leave his family behind for most of the year. I will never understand couples who are happy with this arrangement, and I would assume he'd be having multiple affairs. Not for me.

I agree.

Its the absolutely shitty way he skips off to avoid taxes in the UK while taking advantage of them to support his wife and kids in their every day lives.

And exploitation of migrant workers, abuse, slavery. There are over 130,000 people in modern slavery in the UAE.

Do you live in Dubai @WildLimePoet ?

@WildLimePoetnot sure why you're being so angry and aggressive about a stranger's life choices. For the record I have a relative in Dubai it's a vile place in many ways imo.

She could go too. And probably earn a much better salary and a better lifestyle. It’s her choice not to go.

If it was me I would go over there for a month and see how we get on. School isn’t everything.

@Dilemma87 have you pointed out that the money saved in tax will be lost in divorce fees if your marriage can’t take the strain?

The kind of person who considers moving to Dubai to avoid paying a higher tax burden is not the kind of person to be swayed by this, I fear...!

Yes, quite. Built on the backs of itinerant labourers and the poor. Passport slaves. But as long as you can live on the Palm, have your quota of servants and private healthcare, no need to care.

I’m not telling you to. I’m asking why you don’t.
And it’s hardly a danger to say whether or not you live in one particular country

1. The tax thing is an entitlement people get when they start to build wealth.
2. I would be more concerned that he has planned this without you, and doesn't seem to be bothered how it will affect you.

A US-style tax system may be what is needed, if so many people (as we’ve been informed upthread) may be avoiding paying tax while leaving their families here to use taxpayer-funded services.

Angry and aggressive, how?

And you have a relative there? ok well that’s definitive evidence about Dubai then. On the record too.

Is money really that much more important to him than being with his family? How sad.

Not to mention leaving his children behind to save money on tax. He's got his priorities in order. It'll be porta potty parties next.

Finland is not socialist. It's a regulated market economy.

How do you know which country I live in? And why would I tell you? Feel free to keep getting in a huff and throwing your arms up, curling your lip and saying ‘oh well why don’t you go live there’.

I don't think people should pay taxes so I can live for free. I think the wealthy should pay taxes as I, too, pay taxes. That's not naive, that's a fair society.

What kind of decent man would even want to move away from his wife and children?

Doesn’t it break your heart that he has no qualms about moving away from you all?

Your poor children.

Instead of derailing like some kind of manic loon, perhaps read the OP. It’s not in the husband’s plan for his family to join him. He wants them to stay put. That is what the post is about, not how bloody marvellous Dubai is or isn’t.

How much money will he actually save by running two households, multiple flights per year, private health care etc.

This isnt about dodging tax, its about living the single life without the costly divorce and loss of assets that it usually requires.