Meant to be moving to Dubai in 4 weeks

[Medesres]

We've been planning a move to Dubai for a while now. Dh's work has an office out there and it seemed like great opportunity to live abroad and experience sth different. I've got a couple of friends out there already too who love the lifestyle.

Watching the news for the past 24 hours and I'm really starting to question things. I had no idea how close to Iran it was and who knows what might happen next. Part of me is hoping it will all be resolved soon but hard to believe.

My friend who already lives there has spent the night sleeping in one room with her dh and kids scared of all the missile noises.

There was a thread recently about how great it was to retire to Dubai. I was sceptical, now even more so. Already the how comparatively cheap it was and the wonderful lifestyle (all at other people's expense) was grating, having a reminder of how unstable the region can still be is the last nail.

They may not have " tax" as you recognise it but there are many varied " fees".

100% this. ^ I love my country, (the UK) and for all its flaws I will be staying. And I would certainly never move anywhere NEAR the UAE, ta very much!

@Medesres I would definitely bail. Call it all off.

Agree with the last sentence here.
No one knows what is going to happen wrt this volatile situation. It has been building up for a long time though, and you and your DH should have been aware of this and considered it in your plans.

"squandered on benefits"
Yeah, all those greedy children on FSM, and disabled people claiming PIP..... shame they closed the workhouses.

In Saudi

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241112-21000-workers-killed-building-saudis-the-line-project-media-reports/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAQRik9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeX_7zqsm3L_MteLHjfDEePujqf8lRHcFiff7SNOapr1Phzl-D7ZiYx4U-SgI_aem_ltrQwod4RvvsbpJOqinIew

Oh look, here’s one!

Bye then, I hope you enjoy keeping your money as much as you enjoy watching missiles get intercepted.

“As a family we pay” usually means “my husband pays,” btw.

Hi I’m sorry this sounds stressful and I hope you see this for the paragraph below… I’ve been Dubai many times and it’s not perfect but they have their own rules and are in my opinion generally accommodating to expats. So absolutely get why given the last 30 years you would consider it safe.

It is close to Iran and also in case you didn’t know there are some islands off of UAE are Iranian and others which Iran / UAE both claim ownership of (but I think Iran might control).

Worth understanding the full geography and how close to comfort it might be. I’m sorry I don’t know enough to say more.

good luck either way

This is obviously click bait.
But as a woman, it's not somewhere you would want to move to anyway. I'm sure someone will come on and say (probably someone with ridiculously large lips) "I've lived there for years and had no iSSHooos". But it's somewhere that you have less rights as a woman and/or a non muslim and they treat poor people abysmally.

So is Dubai actually just Spain for Millennials?

I find it absolutely wild that you were planning to move to a country when you essentially didn't even know where it was? Like, could you have pointed to it on a map of the world?? Current situation aside you should be doing a little more research before committing to something like this!

Why would you hate to live there? I mean, at the moment, I get it! But in normal times, expats have a great life there in the sunshine. I think it would be an experience. Make a change from wet, grey Britain, anyway!

Don't go, Dubai is over.

Is that the limit of your knowledge about Dubai?

PMSL

Never mind all the slaves who actually do all the building though, eh? Fuck those guys.

I think you are making generalisations and lumping all of the many Middle Eastern countries together. It's very different in all of them.

Its a country that supports slavery among many other immoral issues.

Thats without all the practicalities of weather and environment.

This.

YAB very U to plan a move to a country you know so little about

It tends not to be in the ‘Evade Rachel’ brochure.

A bit like they don’t tell people legging it the crown dependencies that they won’t survive the first winter in their lovely beach-facing cottage homes with the patchy WiFi connection.

It’s not a democracy.
I mean we waste a lot of time in this country moaning about our leaders, US leaders and the royals but actually can you imagine living under an absolute monarchy?
I mean just for that alone it would have to be a serious swerve.

You were going to move to Dubai and you didn’t realise how close it was to Iran?!! I would have thought that would be obvious.

Living in Spain never appealed to me and the boomer generation who moved there loved rubbing in everyone’s noses how much better it was than the U.K. (until Brexit) and I know that Dubai doesn’t appeal to me but all the younger millennials who are flocking their love to rub everyone’s noses in how much better they think it is. (mainly avoiding taxes) So by comparison it just seems like the modern equivalent of moving to Spain.

Obviously I’m also fully aware that it is built in slavery and that women and LGBTQ people have no rights there.

I feel very sorry for the families trapped in the current situation but at the same time I take a dim view of overlooking human rights abuses to avoid paying into a democratic society and don’t find it aspirational. Hope that helps.

@Spookyspaghetti

I take a dim view of overlooking human rights abuses to avoid paying into a democratic society and don’t find it aspirational.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

That's a well-thought-out, persuasive argument. I don't know how anyone can fail to be convinced! 🤣