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.

You'd best put that plan on hold indefinitely. Sadly it could be for a very long time, given how long other wars are lasting.

How have you never looked on a map when you were moving there?

@Medesres did you research anything else about living there?

For example did you know that the reason we are not hearing about how bad the bombings have been in Dubai is that “law 34” prohibits people from sharing that information. If your friends have been sharing on social media they could face 10 years in jail.

Did you know that you wouldn’t be able to kiss your husband in public? A lot of people do kiss their spouses, but it is still illegal, so you do so at the whim of any police officer who might be having a bad day and want to teach a westerner a lesson.

Obviously I could go on with dozens more examples.

Yes I don’t understand why people are not a bit more freaked out by the prevalence of modern slavery in countries like UAE - low prevalence of slavery seems a low bar to clear, but at least the UK does clear
that one.

Even before this all kicked off, you couldn't have paid me to even visit.
Anyway, as someone said earlier, you are where you are. I would think that you will have to move heaven and earth to put a stop to this move (assuming it's not stopped by outside agencies).

OP - I mean this politely, but you are ridiculous. I’ve lived in the UAE for decades. It has always been part of an unstable region. The UAE itself is not, but the neighbourhood is. If you have not done even token research on the region you are moving to, you should stop and reconsider until you have.

This, the airports been bombed once already, airspace closed. Aircraft rerouted away midflight yesterday etc.

Your Dh needs to talk to his employer about what their plans are.

I wouldn’t be comfortable going so soon. We have friends working out there who have had a scary night. They have been there for years, had their dc there and aren’t easily scared.

I’ve been there a few times and couldn’t live there. And I wouldn’t want to bring up kids there either. Added to that the constant ME tensions, it was clear that it will blow up one day. Mind you, people who live there would then say ‘it’s safer than London’. Personally I disagree with that

It really isnt to most people. I have never seen it in rose to tinted glasses.

Is this new? There were buses from Saudi Arabia and Oman when I was there. It was a good while ago.

You think she thinks every one of the world’s 8 billion people wants to move to tiny Dubai?

Do you always take things so literally?

I used to go a lot for work. I wouldn’t consider it for a holiday or to live there. All that glisters is not gold.

However I know people who live there and love it. I can see how people are seduced by the lifestyle but you have to look at the other side too.

I do feel for you OP, as you must be very worried so close to the time when you should be moving. I know the region is unstable but not many people would have considered Dubai unsafe.

And some people wonder why they get a hard time about moving. When they don’t even know where they are moving to or the current/historical political climate out there.

There’s been rumblings for a while about a USA attack. Israel/iran attacked each other last year. The middle east has been unstable for as long as i can remember for one feason or another. . Shiny hotels, sunshine, shopping malls and money doesn’t change that area and its history.

I feel for people stuck out there and experiencing it all but the amount of videos i’ve seen today of influencer type young people who still aren’t understanding the danger and still outside enjoying beach clubs and one was even laughing about it. It’s all is just wow really.

I just can't imagine a situation where you'd move your family to another country without ever looking at the map!

Moving to an unstable region was always going to come with risks. I don't think the risks are any different today than they were this time last week. "Something" has happened now, but it's been about to for weeks.

I think the main risk is travel disruption though, that something happens at home (family illness etc) and you can't fly back when you want to, or you come back for a trip with DC and don't see DH for longer than expected.

Have you even visited before op? Are you being taken in by the glamour and forgetting it’s the Middle East, and what comes with that, from the culture to the region ? I find your post surprising to be honest.

No,"everyone" doesn’t want to move there! I would never, never voluntarily live in the UAE.

How do you suppose giving it a couple of weeks is going to help?

it's not suddenly going to be a goid dustance iron Iran. It's not suddenly it going to be in the ME.

@Medesres if this isn't a wake up call to the reality of living in the ME, I don't know what will be. You can make it pretty & offer shit loads of money to live there, but you can change what it is fundamentally.

Better to be disappointed and safe than relocate to an escalating volatile situation. There will be those who have recently moved.

At least you are still on home soil so have time to shelve the idea if as looks likely it’s gonna be a zone of conflict.

I’ve been a couple of times with work, and I can honestly say there is absolutely no mistaking you’re in the Middle East when you’re there.

Why have you got an issue with me? I'm not the only poster whose pointed that not everyone wants to move there.

You mean why do I think people might mean what they say? Well yes I do, why would I say everyone wants to do something if I know that isn't true. Makes communication difficult don't you think? Hang on did I mean that or just say it for the sake of it.

What??

If you had no idea how close it was to Iran, then I don't think you should be moving there. It points to a concerning, and dare I say foolish lack of basic education & research as to where you're actually going, both geographically, and possibly culturally too.

It’s incorrect. I don’t know where @mullers1977 has got that from.

Regardless of whether it escalates or not, Dubai isn't moving. In 10 years it will still be situated where it is now. In a very very dangerous and volatile area. I cannot believe you'd take your children there because it seems "glamorous" ....wtaf

She probably doesn't mean a couple of weeks. It probably means something quite different.