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

[Whitengold]

Hopefully it won't come to that and the airports will reopen soon, but I've already heard some murmurs about evacuation from paradise.

My neighbours are currently living and working abroad (not the UAE) but they are definitely paying more UK tax than the average person give that their UK income is a minimum of £42k (from renting their UK home out). The OP has clearly never worked for a multi-national where it is usual for people to be moved to other countries for a few years.
One of my UK colleagues has just been moved to the Toronto office. Should we not rescue him if the US decide to invade Canada?!

But why do they do that - I mean it is disingenuous to suggest this scenario is not all about tax avoidance.

A poor analogy and disingenuous again.

In fairness, not many would choose Dubai if they were paying tax there.

Do you, OP?

Who is stating, 'wealthy' .

There's been some debris fall from shot down drones. Some damage to airport so sensible not to fly at present. Its not an urgent evacuation situation at present, situation tight and see.

At the moment, most are safe waiting to see what will happen, not 'perishing'. A plan is being looked at. Naturally, people are worried.

In many cases it is to develop their careers. For example, a colleague has recently been sent to head up a team in the UAE. It was a more senior role that they had in the UK arm of the business. They won’t stay there forever. They may come back to the UK office or they may be asked to take on an even more senior role in a completely different country. That is life in a multinational.

Have you considered the fact that while they are working in Dubai they wont be using any UK facilities? Hospitals, schools, doctors , the tarmac on the roads they arent driving on? Or is that too difficult for you to work out?

It is neither and you know it. Most people that I know who work in the UAE rent out their properties in the UK so they are still paying UK tax. I have also have colleagues in the UK who cover the whole EMEA region and travel their regularly (at least once a month) so they continue to be paid and taxed in the UK but spend a lot of time in the Middle East.

They are definitely representative of the tax avoidance, work for a few years, return with some tax free earnings brigade though aren't they.

Here is the information from gov.uk on "if you are affected by a crisis abroad"

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

Of particular interest is this statement:

"You are responsible for your own personal safety. Follow the advice provided by the UK government and local authorities. We do not have a general duty of care to British nationals abroad."

Exactly.

And with that in mind, I’ve been an additional rate taxpayer for about 90% of my career but I don’t use the NHS or state schools…by some posters’ logic, I should be able to cash in some credit tokens and bump myself to the top of the NHS queue by afternoon tea time, right?

Does money bump you to the top of basic government freedoms like repatriation or healthcare? Is that what we’re saying now?!

You’re not wrong to observe the hypocrisy of some, but as a British citizens they are entitled to this, Just as someone that moans about tax and benefits is entitled to claim when they need to.

You aren't "entitled to protection" abroad even if you are a fully UK resident, British citizen of many generations standing who pays loads of tax.

People keep saying this on the thread. It's not true.
The government is not obligated to evacuate anyone from anywhere.
Individuals are not entitled to any services from the UK government from abroad.

You can't sue the UK government for declining to come and get you (assuming you are civilian and not working for a government service in that location).

The government may choose to assist in evacuations but you are not entitled to it.

People show up at embassies all the time thinking they will help them pay for a flight back home because they spent all their money or settle their hospital bill when they didn't have insurance or go demand the police release a British person arrested for committing a crime or pay for a lawyer

You aren't entitled even to a visit in custody - the embassy will take note that you are in custody but they aren't visiting you unless there is something really significant going on.

The UK government is not your mum and isn't obliged to get you out of a pickle of your own making.

This is exactly what happened in my case with DH's job. From the UAE we were then moved to a much less easy country which is now also at war with a European nation. Many of my friends in Dubai were on their 3rd or 4th country move with spouses who often worked for oil or finance companies. DH would never have had the career opportunities if we'd stayed in the UK, the UK division simply isn't big enough.
At DS's school there were 72 nationalities and I made lifelong friends from across the world.

My DS attends a private school in the UK and there are many children of different nationalities whose parents are working in the UK for a few years before being sent elsewhere. There are also many British children who were born in the UAE (and other countries) because their parents were working there when they were born. It’s clear that most people on this thread do not understand how having a senior role in a muttonational works!

That's not how tax works though. You are taxed based on your country of residence not usage of services. Tax justice is understood in terms of collective responsibility, not explicit consumption. It is morally tenuous to suggest free-riding is justified because you have avoided using services.
From a policy perspective, governments do not distinguish between "users" and "non-users"; citizens pay taxes as part of maintaining a functional society, the benefits of which may manifest unpredictably like the evacuation of Brits living in Dubai.

I wonder if they will be able to take residents’ pets.

I understand how multinationals work, I’m just not sure I’d move my children next door to Iran and then come begging for help with the consequences for that decision arrives.

You can’t put a financial value on the safety of my children, and moving next door to so many areas of unrest carries risk. A risk I would rather lose money than take.

Many might be paying tax on renting their property out, but they’re not paying tax on income - which they were before they emigrated.

Those in senior positions in multinationals can also likely afford a flight back. Or their company can. That’s definitely not a tax payer problem.

I know a group of expats who have lived there for a long time. They enjoy the access to beaches, deserts, scuba diving and so on. Many of them are not on the full expat deals with everything paid for. Some of them have created businesses, lives and families there. Yes agreed some definitely do it as a tax thing but not everyone is there only for that. That's a lens but not the whole story.

Either way, OP is suggesting that people should not be evacuated if it came to that or have some kind of evacuation assessment. That's just ridiculous. No one there asked for this war.

100% this. ^

I wonder how people would react if ex pats in Finland for example suddenly needed help because Russia invaded?

Or expats in America needed evacuating because civil war broke out over there.

They are also not paying tax in the UK....

Though I do find it wonderful that Mumsnet allows people to debate the morality of somewhere like Dubai, through the use of technology made in China, that bastion of human rights. I bet you all feel so good about yourselves for being morally superior as you type away on your android / iPhone.

No one ever foresaw that Iran would attack the UAE. By the same analogy, should no one take up a position in Poland or another Eastern European country? I actually thought Russia attacking Poland or one of the Baltic states a more likely occurrence. And I was worrying about it in my last role given that the company I worked for had a major service centre there and it would have severely disrupted our operations within Europe and beyond. And more importantly, I was concerned about my colleagues who were based there.

I don’t think any country is safe. An EU country is currently being attacked.

It’s also not about affording a flight home and you know that. If there are no commercial flights, than people will have to rely on Government evacuation. As UK citizens they have every right to do that.

There is way more nuance to the “built on slavery” stuff too. My Philippina housekeeper put her two children through school on the wages she earned in UAE - one is now at University (and we continue to support her and my DH’s former nanny’s family in India). There are similar stories throughout the ME - my employer’s former driver from Kashmir was supporting his extended family.

Nobody sane would condone working conditions in the UAE construction sector, but we don’t live in a world where everyone has a viable alternative, like welfare or a council flat. You’d be equally insane not to do a job that enabled you to clothe, feed and educate your children, if the alternative was having nothing, and that is the sad reality.