Opportunity to move to Dubai with DH & toddler…

[Adviceneededpleaseee]

Hi!

DH has beer headhunted for a role in Dubai. He’s due to meet with the company owners tomorrow to discuss.

Just a couple of quick questions:

• We are presuming he would be offered approx £200k (GBP) salary - what sort of life style would this offer in Dubai? I won’t be working. We would rent rather than buy. We would also need to factor in a return flight for me and DD approx once every six weeks so that we could visit the uk. We would also like to keep paying our mortgage in the UK (£1800 per month).

• On that salary, what are the best areas to live in with a toddler? I do so many activities (baby groups, soft play etc) and would like to continue doing things like this over in the UAE. Is it easy to make “mum friends”?

thanks!

Find out what the package is. Ideally you'd want rent, medical and school included but I'm not sure how common that is these days.

That's a lot of money but it won't go that far in dubai if you have to pay for everything yourself. Rent for example will be in the region of £25k per year at least and you'll be expected to pay that in one go or in say '4 cheques'

Do lots of research. There's some good fb groups, British mums Dubai and real mums of Dubai that might be useful

What's the package?

When I was in ME we had housing, health, school fees and return flights x 1 a year. They also paid to ship our stuff out and home again.

How old is your toddler, do you need to consider nursery fees / pre K which lots of kids start at 3?

It is easy to make mum friends if you can find others who aren't working, otherwise the kids are in nursery or with nannies. The salary/package will be offered in AED per month and that gives you the best way of working out how far it goes. Your existing mortgage is going to eat up a fair amount. Rents have shot up over the last few years (our 3 bed in Mira has gone up from 140k when we took it in 2022 to 220-240k now) and you can use the UAE Property Finder app to check out areas and prices. Your husband's employer must provide medical cover for him and a decent package will extend this to you and your children too, as well as them covering the cost of your visas (this may not be the case so check carefully). Only annual flights are covered so you can expect to spend a lot if you really feel you need to go back to the UK so often.

DH has a meeting tomorrow to discuss package properly.

We think it will include a car, but not rent.
99% sure it would include health insurance.

Our DD is one. I wouldn’t want her to go to nursery yet. How much do schools costs once she starts? I have seen online approx. £2k per month? I still don’t know whether at this point we would all live in Dubai or whether I would travel between the UK and Dubai with DD (around school term times etc.).

Thank you.
Yes I’m pretty certain it would cover health insurance for us all and also the cost of visas. Likely also a lump sum to assist with relocation.

I’d just stay here and travel over sometimes.
that salary won’t stretch to rent here and there for a house. They just lived in a flat.
I’ve a couple of friends whose husband’s did that for three years, the saved a bit of money and then came back.

Thank you!

The housing situation is the thing that I’m super unsure about! We’d like to be in a family friendly area that isn’t too far away from the main tourist areas (The Palm, Marina etc). We are relatively familiar with Dubai from a tourist point of view, but I have no idea in regards to residential areas.

I wouldn’t be completely against an apartment if the location was great (I don’t think! Unless someone can come along and tell me that an apartment is a bad idea with a toddler!).

It’s just important that we live somewhere where we can make friends with other ex-pat families.

Yes this is what we’re considering.

I’m certain that we won’t sell our house in the UK in order to do the move. Unless we absolutely love it out there once we’re there! But we want to maintain a base in the UK for the foreseeable.

In your circumstances I would seriously consider getting a 2 bed apartment at first (assuming you are paying) not worrying about area so much and you staying in the U.K. flying out every so often rather than the other way around if you want to be back so often. Every 6 weeks is very often, I flew back twice a year when mine were small

Thank you. Yes definitely something to think about.

We are very much focusing on areas and what we could afford though as I feel that this would make or break the idea of relocating.

Get a serviced apartment for the first few months at least when you first arrive then you can take a while to drive round and have a look at areas. Where will your husband be working? Have a look at the original Arabian Ranches, lovely community and lots of yougsters, easy commute to just about everywhere. Basic health care must be supplied by the company, that's the law. Check what you are actually getting though. Join British Expats Dubai (&UAE) on Facebook, lots of really helpful links / info about getting started in Dubai and housing things on there and you can ask loads of questions if needs be, they are a very helpful bunch!

My friend lived in The Greens when she first moved, it's a really lovely area ☺️ the marina is fab too, just the view from a high level apartment is beautiful. So many families live in apartments. Housekeepers/cleaners are very cheap compared to UK.
There are lots of expat communities that you will quickly immerse yourself into, almost everyone is an expat who have left their family and friends at home so you won't have a problem making friends and building connections.
The weather and shopping is just 👌🏼
I wish I could move there!

Can you rent out your house here? Or have a family member move in so it’s not empty?

once every 6 weeks is quite often to leave your partner and come home for 2 weeks, 4 weeks there and 2 weeks uk you won’t feel settles anywhere

Could anybody give any advice on these areas:

DAMAC hills
Arabian Ranches
Dubai Creek Harbour

thank you!

TCan't comment on the other two, or the other Arabian Ranches, but the original Arabian Ranches is a lovely community, I used to live there (in a 3 bed Saheel villa) when it was first built and still have friends living there now. It's well established, easy access, not too far out (it was when we first moved there! Seemed like the middle of nowhere! 😂), and has the shopping centre.

I lived in Mira, it is similar to Ranches (same developer) but houses are a bit more compact and affordable, although they've still shot up in price lately. Anything built by Emaar is generally well looked after and nicely landscaped. I've been to Damac Hills but none in any of the properties there, it's not as far out as Mira but still a fair way from the city. It's newer than Ranches but a very different architectural design.