Moving to Abu Dhabi

[abudhab]

I would be really grateful for any advice form anyone who has moved from the UK to UAE. DH has been offered a job in Abu Dhabi and is likely to start at the end of this year. I will stay until after GCSE exams so that one of DC can complete these so will have a bit longer to arrange things. We have never moved abroad since having DC although we have thought about it several times!
Could anyone give me suggestions about things that we need to consider, how to arrange a massive move, any tips, etc?
From what I have read, it seems common for landlords to ask for 6 months rent upfront in UAE. Is this correct and how much (approx) would this be for a 4+ bedroom apartment/ house? How much (approx) does shipping of furniture, etc cost and how long does it take? How much, approx in total do we need to have saved for upfront expenses?
Re schools, there seem to be lots of good options but if anyone has any that they wouldn't recommend it would be v helpful to know.
Many thanks.

A lot of your questions are very budget-dependent, what is your housing budget and schooling budget? Easier to advise once that is known.

Also I hate to break it to you, but many landlords want 12 months rent upfront ...

We love life here, once you're set up you will have a great time 😀

As a pp said, all budget-dependent. How much will your DH's salary be, does it cover relocation, accommodation, school fees etc?

Thanks @puffinhoarder and @NewWater
The reason I didn't add the salary is because DH hasn't had a formal salary offer as yet. The ball park figure is around 90,000AED/ month. We don't know whether this will include school or accommodation costs yet so probably best to assume not and then anything extra is a bonus. I would also work once I relocate in Summer 25 and would probably bring in around 30,000 AED but it may be more. There would be no schooling costs until August 25 as the children would still be at school in the UK.
Does that help at all?

90k is an extremely good salary if benefits are extra, and it's still excellent if housing is included. My huge 3 bed villa in a gated community is 200k pa in 2 instalments, all maintenance included.

His package ideally includes visas and health insurance for all dependents as well as school fees, even if you don't need them yet. Fees range from 60-100k for premium schools depending on child's age.

Area is often determined by school and work locations, but you can pretty much get anywhere in AD within half an hour or less.

Salary is very decent. With benefits on top it would be incredible to be honest. That said as a family we're on around 90k all in and we are still watching spending - we're not flying business class to 5 star resorts in the Maldives or driving a Porsche (a large part of that is us prioritizing savings for retirement/education). People I know who are on similar salaries do have that lifestyle though, not completely sure how but I suspect different priorities.

If you have at least one child going into sixth form, one thing to look at is what they want to do for post-16 education and to check that is available in Abu Dhabi. Schools tend to be quite academically focused (although there are limited BTec options) and there is no option for an apprenticeship.

Also make sure you look into the position on home fees for UK universities. Many do get home fees even when not physically living in the UK for the 3 years prior, but the more competitive a university the harder it is.

I would echo all of this, especially on the 'how far does 90k a month go'.

The area you will choose to live in will depend on school and work location. Do you know at least where the job would be in the city?

Join Abu Dhabi Mums on Facebook and the British expat groups. They are very helpful and if you use the search function many people have had exactly the same questions in the past.

I want to reiterate that we're extremely fortunate, have no debt and there's no question of what we would do if the boiler broke or a child needs new football boots. We can have several relatively low budget holidays a year. I'm not crying poverty on 90k, it's an insane amount of money! That said, we don't fly direct with Emirates because it's more than we could comfortably spend, we're driving 10 year old cars, and spend 200k on rent. Brunch is a once or twice a year special occasion treat (it's expensive with teens!). Increasing any of that significantly would put a strain on the budget.

I assume the people who are living the 'Dubai Bling' lifestyle on similar salaries or less have passive income streams, family support, or are in debt.

I am just about to have a final interview for a job in AD so following with interest (although may start my own thread as I'm in a different family situation)