Can I move to the Middle East and just stay there for the rest of my life?

[inneedofaglowup]

Can I do that? Say me and my husband both got jobs in a place like the UAE/Kuwait or Qatar. Move over with the kids and not live in the UK? How does it work? What's the process? It's something we want to do but are unsure how it all works. We wouldn't mind living there until we grew old.

Jeez, who are your friends 😯

Lived there for years and still strongly connected, have heard of some very unjust situations there, but have not known anyone personally who had experiences like your friends, is pretty extreme.

So extreme, almost unbelievable.
I loved living in the Emirates. Felt like the safest place on earth when I was there.
Still wouldn’t consider retiring there though.

Two of these are linked, and the other two were many years apart. I know other people who have had no issues, but I know enough people who have had serious issues to think this is somewhere I would rather avoid.

Oh you haven't lived in the countries we're discussing? How do you personally know so many people who have had such major issues in UAE/Qatar/Kuwait without having lived there?

As I said, in nearly 20 years I know one person personally who was wrongly imprisoned/run out of the country. I know a lot who were basically told 'you're sacked, pack up your life and leave in a week', that's definitely a risk (if you don't have a visa independent of your employer). I also know lots of friends of friends of friends who had issues (but oddly you never get to the actual person). I also know for a fact one Daily Mail article about someone falsely imprisoned was a convicted pedophile (who would have got the same sentence in the UK).

I'm not saying the countries are perfect, that anyone should look at them as retirement locations, or that you can't have major issues. I am just saying from personal experience, it's not correct to suggest there's a real risk that you could be running to the airport telling your child not to look behind him.

To be fair that's the default for most countries UK included at times.

We're in Kuwait, you can't stay past retirement age. You can buy property under certain conditions, it's extremely expensive - but I think there's a pretty good rental market tbh!

Kuwait has a lot of issues (and bureaucracy...) but I love it here. I'm married to a Kuwaiti so I'm not having the full expat experience but you can integrate a lot easier here than in the Emirates for example where the expats are like a totally separate entity.

It's amazing for kids and family life.

Why is it that you want to retire outside of the UK? Or you're just wondering? Hope it doesn't put you off moving to the Gulf.

Another factor to bear in mind, wherever you move, is that your children would not be eligible for domestic frees for UK universities. They would have to pay the (often much) higher international fees.

A very good friend of mine, at age 80 !!!! has just had to return to the UK after 40 years living in Dubai after the death of her husband. She had 30 days to leave the country.

That is crazy, did she never apply for citizenship?

Because that's definitely not the case in England

I live in Saudi. Our visa's are tied into our work. Lifestyle is great but we won't be retiring here