Potential move to Dubai

[Sofita90]

Hi,
I would like the help of fellow mumsneters that have lived in Dubai and London. My husband has an offer of 870k AED if we add the allowance for rent and transportation. Now in London our family income net is 11k GBP per month.
I like my job and I will have to quit to follow him and we currently expect our first baby, the move will happen after birth. Do you think the compensation is good enough to worth the reallocation of our family for the next 4 years at least? Anything I should be aware of ?

No advice, but I wouldn't live there because of its human rights abuses and misogyny and lack of political accountability. Sorry, not what you want to hear probably.

Well that's a £190k pay packet. Have you worked out how much that will be after tax and how it compares to your current earnings of £11k net per month?

Do you plan to work out there?

What's the salary without the rent /'transportation ?

It's a good salary - but it does matter how much of that is rent & transport, and whether the allowance will actually cover you. There's no income tax but you will have to think about insurances, including health insurance, various fees and pension contributions. Are you buying your London home, and what would you do with it if so?

I wouldn't make this move if I had a good job that I loved. UAE simply doesn't offer the type of working environment I was used to. Your prospects might be different, though, and having the baby will throw everything up in the air. Do pay attention to the likely career prospects for you both after the four years! An extra £3.5k a month (ish) could be great, not so much if you then come back to an insecure financial situation.

Might you be able to work remotely from Dubai, have you looked into this?

So my company has offices in Dubai so there is a small possibility I would be able to continue my job there but I do not want to rely on that as not sure it will happen and I am not planning to quit before my husband does the move and settles. Now for him seems to be a great opportunity work wise as he is not happy with his current role and this is a big company where he has worked before , knows the product and the environment. So if he does not make this move he will just need to continue sending CV and going through 5 rounds of interview while we have a baby at home with all the stress that this involves. He is the high earner in our couple making more than double than I do. The package includes health care for all the family and extra money which I have not added after the kid is 3 years old for school. Current offer is 680k AED OTE , housing and transport 190k AED. My plan is he goes and I spend my maternity there then I go back to work and after a full year he is in Dubai we decide we want to move the family, I ask my job if they deny the move then I quit and try to find something there after a break of 3-4 months.

It's plenty to live on, there are people earning much, much less and living very happily. It totals 72.5k a month, and your average teacher in a UK curriculum school is on around 15k! You say OTE though - what is the guaranteed salary?

It is not as easy to find something when you are there unless you work in specific industries. A friend made the move a few yr back and his wife could not find a job. She was a paralegal in London.

Healthcare is very expensive in Dubai. Is your newborn going to be added to his health insurance without deducting from his current package? Are they paying for return flight?

You might be able to get more answers from the Reddit HENRYUK forum.

The salary is fine in theory but as someone else said what is the actual salary ignoring OTE? From the housing allowance I'd guess about AED570k. Still easily doable for two adults and a baby with health insurance provided even if he doesn't make the bonus, but I would plan your basics around the lower salary (eg look to this to set your housing budget). Bonuses are of course never guaranteed but also not all employers are as reputable as others in this space in Dubai.

The main issue is likely to be work for you if your employer doesn't let you relocate. What do you do, and how important is being able to maintain your career to you?

Finally, do you want to move to Dubai? There is a lot on for mums with small babies and you will be able to meet people and make friends but still it's not an easy time to leave everything you know. Your husband will be going to work every day and unless you are proactive you risk finding yourself isolated at home with the baby all day resenting him. It doesn't have to be like that at all but it is very easy to get into that position.

I love living in Dubai to be clear, but do go in with your eyes open on how hard it will be to move with a young baby.

The salary is good, as you have not child in the school.
So for next 2-3 years if you are wise you can save more than in the UK.
Your husband can potentially after 2 years land even better job.
But dont expect much of upgrade of living if you want to save.
The groceries went up significantly so rent and school fees which will not be your worry for some time. The activities for children are also more expensive.
If you want to go to work you will need nanny for 100% as the working hours are longer here, many have only 1 day weekend. So that is additional cost. The good ones are around 1000£.
The traffic is horrible in the moment, many spend commuting to and from work 2 hours daily. What would be fraction of that time few years ago.
So dont make hasty decision regarding rent.
Try the location in rush hour before you agree. If you dont mind commuting that is not an issue.
But you will have really good time here specially with toddler going outdoor during winter season.
Regarding insurance make sure it is covering the hospitals in top level. They are only 4 in that section in Dubai. Regarding children absolutely recomending Mediclinic. Their doctors are mostly UK trained. Have excelent experience with their pediatrics doctors and dentist and A&E.
Good luck!

It’s an ideal time for you to go and spend your maternity leave year there. I’d do it and keep an open mind while you’re there whether you’d stay on or all come back after a year. Maternity leave in Dubai is much more fun than maternity leave in the uk!

One thing to watch is that you have to complete a full April - April tax year out there if you don’t want to be liable to pay uk income tax on your earnings out there if you (your husband) return after around a year. At least that’s how it used to be - it may have changed but worth bearing in mind.

Make sure health care and children schools are / would be covered if relevant over the next 4 years.
Also consider would this be enough for domestic help.

you need to review your potential outgoings against the salary without property. As you won’t get the property allowance to spend on anything else

his HR should have a relo team who can model outgoings vs his potential salary.

we almost turned down a role a few years ago because when I checked the cost of private medical it took up a lot of the salary. They eventually re offered and incl an allowance for the top level PMI I wanted for my family so far from home.

good luck! I’ve known a few families go at the same point as you. And they loved it for 4-5 years and then came back so mum could restart her career once youngest was in school full time.

Sounds like you’re juggling a lot of moving parts: baby, career, housing, health insurance... not to mention Dubai’s school fees down the line. If it were me, I’d want someone local to walk me through the logistics before committing to anything long-term. You can check this out: www.smartmovers.ae/ (they’re based there and pretty hands-on with family relocations). Might save you from some surprise headaches later.