This post is a part of the Indian Expat Life Series. Today Karuna continues to share her life experiences from the Dubai chapter. You can find the first part here.
When Covid broke out, we locked ourselves up in our apartment. My mother was stuck with us due to flight restrictions. With two kids, my elderly mother, my husband and I, we were tightly packed.
Everything was home delivered. The risk averse hubby had stocked up on supplies well in advance.
Once we nearly ran out of a prescribed hypoallergenic milk formulae for the kids. But my husband was persistent. He managed to get the last stock of milk powder with special Dubai police approvals. Needless to say, he made a few hundred calls and multiple cross country runs to pharmacies, to make that happen!
Visa
UAE doesn’t offer permanent residency or citizenship unlike their western counterparts. You can only be an expat as long as you have a valid visa.
Once you land a job in UAE, the visa process is uncomplicated and rather quick. I have seen systems getting even better and fast tracked during the time I was there.
Recently, UAE launched a long-term visa for 5-10 years which is limited to a select set of professionals. Hopefully these visas will be extended to a larger group of people, especially for those who are well settled in Dubai.
Things to do in Dubai
Well, Dubai can be as expensive as you want it to be.
People move to the gulf for a variety of reasons. We recommend that one should move here with a career and a financial plan in mind.
Instagram posts on Dubai often tell stories of excess and more. In our case, we enjoyed a good work / life balance and always had the time to explore the country and beyond.
We explored Europe, Far East and chased the elusive Northern Lights in the long weekends. On holidays we made new friends on Meetup, went snorkelling, bowling and barbecuing in the desert.
Before kids, weekends were days that started at the beach. This was followed by a mall crawl and lunch at a restaurant and finally ended with movies.
With kids weekends started at the beach, followed by lunch at home. Evenings could be at Al Barsha pond park or a small park just outside the apartment on really lazy days. Or we would just splash around the pool with the kids in tow.
Cost of living
Education is expensive. Tuition fees at schools with an “outstanding” rating can set you back by as much as AED 100K a year.
A monthly income of AED 25,000 should support a conservative debt free lifestyle. And AED 45,000 would support a lavish lifestyle, with ample opportunity to save.
Again, you can save more if you have generous employer benefits (subsidized / free kids’ education, housing, company car, etc). It all depends on the person. There is no one-size-fits-all concept here.
We rented the 1BHK fully furnished JLT apartment for AED 100,000/year in 2014. When we left in 2020, however, it had an asking rate of AED 45,000/year.
Do shop around and consider moving expenses before signing the dotted line in your contract. On our Street 11 apartment, we had an year-on-year 7-9% decline in rent.
This is reflective of the over-supply of villas / apartments in some regions of UAE. For example some of our neighbours moved from apartments to villas; some at a slight premium, others at a discount!
A major part of your earnings are spent on housing and transportation. So if those are covered by the employer, it can become easier to live and save, in a much lesser salary.
We have seen individuals manage on AED 2,500 a month with the employer covering most, if not all living expenses.
It’s also not unheard for one to have two jobs to supplement their income, although you may have to take another visa or your employer’s consent to do so. People do this to support their families back home and/or live in a lavish lifestyle.
Clothing
Shopping is big in Dubai. You could also call it a national sport right after finding a parking spot in the mall! You can find any branded clothing in the many malls of Dubai.
Maternity and kid’s clothing collection in UAE is by far the best in my opinion. It is again reflective of the demographic trends of the country.
Internet
Internet is very expensive as compared to India. Wireless Internet coverage is good and its possible to get gigabyte speed home connections in most localities. DU / Etisalat are aggressively building a 5G and fiber-optic last mile network across the country.
Discrimination
Well not really, though we did get special treatment at times, thanks to our multi-lingual skills.
Wage discrimination based on race?
Let’s be honest it’s a comparitively new country with very new systems. Everyone here is making do with whatever human capital they have access to and normally pay what you negotiate.
Working in U.A.E
Emiratis have come a long way since the 1970’s and are an ambitious lot. And I have had a ringside view of UAE’s struggles at managing talent.
Suffice to say, you will be appreciated, if you are smart, skilled and good at building the nation’s capacities. In fact a good attitude may also help you find interesting engagements and challenges.
Compared to India, UAE nationals / clients are no-nonsense, have realistic expectations with a can-do attitude. Having said that talent management is work in progress in most organizations.
If you are a person who learns languages easily, then Arabic will take you a long way in establishing trust with the locals.
UAE however, has begun to focus on training nationals for all their jobs. Their objective is to reduce dependence on foreign talent and automate processes as much as possible. Fun fact- Dubai Metro trains are level 4 autonomous, driverless vehicles!
Challenges I faced
I once got locked in my bathroom without my phone and with no one in the apartment. I had to literally claw the door apart to break out of my studio in Discovery Gardens!
Living alone in Dubai has its plusses, but build a friend / support network.
Our neighbours, Mike & Benita rushed across town, on New Year’s eve, to babysit our 2 year old daughter. Thanks to them, my trebling hubby could hold my hand as I went early into labour with my son.
Don’t hesitate to strike up conversations whenever you can. If not, join meet-ups of like-minded people. I once went on a road trip in Iceland, in a camper van with two friends from a Meetup group!
Misconceptions about Dubai
Well, Dubai is a very cosmopolitan city with people from everywhere around the world. It is like London in a lot of ways, just not so cold and wet.
The UAE is home to over 200 nationalities. Indians and Pakistanis are the largest expatriate groups while locals are only 20% of the total population.
Contrary to popular belief, Dubai has a very open culture. People from all religions, sects and all walks of life, live harmoniously with each other. There is dignity of work. Hard work and consistency pay off.
I once met a Pakistani cab driver who went on to become an airside transport manager at Etihad Airways. Ali was a UK postgraduate who was cheated off his hard-earned money and had to thus resort to driving cabs.
He happened to pick an exhausted me, from the driving centre. Later he also got me refreshments (rehydration pack & chips) at his own expense. That day Ali drove me back / forth to Dubai / Abu Dhabi covering 400km+.
At the end he was ecstatic of having met his weekly target on the first day of his work week! Over the years, I coincidentally took his cab multiple times (curb-side pickups, no calls). Again I was pleasantly surprised to see him walk up and introduce himself, during an airport survey.
Dubai, does transform lives. Or in this case Abu Dhabi or by that extension- UAE transforms lives!
Rules are strictly followed in the UAE and are primarily there to make the life of expats and locals better. Not to restrict or bother them. So this has never bothered me. Fines are extremely high and ensure that rules are not broken out of habit or for fun. Something that we lack in India.
Interesting incidents
My first car. The car of my Dubai chapter and the car that highlighted the ethos of Dubai.
The e38 V12 BMW was my first car for the Abu Dhabi / Dubai commute. It made my daily zip-drive of 200 km to work, exciting, smooth and quick.
My e38 was amazing but was seriously abused by the previous owner. On the day of purchasing it, he promptly disappeared into thin air and left me stranded with a non-starting car!
Yes, there I was stranded in a V12 e38 on a hot sweltering Sharjah afternoon. I was on the verge of breaking down, when a man emerged from the nearby tire shop asking what happened.
He promptly offered a bottle of water and asked me to take shelter in the shade of their shop. He then went about figuring what happened to the car. Soon other mechanics joined in and winched the car up. After complimenting the make of the car, they pronounced that it had suffered abuse.
With those words, they then did their thing. They got the car started and told me to keep it running, till I found a qualified mechanic.
Thankfully, a BMW enthusiast from whom I didn’t buy an e38 stepped up. He literally babied my car during the length of my ownership. In fact he even used to pick and drop me at the airport, till he was done with the car.
Incidentally, when we left Dubai in Nov’20 we sold our beloved VW CC at the same Sharjah Tasjeel outlet, where I was stranded with my e38! It felt like I had made a complete circle by finishing my Dubai chapter at the same place where I started it.
Dubai has given me memories which I will cherish forever.
To me, the city offers the best of all the worlds. Local food, people from across the world, best in class infrastructure and the western lifestyle, make it a perfect home away from home. A cleaner and a safer home perhaps.
Hope you enjoyed reading Karuna’s experience on living in Dubai as an Indian expat. Stay connected for the next country in our series, in the coming month.
If you’re interested in being interviewed for this series, or want to see a certain place featured email me at rubitah@beingrubitah.com or connect with me on Instagram or Facebook @beingrubitah.
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