# Live in UAE(Dubai).. work in(EU,USA anywhere in the World) ...



## SuperDriveGuy (Mar 21, 2015)

Hello All,
Looking for some genuine feedback..

I am a UK citizen and work as a IT Consultant. This involves a lot of travelling to other EU countries and sometimes USA. I was thinking of moving to the UAE(Dubai, but open to suggestions), due to residency(more than 6 months) being in a country with no income tax and a lifestyle change. Just throwing it out there, to see if anyone sees any obvious flaws or if they know someone who is doing something similar and its not that far"out of the box" as I am inclined in thinking...


Lifestyle - 

We have been moving around a lot, so have friends spread all over the place, actually many live in UAE and it will not be a uprooting move even for the kids. We know not to expect Western social and economic standards, but close enough. Winters will be nicer, but Summers maybe too hot, we'll see. Place is full of expats to expect to fit in nicely.


Education - 

Family with 2 teenagers. Looking for a good school(IGCSE?), not prestigious, so budgeting about AED 70K for both. Seems to be the biggest expense, used to free schooling so far.


Accomodation - 

Seems similarly priced to UK so no savings there. Most likely to purchase, as potential rental yields seem good, just in case. Budgeting about AED 15 K for utilities, don't expect rental or mortage payments if buying outright,(criteria for property based visa)


Work - 

Will be mostly in EU and USA with working from home a possibility too, by being tax resident in the UAE, the savings in income tax would be important factor


Visa - 

2 options seem available. 
(a) setup a company in the "free" zones and sponsor self and family, seems a fair bit expensive then offshore setups + the associated visa costs
(b) Purchase a property worth atleast AED 1M, - this seems most cost effective as anyway need a place to live, but a bit confusing as internet search brings up a 6 month visa, with recurring 6 monthly costs and having to exit(uncertain duration) and come back, not feasible for a family(anybody doing this?) some links say its a 2 year renewable visa


Expenses - 

Budgeting about 40K for food, eating out, medical,car, household insurances, fuel etc

Travel -

Not budgeting anything as this is paid for by the client. Apart from holiday travel, which I don't expect to by Europe etc as being in this part of world, makes sense to sight see locally. This is discretionary.


Costs
70 K Education
15 K Utilities
50 K Living expenses
15 K Visa expenses
TOTAL = AED 150K = USD 40K


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

AED 70K for two teenagers is on the lower side.
Housing - you have said that you would buy, but factor in maintenance charges (depends on size, community etc)
Utilities (including electricity etc, tv internet etc) would be at least double. There is some housing fee as well (I am unsure of the calculation for owned property)
50K / year is definitely on the ower side. 2 cars will be 2-4K per month, groceries 2-4K per month, eating out could be 0.1-1k per meal, entertainment (two teenagers would certainly need it) is NOT cheap.
I would budget 2-3 times the 50K estimate you have. 

property visa - most likely you will only get one visa and cannot sponsor dependents. So with a free zone company your visa costs will go up 2-3x (every additional visa costs money as well).


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

The wrong way of looking at Dubai.

From a purely materialistic perspective, Dubai offers a very high quality of life and economic standards and social standards are comparable if you're talking about a social life. Many British expats have a higher standard of living in the UAE than they would at home.

True, not everyone in the UAE enjoys those standards and most actually don't, but what differs in this place is that as a Western expat from the UK, you will be classified into the higher income category by default. Western schools, for example, are expensive to very expensive, but the cheaper options such as the Indian or Arabic schools, are not feasible for you. 

I've repeatedly said that for a British family to maintain a bog standard middle class lifestyle in the UAE they need the income of an upper middle class family in the UK. It largely has to do with the high cost of education as well as the high cost of housing.



SuperDriveGuy said:


> We know not to expect Western social and economic standards, but close enough.


I wouldn't buy a property here. The market has already peaked and is showing signs of stress. Apparently there's virtually no sales going on as buyers have dropped out of the market despite a growing inventory. Rental prices have also started to drop. You buy something now, you risk it losing 20-40% of its value in the short run and lest you protest it's happened before in 2009-2010 but the decline was even more severe.


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## ccr (Jun 20, 2010)

TallyHo said:


> ...Rental prices have also started to drop...


Not fast enough, but I keep praying every night...


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## aaanjoo (Mar 15, 2016)

Hi,
I am a british citizen but looking at this option now. My question is, is it legal to live like this? Resident in UAE with family but work in Europe/UK (lots of traveling) but base location UAE. Not residing in Europe/UK but business visits (max for 2 weeks in a row). Mostly working from home in UAE. 
Due to the fact that I will be residing in UAE (setup a company in the "free" zones and sponsor self and family), is it Okay that I dont need to pay any tax to UK? though I am british citizen.

Regards,


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