# Does the UAE honour family values?



## moorthim4 (Jul 28, 2010)

Hi all

I am here in UAe for the last 2 yrs and it is itching qquestion in me whether UAe really honours any family value??
I am not sure how europians and arab expats will understand my stand, but all Indians pakistanis, filipinos and most of the asians will do better understand.

Let me explain in detail. UAE population comprises 20% locals and 80% expats peculiar feature of this state. Indians are the single largest expat community (almost 40% of whole population) followed by pakistanis and filipinos bangladesis and others. Out of these expats almost 90% living here alone without family means their family will be in their native country. because it is obvious they can not run the family here with the salary they get.

Sharjah govt sets 5000 Dhs min salary to offer family visa and it is 6000 for dubai and 8000 for Abudhabi. Eropian expats may wonder. More than 80% of asian expats earns less than 3500 Dhs including all emirates. Then it is obvious all of then denied family life.

Dat by day Govt lays more rules to scrutinize and sqeeze the asian expats but still they need them to work and develop their country. UAE doesnot need human beings but it needs castrated mules to dig oil wells in their hot desert and service their Air conditioners.

Would appreciate if europian expats put their views and really anxious to see if any arabs could write some thing


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## Jynxgirl (Nov 27, 2009)

They care about their citizens and their family values. If someone wants to come and work here, they come knowing the situation for the most part. Take it or leave it, because if you dont, there is another worker lining up from those countries willing to take a job for next to nothing and come here to work a few years to go back home with a chunk of change in their pocket. 

What can be said about someone who comes here, leaving their family in their home country. I would argue that they do not honour their own family values. I have the same feelings though about the labourers or the western expats who come over to get ahead and leave their families at home, going home once a year. It seems to be an overall lack of family values for alot of people. 

It is what it is.


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## Flying Leprechaun (Jul 16, 2010)

At AED 3500 or less a month, they are right in not letting these expats bring their families and subject them (and others) to a slum like environment. You talk about castrated mules, yet you wish to bring children into this world and force them to live in UAE on a shared income of 3500? Are those family values.

I'm beginning to hate the fact that these expats keep whining about their salaries and facilities or more precisely lack of it, while when they were given their job offer they were more then willing to accept and never demanded what they now feel they should have. 

Stop maligning the UAE and its government for a fallacy that you have committed and in doing so have lowered the market value of the job/function that you represent.

We wouldn't want the UAE to turn into another lawless slum like in South east asia, would we?

Oh and I do hate it when these 80% of asian expats you talk about lounge on the lawns or in open areas and stare and stare and stare and stare and dammit stare! Glad they didnt bring their wives and kids along to join them in this stare'capade.


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## Felixtoo2 (Jan 16, 2009)

I don`t see how moving away from your home country can be considered a lack of family values, some people move here because they love their family so much that they are willing to do anything to provide for them in the knowledge that they are coming to virtual slavery here in order to do so. If everyone stayed at home Columbus would never have been credited with discoveringor beginning colonization of America.
We all come here knowing the score and although western expats are normally paid enough to bring family with them this is simply because they have to pay that much to get us here and then to keep us here. For me the question is not about the UAE honouring family values because as Jynx has said for locals family is one of the most important things, as it should be. The problem is that the UAE doesn`t really honour human values. It appears that they don`t want any of us to be able to become part of their society, ie no chance of citizenship even if you are born here, and they make it virtually impossible to stay here unless you are working.
Can you imagine the uproar if our home countries did the same? 
So yes, they honour family values for themselves but they really don`t care about the expats, we are just viewed as a necessary evil that they can`t build or run this place without.


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## woodlands (Jan 13, 2010)

Jynxgirl said:


> They care about their citizens and their family values. If someone wants to come and work here, they come knowing the situation for the most part. Take it or leave it, because if you dont, there is another worker lining up from those countries willing to take a job for next to nothing and come here to work a few years to go back home with a chunk of change in their pocket.
> 
> What can be said about someone who comes here, leaving their family in their home country. I would argue that they do not honour their own family values. I have the same feelings though about the labourers or the western expats who come over to get ahead and leave their families at home, going home once a year. It seems to be an overall lack of family values for alot of people.
> 
> It is what it is.


Very true. They care about their own citizens and that's it.
The theory of people leaving their kids/family to earn a living abroad because of a lack of family values is pretty interesting. May be they are just helping their kids/family to survive....may be ?
Western expats generally have jobs in home country so u need to offer them a premium to come to this soulless and generally third rate society. Some others from another set of countries don't. Hence they have little choice.


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## pamela0810 (Apr 5, 2010)

My dad lived in Kuwait for 22 years and thanks to his hard work, we got a sound education, a comfortable lifestyle, a car to drive to college, etc etc. Did it come at a price? Yes definitely but I can see his point of view of wanting to provide his family with a good standard of living which would have been difficult had he stuck around in India.
Would I continue that trend? Not in a million years!! I'd rather live happily in a tent with my son than live in a palace without!
And quite honestly, if you're getting paid AED 3,500 a month or less, then what is the point of living here in the first place? You will earn a similar amount back home and be close to your family. It's a matter of sacrificing either the convenience that you enjoy here or your family back home. The decision is your's entirely.


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## Tropicana (Apr 29, 2010)

Flying Leprechaun said:


> *At AED 3500 or less a month, they are right in not letting these expats bring their families and subject them (and others) to a slum like environment. *
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Apart from the bit in bold, most of your post is just ridiculous generalizations; we can generalize about 80% of "western expats" drinking themselves silly every weekend and vomiting bucket loads, but that wont sound nice nor would it be true....

Parts of "South East Asia" are far better than parts of USA.....


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## Andy Capp (Oct 5, 2008)

Flying Leprechaun said:


> At AED 3500 or less a month, they are right in not letting these expats bring their families and subject them (and others) to a slum like environment. You talk about castrated mules, yet you wish to bring children into this world and force them to live in UAE on a shared income of 3500? Are those family values.
> 
> I'm beginning to hate the fact that these expats keep whining about their salaries and facilities or more precisely lack of it, while when they were given their job offer they were more then willing to accept and never demanded what they now feel they should have.
> 
> ...



:clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

Well said FL, if there wasn't so many guys chasing the same jobs (software engineer to start with) then the salaries wouldn't have been driven down would they?

Now how about we put UP the minimum salary for sponsoring your family to 20k say. That way the salaries would have to rise....


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## wandabug (Apr 22, 2010)

I congratulate the man (or woman) who can leave their children to earn the money for them to have a better life. Anyone who has not been in that financial situation cannot judge whether it is right or wrong but should thank god that they never have to make that decision.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

wandabug said:


> I congratulate the man (or woman) who can leave their children to earn the money for them to have a better life. Anyone who has not been in that financial situation cannot judge whether it is right or wrong but should thank god that they never have to make that decision.



I know I'm not in UAE, but my husband does just that. He works in England so that the children and I can live our "better" life in Spain!!?!! In fact lots of fathers (and I'm sure mothers) work away from home. Its the way of the world! It happens and its for many different reasons, priorities and standards

Jo xxx


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## Tropicana (Apr 29, 2010)

Andy Capp said:


> :clap2: :clap2: :clap2:
> 
> Well said FL, if there wasn't so many guys chasing the same jobs (software engineer to start with) then the salaries wouldn't have been driven down would they?
> 
> Now how about we put UP the minimum salary for sponsoring your family to 20k say. That way the salaries would have to rise....


Unfortunately it wont change a thing.

Except for very specialized jobs, there are always drone like zombies willing to come at whatever you pay them
Dubai seems to be full of Nepalese "sales staff" and "cashiers" some of whom dont know any English; you know why they got hired? Because Indians werent coming at 800 dhs jobs, and bingo, you have Nepalese volunteering to work for 100 dhs....


Similarly there are so many Filipino and Indian 'Engineers" who are so one -dimensional.....yet they get hired because they can work as an "engineer" for 4000 dhs a month.

So if the minimum salary is changed to 20k, many people will leave, but will be replaced by zombies, and the situation wont change


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## Andy Capp (Oct 5, 2008)

Tropicana said:


> Unfortunately it wont change a thing.
> 
> Except for very specialized jobs, there are always drone like zombies willing to come at whatever you pay them
> Dubai seems to be full of Nepalese "sales staff" and "cashiers" some of whom dont know any English; you know why they got hired? Because Indians werent coming at 800 dhs jobs, and bingo, you have Nepalese volunteering to work for 100 dhs....
> ...


On the other hand, the roads would be a lot emptier and the rents would come even further down - there'd be no-one to fill them.

Bring it on I say.


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## woodlands (Jan 13, 2010)

Flying Leprechaun said:


> At AED 3500 or less a month, they are right in not letting these expats bring their families and subject them (and others) to a slum like environment. You talk about castrated mules, yet you wish to bring children into this world and force them to live in UAE on a shared income of 3500? Are those family values.
> 
> I'm beginning to hate the fact that these expats keep whining about their salaries and facilities or more precisely lack of it, while when they were given their job offer they were more then willing to accept and never demanded what they now feel they should have.
> 
> ...


I don't think anyone is happy to live in a slum or slumlike condition. Even when poor and resigned to their fate, this is not out of choice. 
Let me tell you something about Asians, for all the poverty in their societies, there are relatively crime free. If you impose a similar economic pyramid on the European population you would see how law abiding the European societies would be. Look at US, parts of Manhattan are worse than the slums in Asia and more crime ridden. 
All of us should look at ourselves hard in the mirror, our privilege and salaries are less a function of our genius than a simple reflection of where we were born and to whom. Don't be so proud of yourself and take such umbrage at those less fortunate. You can't take away hope from these people cuz that's all they have. Hope in their future, and their kids a symbol of that hope. I think its inhuman to separate families. If they choose to keep families away to save money i respect that, but being forced to be separated due to laws...that's regrettable.


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

pamela0810 said:


> My dad lived in Kuwait for 22 years and thanks to his hard work, we got a sound education, a comfortable lifestyle, a car to drive to college, etc etc. Did it come at a price? Yes definitely but I can see his point of view of wanting to provide his family with a good standard of living which would have been difficult had he stuck around in India.
> Would I continue that trend? Not in a million years!! I'd rather live happily in a tent with my son than live in a palace without!
> And quite honestly, if you're getting paid AED 3,500 a month or less, then what is the point of living here in the first place? *You will earn a similar amount back home and be close to your family. It's a matter of sacrificing either the convenience that you enjoy here or your family back home. The decision is your's entirely.*


c. INR 50,000 per month as a driver/cleaner etc? Not gonna happen in India any time soon. Its more than what a lot of educated professionals make in India

OI know you were speaking as a figure of speech, but it is definitely a fact that they are making more than what they do back home - so there is a compelling economic/financial reason. Now how they rate this financial pro against the personal con of living away from the family depends on the specific family situation


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## woodlands (Jan 13, 2010)

rsinner said:


> c. INR 50,000 per month as a driver/cleaner etc? Not gonna happen in India any time soon. Its more than what a lot of educated professionals make in India
> 
> OI know you were speaking as a figure of speech, but it is definitely a fact that they are making more than what they do back home - so there is a compelling economic/financial reason. Now how they rate this financial pro against the personal con of living away from the family depends on the specific family situation


Let's say they saved x aed per month in India and 3x AED in Dubai. If they wanted to just save x aed and spend the 2x on keeping the family together that's a choice they should have in my opinion...in an ideal world that is.

BTW average wage for cleaners etc in Portugal is euro 500... and its the same for gardeners working for Indian govt.  surprised ?


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## Andy Capp (Oct 5, 2008)

rsinner said:


> Its more than what a lot of educated professionals make in India


Does a degree make you educated? I think not.


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## Flying Leprechaun (Jul 16, 2010)

I would guess not, if an expat claimed he was a professional and yet lived with 30 people in a single room that had an infestation of rodents and vermin due to the extreme lack of sanitation.


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## Elphaba (Jan 24, 2008)

Flying Leprechaun said:


> I would guess not, if an expat claimed he was a professional and yet lived with 30 people in a single room that had an infestation of rodents and vermin due to the extreme lack of sanitation.


A slight exaggeration. Even the labour camps aren't like that and they are largely for what we'd call 'blue collar workers', not professionals.
-


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## Flying Leprechaun (Jul 16, 2010)

is that what International City is now? A glorified 'blue collar workers' labour camp for 'white collared' Engineers & Technicians from the east?


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