Offer for employment in Dubai

[proxilin]

It's very hot there.

Correct. In summer it is hot, but there are aircons everywhere, so you'll be fine. You'll just be indoors for most of the time, which isn't great if you really like the outdoors. Winters are nice.

From what I've heard it's common to work at night when it's cooler and you don't get a Saturday and Sunday weekend break.

You'll work the same hours you work in SA. The shops open late and close from 1pm-4pm, and then open again until late. This is to avoid the heat of the day in the summer.

Can't you also add:

You're wife isn't allowed to drive, or have they changed that?

Women can drive, and they can wear "normal" clothes whilst realising that a very sort skirt and a boobtube won't go down well, so dress respectfully.

Dubai is basically one huge slave labour camp.
Do not get me wrong, the pay is good, but you expected to work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day.
There is only certain area's where you allowed to stay, eat and drink. Make 100% of all the rules and regulations.
.

If you're a general labourer from India, yes, you will work in bad conditions. For a South African engineering firm, you're work environment and hours will be the same as in SA, consulting stays consulting and contracting stays contracting.

And you're not allowed to eat anywhere in public during Ramadan.

Correct, but it won't affect you.

I've spoken to a collegue of mine who worked in Dubai from 2005 to 2010.

His wife could drive. She had a RAV 4 while there.
Normal working hours are from 8 to 5 Sunday to Thursday.
He recommends I negotiate to have schooling, housing and annual home trips included in the package.

All correct.

It'll be a great experience, working on bigger projects and experiencing another culture. There can be a culture shock, but the expats tend to stick together so you'll quickly find some SA people to hang out with.

Try for a freestanding house, not a flat, that way you can braai.

As for the family, it makes it difficult. Wife's tend to struggle there, esp because of fussing over the kids, and no family support. If you guys have always just lived in SA, you'll be in for an adjustment, esp with regards to the culture.

If you are English your kids should be fine in an English school, but if the Grade 2 kid attends school in another language now it'll be difficult to switch over.

All that being said, I'd recommend going. It probably won't be "fun", and the adjustment will be something, but when you look back you will be astounded on the way the experience broadens your horizons. Depending on your kids' personalities, they may or may not adjust easily, but it'll teach them a lot about the world and it's people. They usually attend international schools and end up with friends from all over the world.

Oh, and whatever you do, do NOT consider going alone and leaving the wife and kids here. You always stick together. Expats who leave the family behind end up getting divorced quite often.

 

[saguran]

The amount of nonsens spoken here is frightening.

 

[falcon786]

You will never have equal status to the minority of Arab citizens that own the place and you will find that you they are frequently quite rude and arrogant towards you.

I felt uncomfortable, though.

Locals are miserably unfriendly.

This is unfortunately very true!:erm:

The buddy I mentioned was a school teacher,the kids have absolutely no respect for non dubai arabs,very very racist attitude prevailing there actually from adults to kids...they think they are special.

He ran away after a year or two came back to teach in SA because he couldn't stand it despite the big pay package.

 

[flarkit]

I found Dubai to be most lenient/progressive of the Emirates. Whilst they do follow much of the Arab/Muslim culture, it's not enforced as strictly as in other states. If you're earning better than average, then it might be worth while sticking it out for 2+years. The heat is intense, but one learns to take necessary steps. It feels as if much of the place is simply a facade for import/export, but at least crime is much lower than here. Work gets tough, especially if you miss your family and social circle, but it can be rewarding in the long run

 

[dmw]

The amount of nonsens spoken here is frightening.

Then please put down what is nonsense especially if you are living there.

 

[falcon786]

Then please put down what is nonsense especially if you are living there.

+1 If you are living there your opinion would count very strongly.Do explain.

 

[marco79]

Oh, and whatever you do, do NOT consider going alone and leaving the wife and kids here. You always stick together. Expats who leave the family behind end up getting divorced quite often.

They will have to tag along. I think a big factor for my wife is keeping the kids entertained over weekends, ie. playparks, waterparks, themeparks, arcades, etc. We have relocated for 2 years to the KZN south coast about 5 years ago so my wife knows what its like without friends and family.

I have worked for almost a year in Kakamas, Northern Cape and there were a few weeks in Jan/Feb last year with temperatures between 45 & 49 degrees and I got through it.

The way I see it, I'll have to wait and see what type of package is on offer, thereafter we can make a decision. It would have to be a substantial increase because I won't sell my cars or house here. So I'll have to maintain payments on this side.

 

[OrbitalDawn]

Correct, but it won't affect you.

How will it not affect you if you're also not allowed to eat in public?

The amount of nonsens spoken here is frightening.

Then correct what you consider to be nonsense.

 

[Electric]

They will have to tag along. I think a big factor for my wife is keeping the kids entertained over weekends, ie. playparks, waterparks, themeparks, arcades, etc. We have relocated for 2 years to the KZN south coast about 5 years ago so my wife knows what its like without friends and family.
I have worked for almost a year in Kakamas, Northern Cape and there were a few weeks in Jan/Feb last year with temperatures between 45 & 49 degrees and I got through it.

The way I see it, I'll have to wait and see what type of package is on offer, thereafter we can make a decision. It would have to be a substantial increase because I won't sell my cars or house here. So I'll have to maintain payments on this side.

KZN is hardly Dubai though.

 

[MrGray]

Almost forgot - another weirdness that you need to consider if your employer is not providing accommodation directly is that leases are almost always 12 months payable in one lump sum in advance. Just make sure you have this sorted.

 

[MrGray]

Oh and Skype was blocked at a country-wide level so that you can't phone home without being monitored, but I *think* they may have lifted this very recently.

 

[marco79]

Some humour.

Just in case you maybe thinking of moving to Dubai... This one is good


April 31st:
Just got transferred to work and live in beautiful Dubai, UAE! WOW!!!
Now this is a city that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and
warm balmy evenings. It's like New York City minus all the crocks,
murderers, and drunks. What a place! I watched the sunset from a deck
chair on my beautiful bedroom verandah. It was beautiful. I've finally
found my home. I love it here.

May 13th:
Really heating up. Got to 95 degrees today. Not a problem. Live in an
air- conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car, and everything is
fully air-conditioned. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like
this. I'm turning into a sun worshiper.

May 30th:
Had the backyard landscaped with tropical plants today around the our
lovely pool. Lots of palms and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more
mowing lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here. Heat is
no problem at all.

June 10th:
The temperature hasn't been below 95 all week even during the night. How
do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it's kind of
windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than I
expected.

July 15th:
Fell asleep by the pool. Got 3rd degree burns over 90% of my body.
Missed 5 days of work. What a dumb thing to do in this lovely city. I
learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like
this.

July 20th:
I missed Kitty (our cat) sneaking into the car when I left to the office
this morning. By the time I got to the hot car for my lunch break, Kitty
had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag and stank up the
$60,000 Audi. I told the kids that she ran away. The car now smells like
Wiskettes and cat shiRt. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this
heat.

July 25th:
The wind sucks. It feels like a giant ffffing hair dryer in here!! And
it's hot as hell. The home air-conditioner died. The ffffing AC
repairman charged 500 Dirhams just to drive over and tell me it was
broken in ffffing Hindu English or something that I couldn't understand.


July 30th:
Air conditioner still broken. Been sleeping outside by the pool for 3
nights now because it is 7000 ffffing degrees inside. Bloody 2,000,000
Dirhams house and we can't even go inside. Why did I ever come here?
Ffff the sun. Ffff the wind. Ffff the freakin' ocean. And ffffing
locals walk around dressed in white tablecloths followed by little black
ninjas. Ffffing crazy town.

August 4th:
It's 114 ffffing degrees today. Finally got the ol' air-conditioner
fixed. It cost 2,000 ffffing Dirhams and got the temperature down to 25,
but the ffffing humidity makes the house feel 30 ffffing Dubai degrees.
Stupid terrorist repairman. I hate this stupid ffffing place.

August 8th:
If another local wiseass cracks, "Hot enough for you today?" I'm going
to ffffing whack him all the way back to his Goddamn desert. Ffffing
Dubai; by the time I get to work with all that ffffing traffic and heat,
the car's radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I
smell like a baked cat!!

August 9th:
Tried to run some errands today because it is ffffing Friday. Wore
shorts and sat on the black leather seats in my Audi. The seat was so
ffffing hot I thought my ass was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh and
all the hair on the back of my legs and my ffffing ass. Now my car
smells like burnt hair, fried ass, and baked cat.

August 10th:
The weather report might as well be a ffffing recording. Hot, humid and
ffffing sunny. Hot, humid and ffffing sunny. Hot, humid and ffffing
sunny. It's been too hot to do anything for 2 damn months and the
weatherman dude wearing the ffffing white tablecloth on TV says it might
really warm up next week. Does it ever rain in this damn ffffing place?
What is next, a ffffing hell freezing over wave?

August 14th:
WELCOME TO HELL!!! Temperature got to 120 today. Now the
air-conditioner's gone in my ffffing Audi. The ffffing Audi serviceman
said, "Hot enough for you today?" Ffff him and ffff Audi. My wife had
to spend the 7,000 Dirham to bail my ass out of jail for assaulting that
stupid ffffing Paki bastard wiseass. Ffff Dubai ! What kind of a sick
demented ffffing idiot would want to live in this shiRt hole?

August 15th:
Ffff this place. I'm off back to the New York.

 

[krycor]

Just remember you have to pay for rental in full for the year prior to occupancy

 

[marco79]

Just remember you have to pay for rental in full for the year prior to occupancy

Accomodation would be included in the package. ie. the company would provide it.

 

[proxilin]

How will it not affect you if you're also not allowed to eat in public?

It won't affect you because you don't HAVE to walk down the street eating a burger in the middle of the day. You can buy food in supermarkets just fine, and then you eat at home like one normally does. If you're working for a SA company you'll also more than likely be able to eat lunch as normal, or there will be an area where you can go. Kids in (international) schools normally eat lunch as they normally do, the Muslim kids just have to deal with it.

Also, fasting is only basically from sunrise to sunset, so in the evenings it's a feast of note everywhere.

 

[Pho3nix]

Oh and Skype was blocked at a country-wide level so that you can't phone home without being monitored, but I *think* they may have lifted this very recently.

Talk to sag via skype and he lives there

 

[MrGray]

Talk to sag via skype and he lives there

Might be using a VPN tunnel. That's what I had to do.

 

[dmw]

Yeah if you do go, grab yourself a VPN product so you can access the blocked sites and Skype. Overplay.net is a good provider, used them when I lived in Saudi. Also they do a smartdns service which is included in the vpn service.

 

[noxibox]

Make sure the contract allows you to leave early if you don't want to stay. I know a number of people that were locked into very onerous contracts that kept them effectively imprisoned in Dubai.

 

[Skandalis]

One positive is security. You're less likely to be stabbed, burgled, raped etc etc for no reason.

Schooling is also of higher quality. Apparently.

Outdoor life sucks though.