Ok, there have been a lot of questions and answers, so I'll answer again and give some thoughts.
I've been living here for a year now, and it's been great. People warned me, "Why are you going to that heathen land? You will have no rights! Bla bla etc". For some background, I'm a engineer and I work for a South African company here.
1) Women can drive. 100%. If you are a South African, it's as easy as going to the Police station, paying 200AED, and your UAE licence is issued right there on the spot, 5 minutes done and dusted, valid for 10 years.
2) Women can work as well, don't know if this was asked but anyway. It depends on OP, if your wife is a stay at home wife with the kids etc. But they can, that's the point.
3) Your passport will not be taken away. This happens more to the workforce, Pakistan, Indian, Filipinos etc. Unfortunately, racism will be everywhere. As a westerner, you are actually quite high up in the pecking order, compared even to SA lol.
4) You can't drink in public, but there are some hotels and clubs where you can drink. Be prepared to pay R100 for the cheapest draft though. You can get your liquor licence, which is free and valid for two years. Buying alcohol is much cheaper in the shops obviously.
5) You have to be married to live together. They will not check, but if they catch you, prison, deport, done.
6) Weekends for private companies are Fridays (Holy day) and Saturday. Normal workforce only Friday.
7) One guy mentioned he constantly felt under scrutiny. Don't know where he gets that. Also, shops do not close for prayers times. Prayer is 5 times a day, all the mosques will call the prayer over the speakers, but malls and shops are open as per normal.
8) You can use Skype, just can't download the exe, so use a VPN to download it.
9) Cellphone contracts are very expensive, you are going to have to buy your phone cash. Don't expect all the types of contracts we have in SA. Calling and texting is cheap, but data is expensive. R300 per Gb for mobile data. You can get quite good cheap contracts, you pay per month.
10) Internet is very cheap, about R1000 for a 20Mb line uncapped with a telephone line. You pay this per month.
11) They have OSN, which is similar to DSTV. About R1000 per month. I just have DNS server and Netlfix personally.
12) Petrol is obviously very cheap, around R5 per liter. Cars are very cheap as well, you can get very good deals on second hand cars.
13) Rent is paid per year, so prepare yourself. I pay in the order of R70 000 per year, for a small studio flat. For a 3 bedroom, which you'll need, expect about R300 000 per year.
14) Your visas etc, will be handled by your company. You have to get medical to get a visa, so your company will handle this as well. Medical is not too expensive and they have nice hospitals. Medical has to be paid once of for the whole year.
15) Groceries are similarly priced to SA. Take out is very expensive, the cheapest I can eat is at a small Indian place for about R50pp. McDonals, around R80pp.
16) Your car licence and insurance needs to be done each year. Car insurance is paid once off, for the whole year. It's quite cheap.
17) Banks are awesome, you literally pay no bank fees. Unfortunately, you don't get any interest either. So you have to look for offshore investments. Interest rates for buying a house and a car is very low, so that's quite nice.
18) They have a lot of malls with all the shops you'll know and more. Ladies should love this lol.
19) Driving is on the right hand side, it isn't bad at all. The locals sometimes drive fast, but it's no worse than taxis. Almost everything is connected by the highways, you'll not see a lot of robots. So driving is quite a pleasure. Almost all cars are automatic. Don't buy a manual, you will not be able to sell it. Make sure to check out second hand cars.
20) Weather, the dreaded one. Summer is hot, there is no getting around it. Yes, everything has aircon, but sometimes you will have to go outside lol. It's so hot, you can't swim. Average between 44 - 50C. This is for about 2 months, then it cools down again. Your body is going to adjust. You'll see when the temperature starts to drop to 25C, you'll feel cold lol. Swimming right after the summer months is lovely. There are many beaches, ladies can wear a bikini, no problem.
21) Public transport is good, they have a train running most of the city and a lot of taxis, which you can call from anywhere.
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