Moving to Dubai

Moving to Dubai can be both exciting and stressful. The more you prepare the easier the transition will be. If you are moving to Dubai with children, this preparation is even more essential. 

The cost of living in Dubai can be high due to the cost of housing and private schooling. So, although it is a tax free environment, make sure you have the salary to cover your costs. It is possible to cut costs and economize in your home country where you know the system. However, living in a new country on an inadequate salary will be a misery, and this would be particularly so in Dubai where there is so much to enjoy, if you have the money, and so few ways to reduce costs. You cannot decide to walk places, ride a bike to work to save transport because of the heat at least six months of the year, nor can you send the children to a government school. Some costs just cannot be avoided.

Residence Visa Information

It is possible to come to the UAE, make contact with prospective employers, secure a job, fly home and sort things out only to return in a few weeks or months. Some people come to specific conferences and engage in this process. For example, the annual TESOL Arabia Conference is a great place for teachers to make contact with future employers. The hotel industry regularly holds conferences where networking opportunities are vast.Here are also employment agencies

As mentioned above, if you already have a job offer, your employer will take most of the strain when it comes to getting you a residence visa. It is a complicated process. You biggest task will be making sure you have the original documents that your employer requires – birth certificates for all, marriage license, divorce license if applicable, and qualification certificates. If you have had a tertiary education, your employer may require you to get your university to send them a transcript of your degrees. This needs to come directly from the university because some people have presented themselves for employment on the basis of bogus qualifications.

Do make sure you ask whether or not your documents have to be attested in your home country or anywhere else. The rules for this seem to be flexible. But getting documents attested once you are in the UAE can be expensive if courier charges are added to the cost of having some dignitary stamp something. Wielding a stamp in an official capacity, especially if attached to an embassy, is a lucrative business.