To start again, Dubai is one of the seven emirates that formed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is situated in the Middle East. The UAE is close to the Gulf of Oman and also the Persian Gulf. It’s also situated in between Saudi Arabia and Oman. The UAE was constituted in 1971 by the then ‘Trucial States’ after the independence of the region from Britain colonial.

United Arab Emirates and Dubai Background:

The UAE is regulated by a Supreme Council of Rulers, the Supreme Council is formed the 7 emirates which are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujayrah, Ras al Khaymah, Sharjah, and Umm al Qaywayn. Prime minister and also the cabinet are appointed for the nation. Even Dubai is eventually ruled via the Supreme Council just like the other six emirates, it still managed to have a huge flexibility of autonomy in the UAE in terms of making decision on the city’s development.

At first, Dubai was fully depended on oil when the resource was discovered in the area in 1950s, and back to the year even earlier than that, Dubai economy was totally depended on collecting pear and fishing. When Abu Dhabi started exporting oil in 1962, the economy in the UAE has then transformed completely.

The ruler of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed, is fully grasp of the financial possibility from the oil business. He keep on ensuring the residents are reaping good benefits from oil, and was adamant on the reinvestment of the revenues generated from oil into the training system, health care system, and the infrastructure.

Due to the rose of the oil business, it has resulted in big influx of foreign workers into the UAE. As we can observe that Dubai population been increased very fast and by now the expats are constituted about one third of total population in UAE! The truth of the UAE is it’s one of the most liberal countries within the Gulf, and it can tolerate with other languages, religions and cultures. Oil within the region is only estimated to get exhausted for about 30 years and so Dubai has eagerly embarked on some diversification projects in developing industries and commercial businesses with the purpose of replacing oil as the predominate commodity in Dubai’s economy.

Dubai weather is of sub-tropical and arid. The city is having sunny blue skies all year round. It is very rarely for the region to has rain and normally that is only rain falls during winter. The temperatures can be varied extremely between 10 degrees to 48 degrees. The average daily temperature in January is 24 degrees and in July the temperature can reach 41 degrees when humidity is higher.

About the city of Dubai

Dubai is well-known for its tourism and commercial industries in the UAE and is very popular to be the most futuristic, innovative, and modern metropolitan compare to all other countries. It is among the fastest growing area within the Muslim community, and has now successfully formulated tranquility via ethnic diversity. It’s a city with incomparable levels of architectural ambition and financial power, an exclusive area where the most contemporary and architecturally skyscrapers are built along traditional Arabic structures.

The availability of Dubai attractions are varied and many that you can experience. You can enjoy the beautiful white sandy beaches, exotic Arabian heritage, awe inspiring majesty, desert adventure; and enjoying your foods and drinks at the dynamic cafes, restaurants and bars.

Conde Nast Traveller magazine ever elected Dubai as the least risky holiday destination in the world in 2003, and many foreigners who ever lived in Dubai are agreed that it is one of the safest cities in the world for people to live in. Crime rate are relatively low in Dubai and the police will always ensuring your personal safety and security. Those who been found guilty of committing a serious crime will face with severe punishment. Drug and alcohol related criminal offenses are considered severe in Dubai.

The economy of Dubai is primarily service-driven, different services range from banking to telecommunications can be found in there. International trading are positively encouraged through the provision of favorable taxation rewards, offshore standing, free trade zones and others. Most recent innovative projects include the construction of Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City, delivering 21st century technologies to Dubai with its first ‘Free Zone’ that completely focused on e-business.

Daily Life in Dubai

Map of Dubai

In case you are looking for relocating to Dubai, then the first thing that come to your mind would be where should you choose for your accommodation. There is not really a big deal for you to choose where to live in Dubai as you can easily find a lot of property rental companies through the classified, local newspapers, or search online. You can find many different Dubai accommodation range from villas, apartments and shared accommodation. Depend on your budget and way of living, the housing and property rental companies will be able to provide you with the accommodation that suit your needs. Should you choose to find your accommodation by your own to save the agency fees, you may go to shopping mall and check on supermarkets notice boards to look for the accommodation that advertise there.

For your information, the Safa Park, Umm Sequiem, and Jumeirah areas are uptown that you can get villa for your accommodation. Garhoud and Satwa also offer villas but the prices can be cheaper. Al Quoz, Mirdif, and Rashidiya are generally Arabic areas but they are of high demand for many expats.

If you wish to stay in a condominium, then the most popular places will be those that close to Bur Dubai at the Sheikh Zayed Road with more affordable flats can be found in Satwa, Karama and Deira. Some of the more luxury condominium will have shared gymnasium, swimming pool and garage or car park.

Education

In case you shift to Dubai with your family and want to know about the education system as well as the location of school and colleges of good quality, then you may try to ask from your neighbor or search online. As there are many expats staying in Dubai these days, you can actually find a lot of secondary schools and colleges to choose for and you will notice that most of the colleges are exclusive fee paying schools. After all, it is truly the best way for you to ask from your close friends, colleagues or neighbors to have a better understanding of the quality of different schools. Most of the schools will have their websites and you are able to learn about the curriculum, after college programs and so on that school provided.

If you are enrolling your kids into the school in UAE, there are some rules you need to be aware of. As an example you will not be permitted to change your kid’s college during the entire academic year with the exception of getting approval from the Ministry of Education and the conditions happen to be special. This means that you’ll want to ensure the school you decide on for the kid need to be well suit them. Yet another restriction you need to be aware of is that if you relocate to Dubai on or following the 1st May on that year, you will not be able to enrol your kid into the schooling system for that year. Rather you will need to enrol your kid for the beginning of the new school year which is normally fall on the beginning of September each year.

Health

Another consideration you will have when considering of moving to Dubai will be the medical and health care program available there. It can be fair to imply that Dubai is features with a lot of well-equipped surgeries and hospitals. Department of Health and Medical in Dubai is taking a good care for the health care system in the region. Dubai Hospital can said to be one of the best health care centers in the Middle East while Al Wasl is a gynaecology and maternity hospital.

The Department of Health also operate out patient surgeries and clinics. Besides, you’ll discover quite a few high quality hospitals in Dubai providing good health care services. One of them is The American and Welcare Hospitals. In general, we can assure that both the Dubai private and public offered health care providers are first class.

Occupation

It is good for those who work in Dubai as they can enjoy a tax free environment and they can keep all their earning. Besides, all goods sell by the shops also are tax free. These make Dubai to be an amazingly attractive city for expats and also international companies. There are plenty of work opportunities in Dubai especially with the completion of Dubai Media City and Internet City.

It’s rather vital to point out that some countries are having tax laws to tax their residents who are making money abroad. Therefore, It’s important for you to find out if your country is having such tax laws before accepting the job offer in Dubai.

Living Standard

Dubai has a thriving expat population who make the most of their taxes free lifestyle in this incredible city. The nightlife in the city is really happening, there are many themed bars, cocktail bars, wine bars, and standard pubs available, some of them are offering entertainment and food also.

Exclusive cuisine is available in many restaurants in the city and if you want to have vibrant evening entertainment, you can actually find a lot of night clubs in the town. There are Middle Eastern, Asian and Indian nightclubs providing entertainment with dancers and singers. The city also embraces international vacationing singing and entertainment which meet the needs of all ages and tastes from ballet, opera, traditional theater groups, to worldwide pop and rock bands.

Some Important Facts and Rules in UAE

Becoming A UAE Citizen

Becoming a citizen of a western country could take between 3 to 5 years, while becoming a citizen of the UAE that identical to all the GCC countries, is virtually not possible regardless of whether you have remained there for fifty years. One feasible way is that if you are a citizen of a GCC country, say Bahrain, where the country is offering nationality to foreigners who have staying in there for few years, then you will be able to stay and work in UAE. Citizens in GCC who wish to live and work in the UAE possess the same rights as a local Emirati after the formation of the GCC in January 2008. The general market offers the same opportunities for all citizens in GCC such as the right to work in all institutions and government in associate states, trade property and commit different investments, shift without restraint between the nations, and receive benefits of health care and training.

Having Own Business

Within the UAE, if you want to receive money from other people, you will need to open a registered company. To be able to register a company, you will have the option of either invest in government free zones or possess a 49% of shares with the company and the other 51% to be owned by your partner who need to be a UAE national where normally called as ‘watni’ (nearby).

Renting and Owning Property

Rent in the UAE differs from emirate to emirate as well as differs within the different locations of each emirate. Rent in the UAE can range from Dhs. 6,000 to Dhs. 100,000 per year and the highest rent would be in Abu Dhabi. In Abu Dhabi, only UAE nationals are eligible to own property; while GCC nationals are allowed to own property in the remaining areas in UAE. However, UAE been started to permit non GCC nationals to buy property in some areas in the UAE. Those areas including Free Zones and Freehold Places in Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman and Dubai.

Television

Most of the TV channels in UAE are owned by government and you will find very less commercials. Most people are having their own satellite dishes since the government channels didn’t supply enough entertainment unless you understand Arabic language. The major satellite companies are Orbit, Al Awael, and Showtime.

Streets and Directions

Roads in the UAE were constructed simply with the purpose to make access from one location to another. It is not like other countries, where most of the roads were planned properly before build. As a result, most of the roads in Dubai are keep on being altered and rebuilt. And the road design are mostly influenced by the British, you will see many round-abouts are connected to the streets. It happens that most people will not used to give directions, but rather they will quote the popular landmarks when showing the directions.

Transportation

For other countries, transportation are include of biking, walking, skateboarding, buses, cars, taxis, trains and subways. While in the UAE, the most significant transport will be car. This is because of the weather in Dubai. You will rarely see people riding bicycle since people are not permited to ride on sidewalks and the streets don’t have enough spot for people to ride safely.

Gas Station
For other countries, you will need to stop the engine, get out of the car and fill up the gas yourself. You may wash your car windows and proceed to pay the gas. While in the UAE, you do not have to get out from your car since a worker from gas station will help you to fills up the gas, washes the car windows and you can sit back and pay him.

Drinking Water

Be cautious whenever taking in tab water and public water since most of the emirates tend not to filter their water to make it safe for drinking. You will discover that only water in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are drinkable. If you are in other emirates, it is better for you to buy clean water in bottles.

Stopped through the Police

When you are pulled over by the police in UAE, you will need to get out of the car and speak to them. It’s the opposite from what happens in other places.

Drinking Alcohol

Most of the emirates permit the buying and drinking of alcohol but you can only drink at the private premises. If you are found drinking in public or is driving drunk, you are going to get fined or may be putting in jail. Even worst, if you are found owning alcohol or drunk in the Emirate of Sharjah, you wil be lashed!

Driving Issues

You drive at the right hand side of the road as in Europe and/or USA etc. It’s compulsory for both front seat drivers to wear seat belts and a child under the age of 10 can’t sit within the front passenger seat. It is also not permitted to drive a vehicle while talking on a mobile phone and driver’s caught driving pass a red light will put in jail for one month.

Driving licenses from most European nations including UK could be used to obtain a UAE license. If you’re only visiting and wish to drive then you can only do so if you get an IDP (International Driving Permit) from major Post Offices in the UK before you leave.

Public Affection

It isn’t permitted for people to kiss publicly, and you will not going to find any nude beaches or communities in the United Arab Emirates.

Drugs

As in most countries, narcotics drugs is illegal, and in the UAE it is illegal to bring it to the country, sell it, use it or grow it in your home, etc.

Walking At Night

Young males, and sometimes young females, discovered wandering the streets at night are sometimes picked up by the police and spend a night in jail. This is done to reduce the crime rates that happen at night and following the night in jail, they are released the next morning after being finger printed.

Stay together with the Opposite Sex

It is not permitted for a male and female to share a closed space (a flat, room, tinted vehicle, and so on) away from your sight of other people, unless they are blood relatives or legally married. According to the Islamic law governing the Emirates, offenders is going to be putting jailed and deported, and possibly lashed. Luckily enough this law isn’t implemented in Dubai.

Eating in Ramadan

Throughout the Islamic month of Ramadan, people can’t eat, drink, or smoke in public throughout the time of fasting (Sunrise to Sunset). Individuals found doing so might either be jailed for a maximum of one month, or fined up to 2,000 Dirhams.