Stay in Dubai or move to the UK? (70k AED vs 5500kGBP)

Hello Jumzy, The first thing your husband should check with his prospective employer is what kind of visa he will have. This will determine whether you as the spouse are allowed to work as well. Please note that some of the Visas are very restrictive and may not even allow him to change jobs if he wanted to.The UK immigration laws have changed significantly in the past 2-3 years.Be very careful and get clear information on the visa, especially if this is one of the main reasons for your move to the UK. We will be moving to Dubai end of June from the UK and I am looking forward to the new adventure. As Pdorci and the rest have suggested, If I were you, I would stay in Dubai with such high earnings and save, save,save. Just remember, grass is not always greener. Either way, whatever decision you make, I am sure will be what makes sense to you guys as a family. I wish you the best of luck and if you need any more information, do not hesitate to contact me.

hello jumzy, we went through the same last year. we both got job offers in the UK with my husband, and our son was 3yrs old that time. we accepted the offer and moved to the UK. Neither of us is British. Our expectation was that the education will be better for our son and of course after 5-6 years probably we can apply for the citizenship. We also considered that while in Dubai during the summer you can't go outdoors, in the UK even if it's cold, you can dress up and go out to the park. There are beautiful places. We moved last September and as of now we are planning to return back to Dubai. The offer your husband got looks very good and Bristol is not as expensive as London (we moved to London). All I can tell you is that London prices are crazy. More expensive than Dubai. Bristol house-prices are much lower, can be even 50% lower. Bristol is a nice city by the way, we have friends living there. The life is overall expensive. The nursery/child minder is very expensive until your child is 4 and can go to school, which is free. You may know you get into the school which is the closest to you, you can't really choose wherever you wish to register your child to. Housing - as I mentioned in London - is very expensive, around Dubai range or even more in some places. You can't afford to eat outside much - not like in Dubai. You pay a lot of tax, and lot of extra expenses you wouldn't even think of. Now, with the issue of visas and EU, it's more difficult for a non-EU to get visa and settle -s o you really need to look into this more deeply. As others also suggested, if I were you I would stay in Dubai and save as much as you can, because her you won't be able to! We lost lots of money because of the move and with transferring money, etc. Why we want to be back? Because of the financial stability you have in Dubai. I don't want to scare you at all, I don't want to sound like it is a bad place, but if you really love Dubai and the money matters to you (which is understandable), I wouldn't move now. If you want more info or discuss, you can always contact me, I can send you my private email address. Good luck with your decision!

Another way to approach this crossroad is to ask where you see yourselves in 10 years. If the plan was always to come here, make money, enjoy the lifestyle, and go back home, then you are better off staying here and enjoying the bigger salary, which advances your savings plans for when you return home. If, on the other hand, the plan had not been to go back home, but rather to look for a country where you can settle down, then an offer to move to the UK with work, would, in my opinion, be in the best interest of the family long term. Your husband would go over already having a job, rather than relying on your savings until either of you find work. Your child would join the school system right from the beginning of her education. If you are still young, once settled and with the new citizenship in hand, you could always move back to Dubai for work, knowing that your new forever home is sorted. Having said all this, I have family that moved from the UK to New Zealand for the lifestyle. They went to have a look, loved it and did not mind taking pay cuts as long as they were in their dream location and enjoying the lifestyle. The reduced spending power soon got old, and the joy of living close to the beach could not make up for having to live on a tighter budget than they were used to. They moved back after 4 years

Thank you so much for the replies. Really seems that UK is going to be a good decision. He has the option to pick from the bristol or the wolverhampton office, so its going to be one of the 2. My daughter is 3 years old, so i guess we would be spending a ton on childcare/nursery. BIg scary steps :), I guess i am very materialistic. My husband plans to set up a visit to both places later this year so we can see and evaluate. I love Dubai :). Bristol is a lovely part of the world. If I had to chose between there or Wolverhampton I would chose Bristol :biggrin: I've read Wolverhampton is a "depressed" area - never been there though. With Bristol you have a fairly good regional airport and also quite near for outings to Devon and Cornwall - weather permitting. The South gets the better weather, Midlands and the North bear the brunt of the bad weather and not so much of a Summer There are so many nice places around the Midlands but I wouldn't live in Wolves itself

Thank you so much for the replies. Really seems that UK is going to be a good decision. He has the option to pick from the bristol or the wolverhampton office, so its going to be one of the 2. My daughter is 3 years old, so i guess we would be spending a ton on childcare/nursery. BIg scary steps :), I guess i am very materialistic. My husband plans to set up a visit to both places later this year so we can see and evaluate. I love Dubai :). Bristol is a lovely part of the world. If I had to chose between there or Wolverhampton I would chose Bristol :biggrin: I've read Wolverhampton is a "depressed" area - never been there though. With Bristol you have a fairly good regional airport and also quite near for outings to Devon and Cornwall - weather permitting.

I would chose Bristol over Wolverhampton too, much more going on and great places around it. However, One thing to think about is the weather, it rains.... and rains .... and rains....this was a contributing factor to me moving away from England. It seems to be constantly grey and miserable and the lack of sunshine made me move to Dubai ! On the plus side it is very green and has lovely countryside.

Another vote for Bristol, it's a great place to live, lucky you! :-)

I'd have to agree with Bristol over Wolverhampton. My sister in law has lived in Bristol all her adult life and they have a really good lifestyle. There are some nice housing areas in Redland Green, Clifton and I am sure other parts. Easy access to lots of very beautiful areas such as Devon and the Cotswolds. Flights direct from Bristol airport to many (mainly Europe) destinations for breaks. Lovely riverfront with lots to do for children. Ours still remember Wendy the elephant at the zoo and playing on the river taxi's. We saw our first IMAX film in Bristol. Not sure of details as mine are nearly all full grown now but you do get childcare vouchers for three year olds that offset nursery costs - I think three days a week are paid for and there are some state run (free) nursery's if you are not looking for full time. Some very good state schools in Bristol too - although like any large city there are also some less good schools.

Hey. Not from the UK so I wouldn't know about the cost of living there against your potential earnings. But anyway, AED70K to me is a very high income base with one toddler. Most people I know have far less combined income and are managing to save and invest in different ways. I am sure if you are not living the "Dubai dream" you can save a huge % of that and invest in property etc. Should you think of leaving Dubai, the decision at that point will not be driven by earnings but quality of life, education etc and you would have managed to setup a comfortable life for yourself wherever you will decide to go, using your current earnings. Such earnings levels require good planning on your part as a couple.#my2cents.

I come from Bristol. It's a great city, just the right size, lots going on, quite arty and creative, some beautiful housing/architecture. And it's in a nice part of the country with lovely countryside just outside. Not the cheapest city, but better than being in the south east. know nothing about Wolverhampton...

Thank you so much for the replies. Really seems that UK is going to be a good decision. He has the option to pick from the bristol or the wolverhampton office, so its going to be one of the 2. My daughter is 3 years old, so i guess we would be spending a ton on childcare/nursery. BIg scary steps :), I guess i am very materialistic. My husband plans to set up a visit to both places later this year so we can see and evaluate. I love Dubai :). Bristol is a lovely part of the world. If I had to chose between there or Wolverhampton I would chose Bristol :biggrin:

It all depends on where in the UK you will be living and working. For the most part a salary of 60k p/a and for you 30k p/a would be considered a good salary for many in the UK. Housing is the main problem especially if you want to buy in the South East. Cost of housing in the South East of England is comparative to Dubai. But other living costs are cheaper (except petrol). People in the UK tend to have smaller cars, the roads are much much safer than Dubai. Public transport is excellent in some areas, most people in London will use public transport regardless of income or class. Trains however can be expensive, you buy an annual ticket if commuting by train. Cost of living in North of England or Scotland however can be far cheaper than the South East. Housing is the main cost and the South East is having serious issues with their property market. Depending on where in Africa you are from your trip home to visit family may be cheaper than from Dubai - however it is unlikely the cost of annual flights will be paid for by your new employer. Schooling costs are paid for through taxes, you need to be selective where you live to ensure your daughter gets a place at a good school. You can opt for private school, they can be cheaper than Dubai. If you are Catholic there are some amazing Catholic schools that can be quite cheap and offer great education (I'm not but have friends who have been to them). There are other faith based schools that are run on charitable foundations with nominal fees that can also be quite good. Housing costs are likely to be higher in areas which have outstanding secondary schools. If your daughter is only in primary education it will be easier to get a property in a good area for primary than secondary, good secondary schools really drive house prices up. Childcare costs are expensive. There are several options, again it depends on the age of your child. On the plus side everyone should be paid the same for the same job regardless of where their passport is from (this is why childcare is expensive). Healthcare is paid for by taxes, although again you need to ensure you are in a good area, in some areas the NHS is overloaded. If you opt to buy additional private health care it is far cheaper than Dubai, especially if you have the option of buying through a corporate policy. (my UK Bupa is around £1500 a year, Dubai is upwards of $10,000 for a couple, a corporate Bupa policy may be around £600 a year). Supermarkets have a good range of food often lower prices than Dubai. If you eat out a lot in Dubai, eating out in the UK is generally cheaper and supermarkets have a wide range of 'ready to cook' meals which can be made from raw freshly prepared ingredients or meals you can heat up which are made from precooked ingredients (generally less healthy). If you prefer to cook from scratch you can get some great deals on food, especially if you shop online and compare prices. Prices can vary widely from say Waitrose to Tesco. I don't know about the prices of halal food in the UK though, halal meat will be more expensive than regular meat, I don't know how it compares to prices in Dubai. Water rates are much cheaper in the UK, in most areas the tap water tastes fine. Heating costs can add up, but not as expensive as air conditioning in Dubai. The UK is very different to Dubai. People tend to be less transient. In the South-East people are very mixed, if I look at my friends from when I grew up they are all British but came from a large mixture of backgrounds, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Nigerian, Indian, Irish (on half Irish half Indian, one half Bulgarian half Irish), Ghanaian, South African, Japanese, HK Chinese, Malaysian, Algerian, Greek, Argentinian etc. Of course you can meet a great mixture of people in Dubai. However in the UK (certainly the South-East) if you speak good English (which from your post it would seem you do) and decide to settle there it won't be long before the Brits consider you as British but in Dubai you will always be an expat, I guess it depends on what you want.

Hi Comp99, Of course, happy to help. I have also posted a thread on the Aussie forum on this site: http://www.expatwoman.com/forum/topic240777-advice-for-expats-contemplating-on-moving-to-melbourne-.aspx So please feel free to ask me any thing at all.

I'll be very honest about what we felt about living in Dubai and share my thoughts. These are my personal views and perhaps not many would agree with them, which is fine. To each his own. Our ideas of a good lifestyle could be very different. If by lifestyle you mean being able to achieve purely materialistic pleasures - frequenting gazillion malls and buying designer stuff or whatever you want because you can afford paying silly prices, brunches in fancy restaurants, driving 4x4s/Mercs/BMWs, travelling and staying in 5 star hotels on holidays, being a social butterfly etc etc then by all means Dubai is the place for you. This lifestyle is fickle and is to be enjoyed as long as you have that income to support it. But don't live under the delusion that Dubai is your permanent home. There is nothing remotely permanent about Dubai. You're there as long as you have a visa (through employment or the 2 year renewable property visa) and can afford to live there. Lose one of them and you have to move on. Dubai could never ever be home (in the true sense) to us as expatriates whatever you may like to think. So if you're living in Dubai on a high income and solely to live the above lifestyle with no focus on saving money to secure a comfortable future then you're doing wrong imho. Pure and simple. For us Dubai was just a place to save a ton of money and get the **** out thereafter. It took us 15 years to achieve our dreams when we finally left Dubai (for Melbourne). Our income now is a fraction (and I mean a tiny one at that as I stopped working at 42!) of what it used to be in Dubai. But our lifestyle now is unimaginably better in every respect than it ever was in Dubai. We are SAHP (parents), hubby works from home. We would need an income of over a million dirhams just to live in a similar type of house/suburb and pay for my children's education. So if I were you, I would continue living in Dubai/AD (you're both young and earning a high income) and SAVE like crazy, at least 50-60% of your income. Save enough to be able to buy a nice house and live mortgage free with a modest income to supplement your employment income and having done that move to UK/Australia/NZ/Canada or wherever you can get a permanent visa and a passport. Would it be possible to get in touch with you via email? We are considering a job offer in melbourne at the moment and it would be great to get in touch with some one already living there to help with the research regarding cost of living, suburbs , schools etc Many thanks.

Your life in U.K. would partly depend on whether you already have savings to enable you to put down a deposit on a home. You would need around 10% of the cost. Another factor to consider is the cost of child care. Nursery care or child minding cots during holidays can mount up significantly. A full time nursery place is in the region of 1000 pounds/ month In U.K. life is good if you earn enough to live comfortably, and you have strong friendships.Most of the cities and towns are very multicultural. But be prepared to work very hard to set yourselves up. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Oh Tessa... you and your penthouse :biggrin:

Of course, silly me. That is an even better uk salary - £66k - very liveable on here in most areas. Our daughter is just setting up home with her young man. The are buying a 2 bedroom flat (early Victorian, so big rooms) in very nice area for 270k but you can get cheaper houses. Our penthouse flat in Birmingham city centre is 3 bedrooms and was around 300k four years ago - but move slightly further out, move down a few floors and you get 3 bedrooms for 150k. Our daughter's boyfriend has been renting a 2 bedroom for £350 per month including bills and wi fi).

Have you looked at the site - britishexpats.com? They have a forum for people returning to the UK and it is quite large, giving a lot of info.

Tessa, I don't think the Op is talking about a 55k annual salary. Salaries are quoted monthly here in Dubai In the title she is comparing MONTHLY take home pay (5.5k). Her post clarifies this. She says her husband will be earning 3.5k a month net of tax, and she reckons she could earn 2k net on op, so total of 5.5k a month, take home. It does take a bit of adjustment to this way of looking at pay. OP, Regarding cost of living, we lived on far less even in London compared to Dubai, even with private school fees! It's true, jeans and jumpers, no mani/pedis, weekly cleaner if lucky, no gardener, no car washer, less eating out, cheaper supermarkets - it's just a far more down-to-earth lifestle and much cheaper as a result. Having said which, housing is very expensive in London and th South East, and rentals are few are far between. Which part of the country is your husband's job, and do they provide housing? As a starting point it would be wise to look at some of the property rental sites in the area you would be going to. The rental cost of our tiny house in London would eat up a lot of that 3.5k a month! That's another point - houses are small in the Uk versus Dubai, so you might forego the luxury of space. That's one reason we love it here- we could not afford a bigger, but still very small house in London. We were lucky enough to have a spare room (many don't) but there was space for nothing but a sofa bed in there, and when it was in use, you could just about get round the bed ie the room was not much bigger than a small double bed!

I think the UK is a good option for many reasons. Is your husband a British citizen/overseas citizen? Or is the company going to sponsor him? It's worth noting that they're really clamping down on the citizenship rules and you have to have intent to stay in the UK permanently to get it. Staying 5 years, expecting to get the passport, then wanting to move on - it's not going to happen. As others have said, cost of living varies greatly depending on where you choose to live, but certainly people aren't as materialistic so you save plenty on what people consider the 'norm' in Dubai. Public transport in and around cities is also very good, so you could forego the need for a car for a while, that's also a big money saver.

We have been faced with similar opportunity. In the end we decided to stay, as we are happy here and didn't want to disrupt our children's schooling more than necessary. If your child hasn't started school yet it might be a good time to move. Depending on area in the UK you might also want to consider private school which will add on your outgoings. Where in the UK would you move? The difference in cost between London or a suburb to Birmingham would be huge? And the weather would be a factor...

Hi Jumzy, sounds like you have a good problem to have, and I mean that in a truly "happy for you" kind of way, in that you have a good lifestyle and income in Dubai, and there is an opportunity for your husband in UK as well. I am not from UK and have only been to England, so I cannot comment on cost of living in various parts. I loved the parts of England I visited, as well as the pace of lifestyle which was much more homey, and echo the sentiments of Tessa from what I experienced. My friends that live there certainly get a lot more bang for their buck as opposed to what I experience living in Dubai. I agree that Dubai is not permanent for any expatriates and a good place to save as much as possible, enjoy, and look elsewhere for later years and settling down so I do agree with Indie that it would be financially sound to stay as long as you can, if you are saving money. But on the other hand, an opportunity to work in UK as an expat with a guaranteed job is also an opportunity that may not be there down the road. I don't know the current situation for PR and/or eventual citizenship, or how the current global migration crises is affecting this in countries in the EU, so you may want to research that better and hopefully some other posters can help you with that.

I'll be very honest about what we felt about living in Dubai and share my thoughts. These are my personal views and perhaps not many would agree with them, which is fine. To each his own. Our ideas of a good lifestyle could be very different. If by lifestyle you mean being able to achieve purely materialistic pleasures - frequenting gazillion malls and buying designer stuff or whatever you want because you can afford paying silly prices, brunches in fancy restaurants, driving 4x4s/Mercs/BMWs, travelling and staying in 5 star hotels on holidays, being a social butterfly etc etc then by all means Dubai is the place for you. This lifestyle is fickle and is to be enjoyed as long as you have that income to support it. But don't live under the delusion that Dubai is your permanent home. There is nothing remotely permanent about Dubai. You're there as long as you have a visa (through employment or the 2 year renewable property visa) and can afford to live there. Lose one of them and you have to move on. Dubai could never ever be home (in the true sense) to us as expatriates whatever you may like to think. So if you're living in Dubai on a high income and solely to live the above lifestyle with no focus on saving money to secure a comfortable future then you're doing wrong imho. Pure and simple. For us Dubai was just a place to save a ton of money and get the **** out thereafter. It took us 15 years to achieve our dreams when we finally left Dubai (for Melbourne). Our income now is a fraction (and I mean a tiny one at that as I stopped working at 42!) of what it used to be in Dubai. But our lifestyle now is unimaginably better in every respect than it ever was in Dubai. We are SAHP (parents), hubby works from home. We would need an income of over a million dirhams just to live in a similar type of house/suburb and pay for my children's education. So if I were you, I would continue living in Dubai/AD (you're both young and earning a high income) and SAVE like crazy, at least 50-60% of your income. Save enough to be able to buy a nice house and live mortgage free with a modest income to supplement your employment income and having done that move to UK/Australia/NZ/Canada or wherever you can get a permanent visa and a passport.

Many would consider 55k a good salary. Medics get paid far more- dependent on grade. Is your husband UK citizen as immigration for non EU citizens is increasingly difficult. FY1 medics get around 34k with banding - but you must be senior to that. If you have completed CT2 you can get around 48 k. Cost of living depends very much on whereabouts you choose to live. London and much of south is more expensive than north but plenty live a good life on less. Areas like Stoke on Trent, Liverpool, Manchester are much cheaper than down south - although there are pockets of high cost housing. With NHS care, free education and low cost supermarkets life can be pretty cheap. Uk is obviously colder but also has very beautiful areas and beaches. My gut feeling is that UK is a more equal society - certainly in medicine and much public sector work nationality is irrelevant. You probably won't have a live in maid in Uk but cleaners are around 10GBP per hour in London and south, less in Midlands and north. Working hours seem to be better in UK - except for junior doctors, hotel and catering staff and care workers. Most work around a 38 hour week with weekends off. There seems to be less emphasis on being beautiful in UK (particularly outside London)- massive generalisation and plenty of spas and beauticians here but many wear jeans, jumpers and wellies and don't have their nails done ever. Potential,for big savings there.... It feels like we eat out less in uk and much socialising(again outside major cities) is done through supper parties at home with friends. It's definitely cheaper to throw a lasagne together than eat at Asha's - although we have an Asha's too. More old people here. More overt antisocial behaviour in some areas - although by no means widespread. It feels like UK is more tolerant of differences in attitude/behaviours and religion. Depends what you want. We are coming out to Dubai in September for 2/3 years and are looking towards retirement but would always see UK as our preferred place of residence, I think.