Imagine a spot with excessive temperatures, high-end existence and even increased skyscrapers. Oh, and there’s no revenue tax. Ever since oil was found off its coast within the Sixties, catalysing a fast growth, Dubai has acquired a repute as the last word playground for the super-rich. Now the biggest metropolis within the United Arab Emirates, it has develop into a spot the place millionaires come to dwell out the fantasy of a rarefied (and completely air-conditioned) existence by the seashore, within the shadow of a few of the world’s tallest buildings.
But it’s not simply the 0.01 per cent who’re falling for the attract of the “sandpit”, as town has been nicknamed. Over the previous few years, Dubai has develop into more and more tempting for strange Brits, swayed by the promise of a shiny way of life with far more disposable revenue. It’s estimated that there are round 240,000 British expats at present based mostly in Dubai, a quantity that’s certainly solely going to tick upwards.
In 2024, the relocation agency John Mason International Movers revealed that over the earlier 5 years, it had acquired a 420 per cent enhance in enquiries from British nationals hoping to maneuver to town; it additionally discovered a 50 per cent year-on-year rise in on-line searches for “move to Dubai” and “jobs in Dubai” from folks within the United Kingdom.
So what’s it that’s driving this exodus, even supposing most of us are conscious that the Dubai dream is just not as shiny because it seems on our telephone screens? Put bluntly, the primary attraction for many would-be expats is monetary. Because the UAE famously doesn’t impose revenue tax, a employee’s take-home pay is precisely the identical as their wage: no calculations about tax brackets and nationwide insurance coverage required. So, even in the event you don’t handle to command a large pay rise in the event you transfer on the market, on paper, you’ll have extra spending energy. There isn’t any capital features or inheritance tax, both.
When Rhian Lindley moved to Dubai along with her then husband and kids in 2010, “it was the tax-free earnings without a shadow of a doubt that became the attraction”, she says. She had been working in company advertising and marketing again within the UK, and the steep value of childcare meant that she had primarily been “paying to go back to work, and we were out of pocket”. In Dubai, the household might dwell on one wage and she or he was in a position to keep at house along with her three children, “without the financial pressure”.
The household’s expat way of life, Lindley provides, felt “luxurious, extravagant and high end, whereas in the UK we felt like we were struggling to make ends meet monthly and life had become pretty mundane”. In Dubai, she says, it felt like “the financial ‘noise’ had gone and I felt relaxed and able to focus on my children and really enjoy the time with them”.
Indeed, ask round about Dubai’s enchantment and the idea of the “Dubai lifestyle” crops up time and again. There are the extra superficial points, those that make town really feel like Instagram incarnate: the picture-perfect, hyper-modern houses; the glamorous occasions; the flamboyant eating places and resort bars; the designer buying. But the thought of security can also be an enormous issue. “Families feel comfortable allowing their children to move around independently, whether that’s walking in malls or taking taxis, because of the high levels of security,” says Marie O’Neill from relocation company EER Middle East.
It’s not that arduous to see the enchantment of a breezily tax-free stint within the solar, particularly in the event you’re continually discovering your self questioning precisely the place your wage has gone within the week main as much as payday. Over the previous few years, the price of dwelling disaster has triggered the price of necessities (notably meals and power payments) to skyrocket within the UK. Why pay by the nostril to warmth your dingy flat in winter – the one you could barely afford already – when you might be dwelling it up within the Middle Eastern warmth, you would possibly suppose?
And for younger folks, who’re dealing with sluggish wage progress, a miserable job market and a really bleak housing panorama, the attract could be particularly pronounced. In 2024, a report from the British Council discovered that 72 per cent of 18- to 30-year-olds would take into account dwelling and dealing overseas within the quick or long run. And the yr earlier than that, a YouGov survey confirmed that 36 per cent of respondents believed younger persons are extra more likely to do higher in life in the event that they go overseas, quite than keep put. No surprise, provided that over within the UK, the prevailing temper feels gloomy, even futile; for Gen Z, there’s a query hanging over precisely what they’re working for, when all the normal, steady markers of maturity really feel so out of attain.
Dubai, in distinction, appears to have cultivated a type of can-do picture. Mark Timms, chief progress officer at Dubai-based recruitment firm GRG, believes that it’s “an unashamedly welcoming and ambitious place”, boasting “a positivity that you don’t see elsewhere”, so “for the young it feels that anything is possible”. And its social media-friendly enchantment appears completely calibrated to attract in youthful expats: it’s, in any case, “a city that feels like it was built for Instagram and TikTok ‘moments’”, Timms provides. From bottomless brunches to luxurious spas to infinity swimming pools, it’s a bit just like the influencer model of Disneyland.
This particular enchantment, mixed with “media coverage of UK ‘names’ making the move” – from actuality stars to sportspeople reminiscent of Amir Khan and Rio Ferdinand – kinds a “desirable advertisement”, Timms says, one which’s continually cropping up in our feeds. Of course, this received’t essentially work for everybody: one of many principal criticisms that will get levied at Dubai is that it’s a veritable cultural desert, leaning into artificiality quite than authenticity and historical past.
Timms reckons that industries reminiscent of tech, hospitality and property “feel way more progressive in the UAE than they do in the UK at the moment”, and notes that “many Brits are attracted to commission-only roles in real estate and sales” as a type of “foot in the door in the UAE, especially for younger, single expats”.
But whereas these can show to be a “quick win”, he additionally cautions towards the “fallacy” of “landing at DXB airport and walking straight into job opportunities”. The employment panorama within the UK “might feel bleak for job seekers”, he says, “however the old trope that the UAE, Dubai and wider GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] is crying out for an influx of British talent simply isn’t true”. Expat packages that includes faculty charges and housing prices “do not exist at the level they did 10 or even five years ago” and because the metropolis has develop into more and more widespread with expats from all around the world, not simply Britain, competitors has risen starkly.
Then there’s the truth that the much-vaunted “Dubai lifestyle” doesn’t come without spending a dime. “Tax-free income is easily offset by other charges”, says Timms, reminiscent of rents and utilities, “and the cost of setting up home takes many incomers by surprise”. Renters could find yourself paying “quarterly, in six-month increments or even a year up front”, and the price itself has elevated considerably, with some tenants dealing with double-digit rental hikes. Former expat Lindley, who returned to the UK in 2020 and now works as a divorce coach, agrees that “the cost of living in Dubai is very high. We had more money, but we spent it, so we didn’t save as we had planned, and the lifestyle is seductive.”
But what concerning the different, darker aspect of Dubai? Behind the glamorous developments and super-tall skyscrapers lurks numerous claims of the abuse and mistreatment of the migrant employees concerned in developing these glitzy new buildings; experiences of builders dwelling in squalid lodging, dealing with appalling working circumstances and having their passports confiscated have been all too widespread over the previous few a long time. During her 10 years spent within the metropolis, Lindley says she discovered herself questioning “the ethics, or lack of, in the construction industry in particular”, noting that “by being part of a society that normalises it, I felt complicit”.
And as soon as the buildings have gone up? Things don’t essentially enhance. In 2022, for instance, human rights group Equidem claimed that safety, hospitality workers and cleaners employed at Dubai’s Expo 2020, a world showcase for tech and sustainability, confronted “highly abusive conditions”, with some allegedly struggling racism and having their wages confiscated (on the time, an announcement from the organisers stated they have been “committed to the health, safety, welfare and dignity of all workers”).
Against this backdrop, the “playground” appears quite much less, effectively, playful. Then there’s the strict guidelines that underpin this obvious protected haven. I’m not essentially speaking concerning the legal guidelines round alcohol, or public shows of affection, those which have been the centre of assorted high-profile tales of British holidaymakers falling foul of conference, though these are actually value allowing for. What’s arguably much more placing is simply how tight a grip the UAE maintains over the press and social media. In May, a brand new set of 20 guidelines for the media was rolled out, guaranteeing that information shops should “avoid addressing anything that might harm the State’s foreign relations” and should not “publish or circulate anything that harms national unity and social cohesion”. And for strange social media customers, a derogatory put up about an organization or establishment might end in fines and even jail.
The lavish way of life, then, appears to come back at a price. Beyond questions of salaries and perks, any would-be expats will certainly must weigh up these deeper conundrums. But the truth that so many appear ready to look the opposite strategy to hunt down an apparently higher high quality of life? It’s actually fairly damning of what the UK is providing proper now.