Living in the Emirates

[Rufida]

Hi Expatmitch,
I am living right now in Canada and thinking to relocate to UEA with my familly (my husband and daughter).
I have some questions to address to you if you don't mind as you seem well informed about life in Abu-dhabi please?
I really appreciate any of your answers.
1/Is a canadian driving licence valid or do we need to have international driving licence maybe or UEA one?
2/Do we need to speak arabic to get a job in addition to english?
note that I am not canadian originally but I am canadian citizen, I do speak arabic and french as well.
3/what's the avarage cost for the rent of 3brs appt or house/duplex/townhouse please?

Thank so much in advance.
rufida

[rastafarian]

Tida -- 9k USD per month is a decent figure. A 1bedroom aprtment would cost you between 60-70K AED per annum. Cars Fule is cheap and going by the current recession in the market, I would say its definately worth looking at. Hope this helps.

[surajbaral]

hi
how r u ? i wanna make u my online friend as i am staying in dubai, uae now pls email me at surajbaral@gmail.com. i desperately want to migrate in Canada by any way . can u pls suggest any ways which will not take more time and money to migrate to canada
waiting for your reply
thanks
suraj baral

[Phoenix]

Hello,

I am a Canadian who is currently living/working in Kuwait. However, a potential teaching gig in Abu Dhabi popped up yesterday. Is a salary of 18,000 UAED per month + free apartment + airfare, etc. a decent offer? Can a married couple with no children live well on this amount? What would be a normal amount of monthly expenses? We live well on about 300 KD (about 4,000 dirham) in Kuwait because everything is paid for except food and entertainment.

In response to your question about immigrating to Canada:

I navigated the system on my wife's behalf (when she was my girlfriend) & have helped some people since.

There really isn't any way to speed up the CIC (Citizenship & Immigration Canada) people. Just make sure that you fill the forms out correctly & have everything done ahead of time to eliminate delays.

The best way to reduce costs is to do the process on your own. Consultants don't improve your chances or shorten the time required. I am offended by how much "consultants" charge.

[monymoe]

if you are sure the offer is 18k + housing provided and not housing allowance, then that salary will be more than enough to provide for an upper class standard of living (as long as you dont have to pay for kids' tuition or anything like that).

If that 18k is with a housing allowance, then i suggest you stay in Kuwait.

[willows]

I am curious what you don't like about the locale and situation. I'm a divorced 48 year old woman, a certified Canadian teacher with experience. My place of choice is the UAE. What do you see as the upsides and downsides?

-- Sat Aug 22, 2009 6:57 pm --

Are there expat groups? I noticed there is no organized Canadian expat group for the Middle East on this Canuck Abroad website. How do people handle their social lives?