Business Is Conducted in English

Matt Foster, MENA Director at Resourcing Solutions, has put together this brief guide that may come in handy when trying to settle in the Middle East or even help with trying to make that decision - whether moving to the Middle East is the right move for you and your family.

Business is conducted in English

Whilst English is a very common and widespread spoken business language in the Middle East, it is an absolute advantage being able to speak some Arabic.

Fluency in Arabic, for a white Westerner will magically open doors hitherto firmly closed to the average expat. Equally, as a magnet to expats from the four corners of the globe, the UAE for example resonates with far more spoken Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu than English, German or Arabic speaking workers.

Furthermore, an understanding of a Phillipino language will improve the already excellent experience with the majority of those in a service role.

Alcohol can only be purchased with a licence

In some countries, KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) for example, alcohol cannot be purchased full stop.

However, a trip to the local supermarket will surely take you past the home brew isle, replete with grape juice, demijohns and brewers’ yeast. Whilst in Dubai, a licence is necessary to buy alcohol in the government off licences. A 45 minute trip either North to Ras Al Khaimah or South to Abu Dhabi will reward the happy traveller with much cheaper, perfectly legal, no-licence necessary off licences.

The UAE is tax free

Hotel stays attract 20% tax, alcohol 30%. For those with a large garden your water bill will be similar to running a 5 litre SUV in the UK. Speed cameras appear more frequently along Dubai’s highways than the blown out tyres of transitting lorries (think army assault course). To a certain extent, even the more heinous of traffic infractions are fine to commit, as long as you can commit to the fine.

365 days of glorious sunshine

Absolutely true, aside from those days when the sun is actually shining but behind a cloud of sand or smog so thick you could hang your washing on it. In the summer months, between June and September, with humidity levels approaching Jurassic Park proportions, the only sunshine the sane resident will experience will be through the window of the air conditioned car, apartment or office block.

You can earn and save a small fortune

Whilst it is true that even in the more developed glamorous lifestyle destinations such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai it is possible to command a sizeable increase in remuneration compared to your home country, you will find that only the most focused savers will be able to put enough away to justify the decision to move here purely on financial grounds. The real money earning postings are to be found in the frontier countries such as Afghanistan or Iraq or the ultra-conservative Kuwait or Saudi Arabia. The latter two coming with the piggy bank stuffer’s dream of offering very few diversions on which to spend your hard earned Dinars or Riyals.

Healthy lifestyle

The region does seem to offer more than its fair share of buff and bronzed bodies. Probably because in a location like the UAE, where you are never too far away from a beach, even the most starchy of couch potatoes have an extra incentive to keep the kilos at bay. For those in less liberal climes, where compound living is a necessity, fitness also plays a large part in the expat’s life, much as it does in Strangeways or San Quentin.

However, in the popular countries of the region where up to 300 different nationalities live, travel, work and play together in close proximity, it is not long before the recently minted expat will find him or her smitten with all manners of weird and wonderful flu-like mutations, as the holidaymaking viruses use the cosseted expat’s immune system as an adventure playground.

A recently arrived mother of three found an Emirati doctor scoffing at the trunkload of prescription medicines she had brought over from the UK, with the line of ‘your drugs are no good here!’

If the vacationing, mutating, xenophobic, alien viruses don’t get you (they will) then the sniffles caused by the constant transitioning between 45 degree humidity and 15 degree frigidity is inescapable.

Fortunately, healthcare in the region ranges from good to excellent, and the extra few days off work added to the seemingly endless string of public holidays in the region is always welcome, especially if you have a pool and it is winter.