When Nina Rezec first visited Dubai in 2005 as a “semester abroad student” at Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, the German native says she was inspired by the city’s multicultural melting pot and opportunity to learn about other cultures.
However, there was also an element of surprise when she realised exactly how safe the city was for a single woman travelling alone.
After travelling back and forth between the two countries to take up a number of internships for two years, Ms Rezec jumped at the chance in 2007 to move to the UAE permanently after accepting a job offer by global consultancy Ernst & Young.
“I fell in love with the city [of Dubai]. It was very different back then … I was very inspired,” the former finance executive, who has just submitted her doctorate on corporate gender diversity and financial stability, tells The National.
“After 17 years of being here, it is home. It’s very safe, especially as a woman — I would not have stuck around for such a long time if it would not have been as safe as it is.”
It is this reputation as a safe and modern city that has contributed to the UAE’s ranking as the sixth-best country out of 52 destinations for expatriates to live and work, up from 18th place in 2021, according to a new survey published on Tuesday by global network InterNations.
The ease of applying for the UAE’s new visa programmes, as well as a range of other reforms that have been introduced since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, also played a part in the country’s high ranking in 2022, the InterNations survey found.
InterNations polled nearly 12,000 expatriates representing 177 nationalities in 181 countries on various aspects of their lives as foreign workers.
In recent years, the UAE, the Arab world’s second-largest economy, has undertaken several economic, legal and social reforms to strengthen its business environment, boost foreign direct investment, attract skilled workers and provide incentives to companies to set up or expand their operations.
In 2019, amendments were introduced to the Golden Residence Scheme to simplify the eligibility criteria and expand the categories of beneficiaries.
The 10-year visa is granted to investors, entrepreneurs, skilled professionals who earn a monthly salary of more than Dh30,000 ($8,167), exceptional talents, scientists and professionals, outstanding students and graduates, property investors, humanitarian pioneers and front-line heroes.
A Green Visa provides a five-year residency for skilled employees, without a sponsor or employer. The minimum educational level must be a bachelor’s degree or equivalent and the salary should not be less than Dh15,000.
Meanwhile, the UAE introduced a one-year digital nomad visa in March 2021 that allows people to live in the Emirates while continuing to work for employers in their home countries, while Dubai also offers a five-year retirement visa for expatriates older than 55.
“The government system is the best,” one Indian expatriate said in the comment section of the InterNations survey.
Conducted in February this year, the survey covered five categories: Quality of Life, Ease of Settling In, Working Abroad, Personal Finance and an Expat Essentials Index, which covers digital life, administration topics, housing and language.
Overall, the UAE ranked second in the world in the Expat Essentials Index, and fifth for both the Quality of Life and Working Abroad categories, which cover the likes of career prospects, salary and job security, leisure options, health and well-being, and safety and security.
It placed 13th in the Ease of Settling In category, while expatriates admitted to “struggling a bit” in the Personal Finance section, with the UAE coming in at 34th place. Overall, however, 71 per cent of foreign workers are happy with their life in the UAE, the survey says.
“Once they arrive [in the UAE], over three in five expats have no problem dealing with the local bureaucracy/authorities, 21 percentage points more than the global average [of 40 per cent],” it adds.
“It might help that administrative/government services are widely available online and that it is easy to live in the UAE without speaking the local language.”
Meanwhile, the safety and security, and health and well-being subcategories also ranked highly for foreign workers in the UAE, coming in at seventh and ninth place, respectively, the survey found.
About 94 per cent of UAE respondents said they were happy with the level of personal safety in the Emirates compared with 81 per cent globally, while 86 per cent said they are also very satisfied with the country’s political stability.
“There are actually quite a lot of factors that rank very well by expats in the UAE,” says Kathrin Chudoba, chief marketing officer at InterNations.
There are actually quite a lot of factors that rank very well by expats in the UAE
Kathrin Chudoba,
chief marketing officer at InterNations
“One of them is safety … how safe people feel personally and walking down the streets. It has been mentioned quite frequently, how nice it is that people feel very safe and [it is] a stable political environment.”
Seventy-eight per cent of UAE respondents to the poll said it was easy to gain access to a wide range of healthcare services, while both the quality of medical care and availability of health care was rated “very highly”, in sixth place overall, the survey says.
The UAE ranked “quite well” when it comes to the Ease of Settling In category, with 77 per cent of those polled saying they feel welcome in the Emirates, compared with 66 per cent globally.
About 65 per cent also said they are happy with their social life compared with 56 per cent globally, while 69 per cent describe the local population as friendly and 74 per cent consider them particularly friendly towards foreign residents.
Meanwhile, the UAE ranked third globally in the career prospects subcategory, with 79 per cent of foreign workers saying that moving to the Emirates has improved their career prospects. This compares with 60 per cent globally, the survey found,
Sixty-eight per cent of foreign workers are also happy with their personal career opportunities, while 55 per cent are satisfied with the local job market.
“They feel that the local business culture encourages creativity [and] thinking outside the box and promotes independent work and/or flat hierarchies,” the survey says.
“The country encourages ambition, innovation and pursuing opportunities,” one expatriate from Australia said in the comment section of the survey about working in the UAE.
Overall, Mexico topped the global ranking for the best destination for foreign workers to live and work, followed by Indonesia in second place and Taiwan in third.
Portugal and Spain round out the top five, followed by Vietnam in seventh place, then Thailand, Australia and Singapore.
“The top five destinations stand out with regard to ease of settling in and personal finance. They also tend to perform well in the Expat Essentials Index,” it says.
However, the worst destinations for foreign workers include Kuwait, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Japan, South Africa, Turkey, Italy and Malta.
“All bottom five destinations have an average to poor performance in the Working Abroad and Personal Finance indices,” it adds.
Meanwhile, Ms Rezec, who now owns a Dubai-based business consultancy, will continue to encourage more people to move to the UAE based on her positive experiences.
“Whoever is asking me to come to Dubai, even if it's only for an exchange programme, I always support that,” she says.
“I'm like: ‘Listen, you will be learning here so much compared to staying in Europe’. Yes, we have a multicultural background as well in Europe and our society but not to that extent [in the UAE] in my opinion.”
Top 10 destinations for expatriates to live and work
- Mexico
- Indonesia
- Taiwan
- Portugal
- Spain
- UAE
- Vietnam
- Thailand
- Australia
- Singapore
JOKE'S%20ON%20YOU
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Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDirect%20Debit%20System%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sept%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20with%20a%20subsidiary%20in%20the%20UK%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Undisclosed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Elaine%20Jones%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies direct from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro from Dh7,000 return including taxes. Avianca fliles from Rio to Cusco via Lima from $399 (Dhxx) return including taxes.
The trip
From US$1,830 per deluxe cabin, twin share, for the one-night Spirit of the Water itinerary and US$4,630 per deluxe cabin for the Peruvian Highlands itinerary, inclusive of meals, and beverages. Surcharges apply for some excursions.
The%20specs
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Spare
Profile
Company name: Spare
Started: March 2018
Co-founders: Dalal Alrayes and Saurabh Shah
Based: UAE
Sector: FinTech
Investment: Own savings. Going for first round of fund-raising in March 2019
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
57%20Seconds
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How%20to%20avoid%20getting%20scammed
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Top%2010%20most%20competitive%20economies
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BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
UAE rugby in numbers
5 - Year sponsorship deal between Hesco and Jebel Ali Dragons
700 - Dubai Hurricanes had more than 700 playing members last season between their mini and youth, men's and women's teams
Dh600,000 - Dubai Exiles' budget for pitch and court hire next season, for their rugby, netball and cricket teams
Dh1.8m - Dubai Hurricanes' overall budget for next season
Dh2.8m - Dubai Exiles’ overall budget for next season
Heavily-sugared soft drinks slip through the tax net
Some popular drinks with high levels of sugar and caffeine have slipped through the fizz drink tax loophole, as they are not carbonated or classed as an energy drink.
Arizona Iced Tea with lemon is one of those beverages, with one 240 millilitre serving offering up 23 grams of sugar - about six teaspoons.
A 680ml can of Arizona Iced Tea costs just Dh6.
Most sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, five teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
- Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Arctic Monkeys
Tranquillity Base Hotel Casino (Domino)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
'Will%20of%20the%20People'
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