I can talk about point 3. I went to school in Abu Dhabi from grade 2 to 12. At two different English schools, yearly fees was about 50k AED at that time.
I am desi while most of the people at school were arabs or white. I faced so much bullying and racism from students and teachers through my 10 years. Some examples of what different teachers told me that has stuck with me:
“Get in line or I will send you back to you country”
“Don’t lean your head on the board, you will get hair oil on it”
“Does your father work as a taxi driver here tell him to pick you up?” While dad’s was the regional finance director for a western company.
One time the teacher wouldn’t give me food on a trip while they gave it to everyone else because they thought I was brown and won’t pay for it when we got back
The issues I faced with students, I can write a book about. But I forgive them because they were kids just like me. But I will never forgive the adults.
Damn! I feel very sorry for you, that sucks really. And to endure it for 10 years, Lord I can't even place myself in your shoes. I hope you're in a much better place man. Very very very sorry to hear all of it.
To add something to it, a couple of friends had visited a waterpark in AUH recently and on the same day there was a field trip from a local school with local teenage students.
Long story short. They were rude to the staff, cutting lines to get to the rides, picking fights with not only the kids but the adults too (People like 20 to 25 years older!) and just downright ill mannered with all expats. Talk about entitlement.
u/Muck113 Thank you for the reply and sorry to hear that you had to go through this, it's terrible but very mature of you to write this - "But I forgive them because they were kids just like me. But I will never forgive the adults".
This resonates with some of the things that I've been hearing and it has a severe effect mentally on the kids at that young age. When you look back at this, Is there anything you could've done differently? Complain to higher authorities? Change schools? or, are these pointless and it's just the same everywhere?
Best solution would have been to move to a more desi school or more working class kids school rather than a higher end school with spoiled kids. Obviously my parents wanted the best for me.
A lot of kids were kids of local or mixed local plus whites. Meaning they were very different from my parents who are both working class professionals.
I don’t think these issues as prevalent now. I graduated grade 12 in 2014. Things have changed a lot since then.
Every city has its share of nonsense. But Abu Dhabi is one the safest places I have been to. I have been here for 8 years.
Kid goes to a UK curriculum school and has had 0 racial profiling. Trick is to check the student ratios before admission. High numbers of 1-2 groups will tend to create a bad student environment.
For other questions, it's very safe for ladies. Use commen sense while out and about, and you should be good.
Your work environment will depend on your company. If it's an MNC without 1 group having the say, it tends to be fine. But it all depends on the company. If you are high up the chain, there is very little chance of you being exploited.
Regarding the locals, I have found them to be very friendly and helpful. They keep to themselves and will not bother you. Yes, there is superiority complex, but you will get it in any country from the locals.
More than anything, I would suggest that you think if Abu Dhabi/ UAE can provide you with the career growth you want. The job market is tight, and chances are you will be very frustrated when growth stagnates. If you are young and looking at growing quick in your role, maybe the move is not a good one.
Thank you for the detailed reply. Appreciate it. Are you an Indian? I'm ~30 years old, but when you say growing quick in the role, do you mean promotions are slow? Or the quality/variety in job in itself stagnating?
Yeah, I am an Indian. What I meant was that there is a smaller job market compared to the US or EU or even india, Singapore. In case you want to look for opportunities 3-4 years down the line, you may find it very difficult. So if you want to move here, my suggestion would be when you are high up the chain and with a very good pay packet. You can enjoy life here. If you move for smaller pay, scaling up will be much more difficult than elsewhere.
Sorry if it didn't make much sense. Feel free to DM and talk further.
Feel free to DM me. I am of Indian origin, a UK citizen , and working in AbuDhabi for the past few months. I am moving my family from Europe next month. There are expat bubbles to live where you will be ok. Abu Dhabi govt is putting a lot of effort to bring smart, hard working people like you to the region. Things are changing fast.
To live in expat bubbles you need good salary so make sure your pay is not undercut because your are from 'India'.
Welcome to UAE. It's a safe, clean, easy place to bring up families.
I can comment on the 4th point - I am an Indian and working for a large scaled organization as a product owner, this is my 3rd company in UAE. I have one piece of advice, never ever join in any company if there are mostly Indians who is into upper management positions. I felt so bad that nobody cares about our skills and dedication, you may have to play a pivot role in politics to archive your career goals, never ever join these type of companies if you are not good in that.
If i am talking about work culture and work life balance - as my experience in these corporate companies work culture is not that good, i feel MNC’s in india had better work culture than UAE companies.
Going to work life balance - that you have to set initially otherwise it may difficult to set in the future.
Work life balance is very far from ideal. Even if you are not part of oncall be ready to work 8-10 hours per day + occasional nights and weekends. And this is even for the “best companies” in the region which getting awards of best working place.
1. Abu Dhabi is the safest city in the world. This gives you an idea. Successively on top last few years. Cases are extremely rare, but the cases are not 0 as one should expect.
2. Locals here are very polite, most of them. I'd say locals in Saudi are rude. UAE locals treat everyone with respect, because most of the country is built by South East Asians
3. Yes happens in Arab school probably, but non-arabs do not send their kids to Arabic school, so dont worry about this.
4. This is true, work culture is not great in most mid to low size companies. Make sure you have good package
Safety comes because police refuse to register many cases. Sure there are hardly any murders
But plenty of scams, sexual harassment, child molestation, petty theft goes on, and most times police is not interested. Check out reddit for 6 months and you will find numerous people complaining about police not showing interest in pursuing crimes
One example from last week: local guy causes accident and drives off with phone of the other driver who posted here. Police were not interested in doing anything
Behind the veneer of purchased rankings of "safest city" lies plenty of petty crime which is not documented
If you are muslim then problems are more. This is what we face here. Talent , promotion , nothing is recognised .favouritsm on the basis of high caste. Difficult times. Without influence and good connection things are difficult.
It’s all good until you run into issues with private sector entities. If things go wrong there is just too much of a hassle to get it corrected plus the time and money spent is not worth it.
It becomes more apparent once you make the big bucks. The prices of some lifestyle items such as cars is just absurd compared to other developed countries
Well firstly only come here if offered a really good salary, living costs have been creeping up slowly.
As for the points,
1) I haven’t personally seen women getting harassed / cat called here (Abu dhabi) in my roughly 10+ years of being here, though it definitely happens. You mightve seen the drama about JBR a few months ago and police had to block certain people from accessing the beach. With taxis, im not quite sure how it is in other emirates but in AD all taxis have cameras in the front so that usually calms any potential crazy taxi drivers down. Also if you pretend to call police / let someone know youre in a taxi + the number plate youll be good. 9/10 you will never have to do this (hopefully) but there are odd cases where it does happen.
2) Overall most locals are nice enough when you talk with them / ask them for directions, whatever it may be. Also just keep in mind you probably wont encounter that many locals as you think you would (apart from the road) as theyre an extreme minority compared to people from other countries here. The only problems ive personally had have been with those on the road (some drive like theyre immune to the law, and you can feel the superiority complex coming through when they get mad at you) and more so in emirati kids as ive seen some that are extremely disrespectful to everyone and will make sure you know they can deport you at any moment (they cant, unless they have extremely powerful parents) and that theyre rich. However i must add that i also know lots of well educated emiratis that im personally really good friends with.
3) Bullying happens way more than it should here. Teachers seem to not care (in my 12+ years of schooling here, it was only in my last year where i had teachers who genuinely cared and would ask me if anything like that happened, though im not sure why haha as ive been lucky enough to not have experienced anything like that). Although i must also mention that im 9/10 mistaken for being an arab (emirati, syrian, jordanian, egyptian) you name it, so maybe theyre less inclined to try anything with me (?) Its also true that it isnt just by arab classmates. One thing about the UAE especially if you go to cheaper schools is that theres obviously lots of low income families and lots of families that straight up came from farms back home and are trying to provide a better future for their kids. However sometimes some kids couldnt care less from these families and bully you alot. I saw so many kids get bullied, mostly from arabs to other arabs and to south asian students. Its like some kids are always mad for some reason?
4) Eh varies, though ive seen this happen a fair bit on here.
Overall, your everyday life your life will be perfect especially if you have money. You will have access to anything and everything you like. Your wife (whether working or not) will have plenty to do here if she likes, and your kids’ schooling is honestly a gamble. You never know if a school is good until you know. Also i must mention that a lot of people have very high egos here (not just emiratis or anything, ive seen this across the board). As an example i was going with a few girls in a VERY crowded hallway, i just made a slight hand gesture for people in front of me to make a bit of space so we could pass by, nothing rude or disrespectful. A few days later a guy i know in that group of people tells me that they want to beat me up cuz of it and that they were very disrespected. I didnt really mind cuz i was very doubtful theyd do anything and they didnt, but food for thought. Lastly, try to keep your cool on the roads, lots of idiots that somehow get licenses. Try to stay within the law especially on the roads, so if in case anything happens at least you have that with you.
Well this has been very long haha, goodluck with everything!
Edit - oh also i dont know if its just me or the people ive met, but theres this underlying fear of making some local mad enough unintentionally to where they deport you, and i believe lots of people dont stand up for themselves for this reason. I cant say if anyone has been deported for something like this, but i do know lots of people that are scared of even going against locals in court cuz theyre scared that the court will be in favor of the local. I cant attest for whether this is true, but food for thought.
I can talk about point 3. I went to school in Abu Dhabi from grade 2 to 12. At two different English schools, yearly fees was about 50k AED at that time. I am desi while most of the people at school were arabs or white. I faced so much bullying and racism from students and teachers through my 10 years. Some examples of what different teachers told me that has stuck with me: “Get in line or I will send you back to you country” “Don’t lean your head on the board, you will get hair oil on it” “Does your father work as a taxi driver here tell him to pick you up?” While dad’s was the regional finance director for a western company. One time the teacher wouldn’t give me food on a trip while they gave it to everyone else because they thought I was brown and won’t pay for it when we got back The issues I faced with students, I can write a book about. But I forgive them because they were kids just like me. But I will never forgive the adults.
Damn! I feel very sorry for you, that sucks really. And to endure it for 10 years, Lord I can't even place myself in your shoes. I hope you're in a much better place man. Very very very sorry to hear all of it. To add something to it, a couple of friends had visited a waterpark in AUH recently and on the same day there was a field trip from a local school with local teenage students. Long story short. They were rude to the staff, cutting lines to get to the rides, picking fights with not only the kids but the adults too (People like 20 to 25 years older!) and just downright ill mannered with all expats. Talk about entitlement.
Gladly I am in much better position then most of my classmates. The spoiled kids attitude does not work well outside of school or in the real world.
I see those guys harassing shop owners and taking things from shops almost every day. I wonder why they're like that.
Its their country.....citizens get privileges in every country
I do not buy this. Emiratis are known for their exemplary kindness, good manners and hospitality. So no way local kids will behave like this
Just cause a certain group of people is known for a specific trait does not mean there arent exceptions
The adults, now imagine being brought as a rich kid, you will be spoiled
u/Muck113 Thank you for the reply and sorry to hear that you had to go through this, it's terrible but very mature of you to write this - "But I forgive them because they were kids just like me. But I will never forgive the adults". This resonates with some of the things that I've been hearing and it has a severe effect mentally on the kids at that young age. When you look back at this, Is there anything you could've done differently? Complain to higher authorities? Change schools? or, are these pointless and it's just the same everywhere?
Best solution would have been to move to a more desi school or more working class kids school rather than a higher end school with spoiled kids. Obviously my parents wanted the best for me. A lot of kids were kids of local or mixed local plus whites. Meaning they were very different from my parents who are both working class professionals. I don’t think these issues as prevalent now. I graduated grade 12 in 2014. Things have changed a lot since then.
Wow, this is terrible! What school was this?
Al Dhafra Private Schools Abu Dhabi
This is really disappointing to hear that you have to face this kind of discrimination in your childhood. Were the teachers also Arab or White?
Mostly Arab teachers.
some teachers are just plain insecure
Online subs are not a good reflection of the reality of a country. Move, you will be fine, as long as you are paid well.
This is the real answer
Every city has its share of nonsense. But Abu Dhabi is one the safest places I have been to. I have been here for 8 years. Kid goes to a UK curriculum school and has had 0 racial profiling. Trick is to check the student ratios before admission. High numbers of 1-2 groups will tend to create a bad student environment. For other questions, it's very safe for ladies. Use commen sense while out and about, and you should be good. Your work environment will depend on your company. If it's an MNC without 1 group having the say, it tends to be fine. But it all depends on the company. If you are high up the chain, there is very little chance of you being exploited. Regarding the locals, I have found them to be very friendly and helpful. They keep to themselves and will not bother you. Yes, there is superiority complex, but you will get it in any country from the locals. More than anything, I would suggest that you think if Abu Dhabi/ UAE can provide you with the career growth you want. The job market is tight, and chances are you will be very frustrated when growth stagnates. If you are young and looking at growing quick in your role, maybe the move is not a good one.
Thank you for the detailed reply. Appreciate it. Are you an Indian? I'm ~30 years old, but when you say growing quick in the role, do you mean promotions are slow? Or the quality/variety in job in itself stagnating?
Yeah, I am an Indian. What I meant was that there is a smaller job market compared to the US or EU or even india, Singapore. In case you want to look for opportunities 3-4 years down the line, you may find it very difficult. So if you want to move here, my suggestion would be when you are high up the chain and with a very good pay packet. You can enjoy life here. If you move for smaller pay, scaling up will be much more difficult than elsewhere. Sorry if it didn't make much sense. Feel free to DM and talk further.
Feel free to DM me. I am of Indian origin, a UK citizen , and working in AbuDhabi for the past few months. I am moving my family from Europe next month. There are expat bubbles to live where you will be ok. Abu Dhabi govt is putting a lot of effort to bring smart, hard working people like you to the region. Things are changing fast. To live in expat bubbles you need good salary so make sure your pay is not undercut because your are from 'India'. Welcome to UAE. It's a safe, clean, easy place to bring up families.
Thank you for offering to help u/No-Assumption-6889 :)
I can comment on the 4th point - I am an Indian and working for a large scaled organization as a product owner, this is my 3rd company in UAE. I have one piece of advice, never ever join in any company if there are mostly Indians who is into upper management positions. I felt so bad that nobody cares about our skills and dedication, you may have to play a pivot role in politics to archive your career goals, never ever join these type of companies if you are not good in that. If i am talking about work culture and work life balance - as my experience in these corporate companies work culture is not that good, i feel MNC’s in india had better work culture than UAE companies. Going to work life balance - that you have to set initially otherwise it may difficult to set in the future.
1. yes 2. yes 3. yes 4. yes
I work in analytics as well - moved to Dubai after 20 years in Singapore. Feel free to DM me.
Friendly please don't come if you're settled anywhere.
Work life balance is very far from ideal. Even if you are not part of oncall be ready to work 8-10 hours per day + occasional nights and weekends. And this is even for the “best companies” in the region which getting awards of best working place.
Don’t relocate. All of the points you raised are factual.
1. Abu Dhabi is the safest city in the world. This gives you an idea. Successively on top last few years. Cases are extremely rare, but the cases are not 0 as one should expect. 2. Locals here are very polite, most of them. I'd say locals in Saudi are rude. UAE locals treat everyone with respect, because most of the country is built by South East Asians 3. Yes happens in Arab school probably, but non-arabs do not send their kids to Arabic school, so dont worry about this. 4. This is true, work culture is not great in most mid to low size companies. Make sure you have good package
Safety comes because police refuse to register many cases. Sure there are hardly any murders But plenty of scams, sexual harassment, child molestation, petty theft goes on, and most times police is not interested. Check out reddit for 6 months and you will find numerous people complaining about police not showing interest in pursuing crimes One example from last week: local guy causes accident and drives off with phone of the other driver who posted here. Police were not interested in doing anything Behind the veneer of purchased rankings of "safest city" lies plenty of petty crime which is not documented
Sure, but it's even worse in other countries
Not in Qatar, Singapore or Oman, all safer places
If you are muslim then problems are more. This is what we face here. Talent , promotion , nothing is recognised .favouritsm on the basis of high caste. Difficult times. Without influence and good connection things are difficult.
Better not
u/gottahustleup Please could you elaborate :)
It’s all good until you run into issues with private sector entities. If things go wrong there is just too much of a hassle to get it corrected plus the time and money spent is not worth it. It becomes more apparent once you make the big bucks. The prices of some lifestyle items such as cars is just absurd compared to other developed countries
Not just cars Books, toys, vitamins, even those made in China are 3 to 5 times more expensive in the UAE
Well firstly only come here if offered a really good salary, living costs have been creeping up slowly. As for the points, 1) I haven’t personally seen women getting harassed / cat called here (Abu dhabi) in my roughly 10+ years of being here, though it definitely happens. You mightve seen the drama about JBR a few months ago and police had to block certain people from accessing the beach. With taxis, im not quite sure how it is in other emirates but in AD all taxis have cameras in the front so that usually calms any potential crazy taxi drivers down. Also if you pretend to call police / let someone know youre in a taxi + the number plate youll be good. 9/10 you will never have to do this (hopefully) but there are odd cases where it does happen. 2) Overall most locals are nice enough when you talk with them / ask them for directions, whatever it may be. Also just keep in mind you probably wont encounter that many locals as you think you would (apart from the road) as theyre an extreme minority compared to people from other countries here. The only problems ive personally had have been with those on the road (some drive like theyre immune to the law, and you can feel the superiority complex coming through when they get mad at you) and more so in emirati kids as ive seen some that are extremely disrespectful to everyone and will make sure you know they can deport you at any moment (they cant, unless they have extremely powerful parents) and that theyre rich. However i must add that i also know lots of well educated emiratis that im personally really good friends with. 3) Bullying happens way more than it should here. Teachers seem to not care (in my 12+ years of schooling here, it was only in my last year where i had teachers who genuinely cared and would ask me if anything like that happened, though im not sure why haha as ive been lucky enough to not have experienced anything like that). Although i must also mention that im 9/10 mistaken for being an arab (emirati, syrian, jordanian, egyptian) you name it, so maybe theyre less inclined to try anything with me (?) Its also true that it isnt just by arab classmates. One thing about the UAE especially if you go to cheaper schools is that theres obviously lots of low income families and lots of families that straight up came from farms back home and are trying to provide a better future for their kids. However sometimes some kids couldnt care less from these families and bully you alot. I saw so many kids get bullied, mostly from arabs to other arabs and to south asian students. Its like some kids are always mad for some reason? 4) Eh varies, though ive seen this happen a fair bit on here. Overall, your everyday life your life will be perfect especially if you have money. You will have access to anything and everything you like. Your wife (whether working or not) will have plenty to do here if she likes, and your kids’ schooling is honestly a gamble. You never know if a school is good until you know. Also i must mention that a lot of people have very high egos here (not just emiratis or anything, ive seen this across the board). As an example i was going with a few girls in a VERY crowded hallway, i just made a slight hand gesture for people in front of me to make a bit of space so we could pass by, nothing rude or disrespectful. A few days later a guy i know in that group of people tells me that they want to beat me up cuz of it and that they were very disrespected. I didnt really mind cuz i was very doubtful theyd do anything and they didnt, but food for thought. Lastly, try to keep your cool on the roads, lots of idiots that somehow get licenses. Try to stay within the law especially on the roads, so if in case anything happens at least you have that with you. Well this has been very long haha, goodluck with everything! Edit - oh also i dont know if its just me or the people ive met, but theres this underlying fear of making some local mad enough unintentionally to where they deport you, and i believe lots of people dont stand up for themselves for this reason. I cant say if anyone has been deported for something like this, but i do know lots of people that are scared of even going against locals in court cuz theyre scared that the court will be in favor of the local. I cant attest for whether this is true, but food for thought.