Before you relocate to Dubai

Once you have agreed on your contract in principle, it would be a good idea to visit Dubai before finally relocating there. The best option would be if your employer in Dubai provides you with an introduction trip as a part of the contract. If they don’t, then you can go on your own. That will worth it.

I definitely recommend you taking your spouse with you when you go to Dubai, just because she or he might not like Dubai city and you won’t be able to do anything about it. There is nothing wrong with the city or the Middle East, it is just different.

• Read some tips from insiders. If you have friends living in Dubai it would be the best option. This will give you an overview of what the life in Dubai is from the eyes of a resident, but an agent who is paid to relocate you.

• Make a list of areas you would like to live in. Ask your employer to hire a relocation or real estate agent to show possible housing options. If they refuse, you may want to hire an agent yourself. Search Google for relocation agents in Dubai.

• Make a list of places you would like to visit. There are some impressive landmarks, e.g. Burj Dubai, Dubai Mall, The Palm Jumeirah.

• Check out the placement of your hotel. Don’t stay too far from Dubai’s interesting places. You will either be bored or have to spend some money on taxi.

• Spend some time over the map. Find the area where you will be supposed to work and where you would like to live. Dubai is located on a shore and it is a quite long shore. If you don’t like spending too much time driving to work and back you might want to decide where you would like to live before you go to see apartments. Check out Google maps.

• Go on a working day. This will make sure you will see the traffic. It can be terrible depending on where you live and where you work.

• Pretend to be a Dubai resident when you catch a taxi . Dubai taxi is extremely good; most of the cars are new Toyota Camry or Nissan Altima. In any mall or hotel you go down to the taxi pick-up area, there are a queue and a person who manages the passenger and cab traffic. Every taxi has got a meter and it is not expensive (45 km ride costs 75 AED, you pay a fixed fee of 3 AED for the flag down, 4 AED in night time).
   

  Of course, if a taxi driver sees you as a tourist he will fool you driving non-optimal routes but at least you won’t have to negotiate the price paying by meter.