Dubai has a great deal to offer in terms of leisure activities including world class sporting facilities for golf, tennis, squash, sailing, rugby and many others. Restaurants, hotels and night spots are plentiful, diverse and always spectacularly opulent. The quality of the leisure facilities are among the best in the world and hence have encouraged considerable tourism to the region.
Dubai offers one of the most favorable personal and commercial environments in the industrialized world. With excellent communications, booming economy, western lifestyle, fully convertible currency, stable exchange rate and minimal tax regime this emirate has rapidly become an attractive proposition for professionals, families and organisations alike. Dubai is one of the most relaxed places to live in the Gulf region as it has a more secure and tolerant regime than any other location in the area.
Women are treated equally and have an equal status to men with none of the restrictions on dress and conduct that would apply in say Saudi Arabia. The author of this fact sheet spent 12 months working in Dubai & Abu Dhabi and found the whole experience extremely enjoyable.
How to Start in Looking for a Job in Dubai:
- Use the Internet to look for prospective employers before you get to Dubai, the Dubai Yellow Pages http://www.yellowpages.ae/ as well as the various Free Zone websites http://www.uaefreezones.com/ contain listings of businesses.
- First look at businesses which have a related internet site depicting their products or services, this will give you a good idea on the size, scope and nature of the company.
- To work in Dubai you will need a residence visa, labor card and health card. This will allow a working stay of up to 3 years and if you are a qualified professional with a degree or have an established employment history, there should be few difficulties in obtaining the necessary paperwork to become a resident. Most companies provide all the relevant immigration and visa advice and obtain the necessary visa for the new employee - so really nothing to worry about here.
- After choosing the companies, check their profile on Google, see if they are featured in the local or international news. Local news sites as well as other related postings on the internet may give you other indicators as to the business. You need to see if the company has good background and if they treat employees very well.
- You can also check the validity of a company’s trading activities, contact details and licensing. The Dubai Department of Economic Development has on-line, the active trading licenses of all registered company’s trading within Dubai. The site is searchable on the English name of the trading company, providing the license number of the company and last registered contact details of the company.
- Avoid companies with Yahoo or Hotmail email addresses; there are however a number of legitimate companies in Dubai and surrounds that do actually use these.
- Double check the contact details of the company. You can always use the Internet in checking those information.
