# Discussion on living in Dubai



## luv2bebrown (Nov 4, 2004)

this is only for people who are interested in finding out more about dubai. if you think dubai sucks, and dont really care, thats cool. all i ask is that you keep this thread clean.

After reading the opinions of a lot of forumers on SSC, it is clear to see that Dubai has a bad reputation when it comes to living standards. many forumers perceive the lack of rights in dubai to be a bad thing, and consider its conservative laws (in relation to western cities) to be discriminatory towards homosexuals. while this is certainly the case, dubai residents still find the city a very nice place to live. so i created this thread for people to find out about life in Dubai. There is too much talk about skyscrapers, and projects and plans etc. here you can find out about the real dubai. feel free to ask questions from Gay rights, to discrimination in the workplace etc. you can find information about this stuff online too, however, as someone who lived in dubai and has witnessed first-hand a lot of these issues, I can say that much of the information you commonly find online (i.e. human rights reports, government reports, newspaper articles, tourist info) are skewed either to be heavily Pro-Dubai, or heavily anti-dubai. 


this article summarizes Dubai's gay scene perfectly. it is an interview of a gay man living in dubai. he clearly identifies the risks and unfairness of being gay in Dubai but whats funny is that he still thinks life in Dubai is pretty good:
http://www.gaymiddleeast.com/news/article38.htm

here is an article relating to the anti-gay ideology in Dubai in response to a "gay mass wedding" that was shut down by government authorities.
http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Society/10000989.html

on the other hand, just when you begin to feel like Dubai is run by the Taliban, here's another simple article (just an example) that showcases dubai's diversity global outlook. one good thing about dubai is that its residents are constantly comparing it to their home countries, so everyone is always lookin for ways in which the city can improve.
http://search.gulfnews.com/articles/02/10/26/66699.html

last but not least, here are blogs of dubai residents. again, if you want to find out about the real dubai, and the people of dubai, this is one of the best ways to get an insight into life in dubai
http://webmasterdubai.blogspot.com/


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## Jay (Oct 7, 2004)

Interesing Idea, Thanks for making this thread.


I don't hate Dubai really, just the human/civil rights and lack of free speech etc. The mindset of many of the people there is too closed minded and the government is prejudiced. It's not just gays, Jews have a hard time in the UAE aswell. 

Besides that it looks to have a high quality of life, that's just a crucial element that needs to be changed.


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## malek (Nov 16, 2004)

heard that you have to renew your residency papers every 6 months?? someone could clear that up please?


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## luv2bebrown (Nov 4, 2004)

yes this is true. i believe that when you first get your residence visa, it is valid for 3 years (unless you quit your job and your employer cancels your visa). after that, you have to renew it every six months. if you have a child who is older than 18 and studying abroad, you have to renew his/her visa every year. if you as an expatriate own freehold property, in most cases (there may be cases i am unaware of), you are granted a 99-year renewable visa.


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## luv2bebrown (Nov 4, 2004)

hahaha here is a great cynical view of dubai. im sure all of you dubai-bashers will enjoy.
http://sorrydubai.blogspot.com/

on the other hand, here is a dubai resident that seems A LOT happier
http://www.nikkish.net/jeff/2005_09_01_zchizzerz_archive.html

i dont ever EVER read blogs. but this shit is actually pretty interesting


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## AltinD (Jul 15, 2004)

malek said:


> heard that you have to renew your residency papers every 6 months?? someone could clear that up please?


Residency paper have to be renewed ONLY once in THREE year. You can get a shorter or longer residency permit.

However the residency permit is tied up with the employement. If you still are employed at the end of your residency permit, the renewal is just a burocratic procedure, while if the employement contrate gets terminated, regardless of the reasons, your residency got cancelled.

Now, depepnding of your position and/or qualification, you get a 1 month grace period to find another job and transfer the residency permit, instead of cancelling it. However for the low class workers, usually there is no such flexibility. Before they use to get a temporary ban, up to 6 months, before they could return looking for another job. The ban is not in force anymore and there are some kind of temporary residency of 6 month, but I don't know exactly under which conditions you can benefit from them.

The bulk of people, especially on the middle class, comes here in a visit visa, sponsored by e relative or a company owned by someone they know. The visit visa is valid for 1 month and can be exctanded up to three.


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## AltinD (Jul 15, 2004)

The new ID card to be issued in a couple of months, will be valid for 5 years so maybe the residency permit is increased to 5 years as well. I have to renew mine in end of february but my old pass expires in early January so I'll learn soon if the residency permit is changed to 5.


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## AltinD (Jul 15, 2004)

Jo48 said:


> Jews have a hard time in the UAE aswell.


Is not that Dubai has a Jews population and they are opressed. UAE do not recognises the state of Israel, therefore a Israeli passport is not accepted in the border as a valid document. It is a political issue and not a religious one.

For the same reason, they can deny entry to someone holding a Israeli visa or a Israeli border stamp in their passport. However bad this might seams, it is clearly advertised on UAE Goverment web sites, plus you can always ask Israeli border police not to put a stamp in your passport, or simply get two passports, and use the appropriate one.

I heard that Israel has similar policies for people living in the Gulf countries.


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## ZOHAR (Jul 16, 2005)

Dubai is not liberal city me as jew and bisexual can't live in Dubai


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## AltinD (Jul 15, 2004)

^ Please READ the first line of the first post.


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## dubaiflo (Jan 3, 2005)

:lol:

good thread actually.
and again it is not like you couldn't LIVE in dubai, you are just supposed not to show you are bisexual etc.


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## Dubai-Lover (Jul 4, 2004)

lol
good one
regarding the blogs, once you read through it the question arises. does this and that only happen in dubai? :lol:
surely not


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## lennart (Nov 28, 2005)

Yes i do have some questions.

What is the punishment like? I mean for crimes like theft and fight?
Is it possible to discuss politics and religion? Will i be punished for anti-islam statements for instance?
Is it expensive to live in Dubai?
Is it easy to get a job and how are the salaries?


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## luv2bebrown (Nov 4, 2004)

punishment can vary depending on whether you are tried through sharia islamic law, or the country's secular law. i do not know under what exact conditions each law is used. but if ur an expat, its safe to say that you will be tried by secular law. additionally, the sentence also depends on the severity of the crime. a child stealing a lolipop will get away scott-free while professional thieves who steal millions get stiff sentences. all serious crimes like these result in deportation.

here: a man impersonated a law enforcement officer in order to steal a mobile phone. he was sentenced to 6 months in jail followed by deportation.http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Display...004/May/theuae_May594.xml&section=theuae&col=

heres another example of a gang of 4 who were sentenced to 3 years.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5967_1180850,001600060001.htm

cases such as these seem to be very arbitrary. there are cases where convicts are sentenced to lashings as well. the situation just varies so much. there are horror stories of UAE prisons and the horrible treatment of inmates by corrupt police, and at the same time, I had a friend who was arrested in Sharjah (a neighbouring city), for being drunk on the street (a crime in sharjah), and he was lashed several dozen times and kept in a small overcrowded room for 2 days. he came out laughing and joking about the experience. additionally, i had friends who were caught by undercover police when my friends were looking for a penknife they had dropped into a bush outside a outside a house (it looked suspicious). they were kept in a cell for a day and claimed that the police were very nice to them and gave them fresh fruit. then there are people who have been jailed for 4 years for drug use.

i dont know about jail terms for fighting. my friends have gotten into a few fights but the police never got involved. it depends on how serious the fights are. back in the day, youth fights were more about image not necessarily violence. ive never seen a real fight so I can't say for sure - i know a couple of drunken brawls have happened and the key is to just run away before the police come (if anybody calls them). i know two adults, both british, who got drunk and badly assaulted a taxi driver. i heard they left the country shortly after the incident.


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## luv2bebrown (Nov 4, 2004)

you can discuss politics and religion freely. in fact those are two of the most popular subjects between people when they smoke sheesha for example. however slandering Islam is certainly a punishable offence. i mean it happens all the time, but it gets serious if someone who is offended by such slandering hears or sees it. for example, you can't write a letter to the opinion page of a newspaper saying "Islamis a useless, backward religion. muslims are all animals and are the scum of the earth." i suppose you could write a letter, but it would NEVER be published. if you walk around the street saying "MUSLIMS ARE THE DEVIL!", you'd be screwed. also you can practice your religion freely, but you cant promote it. here in the US, there are Christians who stand at street corners handing out bibles - you cant do that in Dubai. there was a case where a police officer was dealing with an incident (it was a small incident, something that would result in a fine). but the offender got pissed and started slandering the cop and Islam, and that got him jail time.


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## luv2bebrown (Nov 4, 2004)

lennart said:


> Is it easy to get a job and how are the salaries?


ill leave that question to dubai forumers who have more knowledge of the labour market than I do.


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## PotatoGuy (May 10, 2005)

luv2bebrown said:


> I had a friend who was arrested in Sharjah (a neighbouring city), for being drunk on the street (a crime in sharjah), and he was lashed several dozen times and kept in a small overcrowded room for 2 days.


eeek.. isn't that a little harsh??


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## dubaiflo (Jan 3, 2005)

luv2bebrown said:


> i know two adults, both british, who got drunk and badly assaulted a taxi driver. i heard they left the country shortly after the incident.



DUBAI and juiced?? :runaway:

:lol:


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## luv2bebrown (Nov 4, 2004)

hahaha he seemed very proud of it. and yes it is harsh but then again that was in sharjah, not dubai. heres the thing tho - the thing that makes dubai interesting is that despite these restrictions, every weekend, you'll find the funniest drunk people comin out of the clubs. IMO, theres just a good balance between liberal and Islamic values. again IMO only, living in Dubai is kinda like being in high school. High school for me was fun as hell - here is how it works. There are strict rules that you have to follow in school, you have to attend class and do your work/homework or you'll be kicked out, and the teachers enforce those rules. yet, theres so much freedom to muck about. the whole system results in there being so many funny characters in Dubai. thats what i just love about the place. its so interesting, the people have a good cynical sense of humour, people have funny adventures.

i come to america, and i'm like... oh. i'm free. i can do anything I want... that's nice. but there isn't the fat rich local who my brother and his friend used to shoot with air guns when they were kids, you can't order TONS of food and groceries to your prank victim's house, you don't get to see the gay filipino guy bustin it out in the club, you can't find michael jackson dressed up as woman in a female bathroom in a mall, VISAs to us aren't credit cards, but documents stamped in your passport that idiots think they can cancel at anytime, and most importantly, dubai has the best drivers in the world! check it out:


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## luv2bebrown (Nov 4, 2004)

dubaiflo said:


> DUBAI and juiced?? :runaway:
> 
> :lol:


no they assaulted the abra driver. threw him off the abra, stole it and then sailed out of the country.


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## luv2bebrown (Nov 4, 2004)

Tom_Green said:


> I have a question, too
> 
> Will they build a second pedestrian bridge over the SZR? I would love it if they build one more.


they really should. its a simple project. they didnt take very long at all to build the one opposite the fairmont.

they should build at least two more, one opposite the shangri-la, and one opposite Kendah house. in case you didnt know, theres a pedestrian tunnel opposite the crowne plaza which leads to just outside the emirates towers complex. multiple bridges will really help integrate both sides of the street, especially when the DIFC is completed.


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## Nick in Atlanta (Nov 5, 2003)

Nick in Atlanta said:


> I believe that most native "Gulfies" leave the region during the hottest 3-4 months of the year and go to locales like London, Paris and the south of France. However, in recent years many have stayed closer to home and gone to Cairo, Beirut and even Damascus.


I shouldn't say "most", but a large number of "gulfies" do choose the very hot times of year to travel to cooler places. It may be a stereotype, but I'm not trying to offend anyone. 

About ten years ago there were a lot of Brazilians travelling to Miami and New York because the Brazilian economy was booming. I know that in New York many stores hired bilingual employees who spoke English and Portuguese, to handle this business. Does this mean that Brazil emptied out for a number of years and there were no cars on the street? No, of course not. But, I did hear that the Plaza Hotel in NYC hired more employees who could speak Portuguese during those years. It's all in your perception, I suppose.


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## luv2bebrown (Nov 4, 2004)

this is true. everyone who can afford it and get off work goes on vacation/back to their home countries. all the schoolkids for the most part all go back to their home countries during the summer.


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## bustero (Dec 20, 2004)

I distinguish between the natives and the expats. Obviously it makes sense for the expats but for the natives I can understand visiting a couple of weeks for the summer but I'm just curious since they'll be leaving for a lengthy bit of time seems like they're moneyed enough to take off for so long, even if it is just the children. I understand that rich people do this as they do in most countries so am wondering how common this is exactly in Dubai for Dubaians (or whatever the local populace is called).


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## smussuw (Feb 1, 2004)

too common


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