Annabel Kantaria raised an interesting issue this week in her blog on the Telegraph’s website; as a long-term expatriate resident in Dubai she questioned whether the UAE would be likely to follow Saudi Arabia and Kuwait’s leads, and cap the number of expats working in Dubai and/or the duration of their contracts of employment.
Added to this question we must consider that, as the world watches the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ revolutions and unrest unfolding, expats in the region have come to realise that theirs is perhaps a more temporary existence in the Middle East than they had planned.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has encouraged Brits to leave a number of Middle Eastern nations for their own safety so far this year already for example, and seemingly other states are going to start forcing foreigners out as soon as they outstay their welcome or outlive their usefulness. So, is Dubai a place to work for the long-term? Is it a destination that expats can consider calling home?
As nations and emirates like Saudi and Kuwait have evolved so spectacularly in such a relatively short space of time, they have needed the massive influx of foreign workers that they have so far utilised. Dubai is another classic example of a Middle Eastern destination that has made the most of foreign workers to advance rapidly, to build and grow substantially.
The benefits of utilising foreign labour and introducing international professionalism is obvious – but perhaps from an outsider’s point of view it has been difficult to realise the negatives created by this situation of massive inward migration. In Kuwait it’s documented that expatriates make up almost 70% of the population – and estimates for Dubai put this figure at an incomprehensible level of 87%. Naturally enough this no longer sits comfortably with the local population.
As expats living in Dubai for example, and enjoying the inimitable and enviable tax-free lifestyle, it must be hard to even want to consider the fact that the local population is perhaps growing increasingly resentful of your presence. On the one hand they use your skills and talents and profit from your productivity. On the other hand you have diluted their national identity so far that something has to be done.
In Kuwait and Saudi this ‘something’ is a limit to the number of years an expat can live and work in the country. In Dubai Annabel Kantaria believes this is unlikely to be possible because foreigners have the right to own property and therefore have permanent residency in Dubai. However, policies can change…and if a nation or an emirate’s people feel under siege from massive foreign influence and under threat of losing their national identity, never say never. I.e., never say that Dubai will never cap levels of immigration or the amount of time that an expat can live and work in the UAE!
For the time being however, Dubai is a place you can call home forever. I.e., you can theoretically have a job for life in Dubai but you need to understand that yours is not always a welcome presence locally. As you save the money you earn in Dubai offshore because it’s more advantageous and probably safer for you to do so, you fail to integrate and learn the local language because you just don’t need to, and you come and go as you please and as your career and lifestyle choices dictate, don’t be surprised if you get wind of the government now taking greater steps towards Emiratisation in the private sector.
The government has made it clear that it wants to see the greater and more meaningful employment of local labour – and as arguments continue about whether it makes good economic sense for international businesses to skill up and employ local workers and professionals, it should really be considered an absolutely necessary requirement if greater harmony is to be achieved and maintained between the expatriate and the local population.
Whilst complete Emiratisation is an end goal that could lead to there being less jobs in Dubai for expatriates, at least Dubai isn’t proposing capping the number of expats or the amount of time they can live and work in the UAE…yet.