Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

Hi all,

I'm going to work in Dubai on secondment, where I'll be getting paid straight into a UAE bank account.

Over here, I pay student loan contributions, pension, national insurance etc and I also have BUPA medical cover.

What's the deal with these? Do I need to transfer them over and/or do some just stop taking effect?

I know my BUPA cover will continue but do I have to return to UK for treatment?

I presume I won't be paying off student loan when over there? does that mean it'll just be accumulating interest?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks

stay home.

What's your point?

Depending on what you are earning you can defer payment on your student loan. If you are already paying it I think you have to continue. I carried on paying mine from here and just transferred money into my UK account every month from my UAE account. Check with the student loan company.

Regarding your pension: ask your company or pension company advisor

Regarding your BUPA cover: ask BUPA. This will depend on what cover you have with BUPA and if it covers you in the UAE or just the UK. They will tell you if you can get medical treatment here and claim it back through BUPA.

You can continue to pay the National Ins contributions monthly if you want. You can get the forms for this from the post office. Also notify your local tax office if you plan to be out of the UK for 1 full tax year. If you go back before 1 tax year (April to April) then you will have to pay tax on what you have earned here on your return to the UK.

If you are coming for a secondment how long will it be? Make sure the money is good and your housing is covered.

I would advise contacting the relevant depts in the UK to answer your questions.

claims sent to BUPA (BUPA UK) will not be valid as treatments will have to take place in the UK. Youll have to switch from BUPA (UK) to BUPA international.

Ask customer service, i think they should be able to do a switch between the two, not sure though. When i was in the UK with BUPA, my contract expired a day or two before i returned to the UAE. So i just went with BUPA intl as they cater for UAE. Im actually with BUPA intl. myself.

BUPA intl. have accounts setup with different hospitals so when you go for treatment, all you have to do is show your card at the reception of the allocated hospital(s)


As for your student Loan, would be best to set up a monthly direct current account transfer in the UK, but ofcourse youll have to have sufficient funds in your current account to do so.

You can always transfer money into your bank account from the UAE to UK, pm me for more info on that.

Not sure about pensions and national insurance.

Good Luck

It's easier to just keep your UK account open and transfer the necessary funds back every month, then you don't have to do anything regarding that.

With NI you would be making 'voluntary' contributions, upto you whether you want to carry on with them or not.

Unless you decide to move away from the UK for ever - do NOT close your UK bank account.

thanks for the advice guys. I think the company will be sorting some of these out such as change of BUPA cover to international (they said i'd still be covered).

Money is same salary as here but tax free. Housing is 75k AED (am single at mo) + car allowance, flights home etc. all good (I think!)

Your location of your office will more than likely dictate where you are going to live. Rent is expensive here. Try to get it to increase to 100K (Another £3K). This will ensure that you can get a good 1 bedroom apartment (just).

How long is your secondment? If you are here for a year then the tax free part of your salary will be taken up by paying more for your apartment - unless you decide to share.

I personally wouldn't accept a secondment and expect to share. Push for the additional amount so you can get a decent 1 bed apartment. You should also ask for this upfront as you will more than likely have to pay the rent up front in 1 chq or 2 if you are lucky.