Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

bigdave wrote:First off hello, and thanks for the forum. My wife has accepted a job with her company to move to Dubai. They want us there by the end of the year so of course I am doing the research now. But I am having a terrible time finding good solid info on some things. Maybe some locals can help me out. Thanks

1.She is going to be working in the Palm Jebel Ali area. Where would it be good to live considering these things. I have a 6yr old daughter, and my son is 4yr old with autism. School will be paid by the company so that is not an issue. I have read that there is a Autism School in Dubai but not sure where. I would like to live close to good schools. I would like to have a villa or house but no apartments as we have 2 dogs so we need a small yard. I have heard traffic is bad there so I want to make sure my wife doesnt have a long drive to work. we are given 285,000 dirham for housing, is that going to be enough to find somthing fairly nice with around 2k sqft? You'll want to live in the springs/meadows area, where that housing should net you a villa that will be what you need. travel wise will be anywhere between 20-120 minutes to jebel ali. most villas come with a maids room if you get the maid.What are some good websites to see the villas and houses at that actually shows pictures of the properties.? www.bhomes.net and www.dubizzle.com (cars as well)
2.Cars? Do you really need a gulf spec car?
we are allowed 6000dirham monthly for cars. will that be suficient to have 2 nice cars like BMW or Mercedes? Not really, unless you put a big down payment, but car prices here for BMW and Mercs are higher than the states, as they keep their resale value, so for 6000K a month you should be able to get 1 car fully paid, otherwise you'll need to put a down payment on both.
What are some good sites that show cars forsale that have pictures of the cars? like we have autotraderdotcom here in the states. www.autotraderuae.com

3. maid. I have read and it seems that maids are really cheap. I would like to get a filipina maid when we arrive. My wife is filipino and my kids are half so I think it would be neat to have a maid that could also teach them tagalog.
Any way I have read that there monthly salary is between 1500-1800dirham for a live in. Is that right? The salary varies for PI between 700-1800, depending on how honest you are. but you'll have to sponsor them and pay for visas.
do you have to pay for a visa for them? what are the other fees you have to pay for? I know you have to furnish there room and everything.
Does the maid cook for us? Yes they usually do all that.
Can she sometimes babysit for extra fee or how does that work? Yes it's upto you and your wife
Can she go to the grocery store and other errands for us? If you want her to.
are there any websites for these maid services?


4. Furniture- Where do you go when you get to Dubai for furniture?
Is furniture cheaper there then it is here in the states? Same prices as the States, you got Ikea and a ton of shops to purchase whatever you need.
If it isnt cheaper then I guess if there is somthing we really need like a new matress then we should buy it here first then ship it over?
Any cool sites to look at for stores over there and furniture?


Thanks so much. Look forward to your replies.

bigdave wrote:I thought of some more questions.

tv- what cable provider do most xpats use? \
Can you get us channels so I dont miss lost and heros? you'll get last seasons shows, they are all 1 year behind mostly. otherwise you can just download torrents, i'm from the states and that's what i do.
how much is it and what are the websites? www.du.ae and www.etisalat.ae only 2 providers. I heard there is only one english channel and that is 33. is that true? nope there's a ton of english channels.

cell phones- who are the best cell service providers? only 2 providers, etisalat seems to have better coverage.what are there websites? same as above
i heard its cheap for service? cheap is all relative, but it doesnt break the bank.

Internet- who do you go through to get internet and what options do i have? same as above, there's only 2 providers, internet service is crap here, an 8 mb pipe will cost you 600 dhs per month or 163 usd, bout 5x what i paid in DC for less pipe. but no bandwidth capI would like to have a fast line like I do here in the states. like 8mb down and 1mb up with no bandwidth cap. how much?

filjobseeker wrote:hi bigdave,

I'm a filipina and I have some friends looking for a job as live in nanny. as i've read of your post, she will be a great help for you because she have a previous experience of taking care of autistic child. she's very good. if you want you can send Pm to me.

bigdave wrote:nuzbim, thanks for the replies.

Ok so 1600 american dollars a month is only going to get us 1 car? Man thats crazy. did you think I wanted new cars? I was looking at the used cars bmw and mercedes that were around 80,000 to 100,000. With the year range from 2004 on up to like 2007. Used cars will get you that, but more like 2004 or 2005, like a 2005 bmw 5 series is 100-110 dhs, most folks out here never put money down on the car and just get monthly payments, of course you can find 2 cars for your allowance, but most folks come out here and go crazy on their cars.

spring or meadows. ok i will start researching them today. And in that area do they have good schools? couldn't tell you bout schools as i'm without kids for the time being, but there's a school in the springs area that has a huge waitlisting to get into. make sure your company covers it, cause schools out here are expensive and hard to get into

when you were tlaking about the maid and you said the pay is depending how honest you are, does that mean some people treat them like slaves and pay them little? I would need my maid to be very close to my family ect, like eat with us, shop with us, ect... like another family member. yes people treat them badly and underpay them, i think the min for PI maids is 1200-1400 dhs a month, with 1 day off a week. again you'll see how it is when you get here, some folks keep their passports and only pay them 800 a month, so it's all upto you.
thanks for the info on the furniture aswell.

Man that sucks about the tv deal. Why in the world are they a season behind on everything? and are there cartoon channels like disney, nickolodean, cartoon network ect..? there's a bunch of cartoon channels, just bout the only thing i watch on dubai tv, along with discovery channel. but like i said you can download everything, just the next morning. or best yet, setup a sling box, which i've done to watch football and basketball
Man 120 dollars for internet is for the birds. cant believe that. good thing wifes company will pay for it all.

bigdave wrote:Nuzbim, dude you seriously rock. Man I might have to hit you up when we get to dubai to work on this slingbox thing. Would I still beable to use newsgroups over there or would I have to go to torrents. Newsgroups rock. Thanks again

seardarren wrote:Hi BigDave, my family and I are moving out next week and my firm hired a school / relocation consultant to assist us. A few months agao, whilst we looked on our own, we were having a nightmare. All schools were booked solid, because every prospective family paid a deposit on many schools, hoping to have a choice.

Now the school term has started and people have surrenderd their second and third choices, it appears spaces are available. I cant answer the autism requirements however.

Good luck

bigdave wrote:

seardarren wrote:Hi BigDave, my family and I are moving out next week and my firm hired a school / relocation consultant to assist us. A few months agao, whilst we looked on our own, we were having a nightmare. All schools were booked solid, because every prospective family paid a deposit on many schools, hoping to have a choice.

Now the school term has started and people have surrenderd their second and third choices, it appears spaces are available. I cant answer the autism requirements however.

Good luck

Thanks for the reply.
The company my wife works for buys spots in all the schools for there xpats. We have been told there will not be any problems for our children to get in whatever school we want. just have to wait and see if there word is true or not.