I was in Saudi. I agree that Indian labourers are treated as labourers in the gulf but engineers and professionals do get good treatment.
It is better to work as a professional in the UAE or the gulf than be a labourer in factories in the GTA.
I have seen that the B.Sc. guys, M.Sc guys, BE guys (most of them who do not know much of their profession) come to the gulf, get experience and money and think that for their knowledge they should be in Aussie land/Canada and then come here. Some come up in life and while others suffer (I am not talking about IT).
Having seen both the world, I feel UAE/ Gulf is better.
Just my opinion and sorry for the tangent.
TK A

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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.

God this place must be a heaven for him .... trust me if dubai is paying such good salaries then everyone wud be here ....

Get into reality . there r people who earn 345 Dhs amonth and survive on that send from that to their families and these people are fotunate if they receive their salaries in time ... some of them have delays for 4 months as well .....

Grasss is always greener on the other end .....

If u do not know anything or are not sure of things then please do not contribute words into this forum as this can mislead lots of human lives as some people will just fall into your words and loose alot in life ....

I live in Uae and both myself and my husband we work 15 hours a day and we make just enough to meet our ends...... we have to pay 15000 USD in RENT each yr and its just for a studio apartment in Dubai and we bills and 5 % tax on ur residential contract all adds up , then the FINESS.... !!!! major thing every yr u will have uneccesarry fines for cars or one of the other etc .....

Talking of the fellow labourers , there are companies who have not paid salaries for 6 months and few weeks ago there was a strike for increasing salary from 245 Dhs to 425 Dhs , a protest of 200 labourers , WHAT HAPPENED U KNOW????? well they were deported due to bringing CHAOS and broke the peace of DUBAI and they were deported without having an increment or having paid their salaries ......

There r people who have been here and have never gone to India as they are not being given annual leaves , salaries and also they have been here for yrs now .... Poor labourers they share one rooom with 12 others and they have sharing bathroom between 3 - 4 rooms soo imagine 50 people in a line to wash n shower....!!!!!!!

U want to read on reality of Dubai for into http://www.7days.ae" rel="nofollow">LINK

This is a website newspaper which realeases mostly true stuff not like sitting over them and not exposing .....

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Nur

Appreciate your efforts to bring certain reality to our perceptions. I've got friends who are going through these problems. Some of them discuss about it and some of them do not.

Well, I got to tell ya, Canada ain't a perfect Shangri La but

- You have something like EI to give you some time to breath when you are in between jobs.
- you have several govt agencies to help you develop your career.
- With Canadian passport, one gets a chance to explore the US market.
- Need not to live on the mercy of the employer who could chuck you out of the country any time he/she wants.
- Rents aren't really crazy like Middle East (People used to live in Basement till they set their foot strong. Basements aren't really bad, utils are paid, rent is low etc., etc., support from the landlord if he happened to be a good friend, I've seen many cases where landlords helped their tenants a lot once a sort of trust is established and it also happens from the other way around, at last it is mutual understanding and well fate).
- More importantly, the environment kids get around here may not comparable to Middle East.
- Much more to add.

Well, the purpose of my post is really not to discourage the life in Middle East. I am very sure, every place has its own advantages and draw backs. But if you put certain priorities aside and focus on the new priorities that evolve, you could draw an equation.

I had several rants about America while I was living there for 8 years and I do have my own for Canada's side but you know it is part of life. Had similar thoughts while living in India briefly. For this reason the concept of Utopia is quite abstract. We got to live with that.

To be honest, I am feeling quite all right here, not just because of a reasonable job I have but feeling confident to survive in case of hardship.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Nur

God this place must be a heaven for him .... trust me if dubai is paying such good salaries then everyone wud be here ....

Get into reality . there r people who earn 345 Dhs amonth and survive on that send from that to their families and these people are fotunate if they receive their salaries in time ... some of them have delays for 4 months as well .....

Grasss is always greener on the other end .....

If u do not know anything or are not sure of things then please do not contribute words into this forum as this can mislead lots of human lives as some people will just fall into your words and loose alot in life ....

I live in Uae and both myself and my husband we work 15 hours a day and we make just enough to meet our ends...... we have to pay 15000 USD in RENT each yr and its just for a studio apartment in Dubai and we bills and 5 % tax on ur residential contract all adds up , then the FINESS.... !!!! major thing every yr u will have uneccesarry fines for cars or one of the other etc .....

Talking of the fellow labourers , there are companies who have not paid salaries for 6 months and few weeks ago there was a strike for increasing salary from 245 Dhs to 425 Dhs , a protest of 200 labourers , WHAT HAPPENED U KNOW????? well they were deported due to bringing CHAOS and broke the peace of DUBAI and they were deported without having an increment or having paid their salaries ......

There r people who have been here and have never gone to India as they are not being given annual leaves , salaries and also they have been here for yrs now .... Poor labourers they share one rooom with 12 others and they have sharing bathroom between 3 - 4 rooms soo imagine 50 people in a line to wash n shower....!!!!!!!

U want to read on reality of Dubai for into http://www.7days.ae" rel="nofollow">LINK

This is a website newspaper which realeases mostly true stuff not like sitting over them and not exposing .....

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The cowards never started,
The weak died on the way,
Only the strong arrived.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yK1i9cLAMM

The topic seems to have shifted its focus from 'Change in Dubai' to 'change from Dubai'

And if the change in Dubai is so displeasing that survival is at stake or one just survives (just like I just survive on my family income of $10K a month), then why don't they change from Dubi. If everyone cannot come to Canada - they can atleast go back to India, specially those people who do not even get 'annual leave' to visit their families or simply recharge their batteries.

To come back to the original topic - I think the change in Dubai is based on what they are learning from Singapore. Dubai has long been copying Singapore and I have heard that the chieftan there has remarked that he will turn Dubai into a better place than Singapore so much so that rest of the world will forget Singapore.

Do you know how much an average 3 bedroom condo in Singapore costs? Anywhere upwards of USD 500,000! A Toyota corrolla? - More than USD 50K. Corporate taxation is around 20% or so - while Dubai has none. Singapore has been known to have converted from marshy lands to a concrete jungle in 20 years. Dubai is doing the same - converting from desert to concrete jungle. Like Singapore it survives on Tourism, shipping and trade. Soon it will start following Singapore and become a hub for conventions, and later may be for education/healthcare by having the best institues and hospitals to serve the rich.

So what if they have chosen to attract the rich? And the rich get attracted only by the price tag and nice service. Why do the rich pay 10K for a suit of Versace, when you can get a nice suit for $500. Just like manufacturers of branded goods have chosen to high price each item to attract the rich, Dubai has decided to do the same - and not become a Wall mart like Canada.

And to do that - one has to create a hype, which is what Dubai is doing right now.

Chandresh

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Chandresh

Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!

As the previous post suggested, the topic has digressed from discussing the hype to comparing Canada and Middle East.

My radar has missed the evolution of Singapore while discussing what is going in Dubai. Very interesting. Its even notable that the countries around Dubai are already rich and prospering while Singapore didn't have such atmosphere.

Chandresh, as a person who has spent good amount of time in Singapore, can you comprehend little more about the prosperity of Singapore.

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The cowards never started,
The weak died on the way,
Only the strong arrived.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yK1i9cLAMM

Everything is relative .

Since this thread has gone lop sided I will try to balance it with my observations of Dubai .

We cannot generalize everyone in the same category as labourers and will have to draw classes and then compare the saving potential .

a. Professionals who are getting good salaries
b.Professionals who are not getting good salaries
c. Labourers and other working class .

If we look above we find that the UAE / GCCs have 80% Indians in the class a , 10% in class b , 10% in class c.

For labourers and semi skilled people who earn <= Dhs 1000/- Dubai is good since they can share a room and still afford to send home twice they would earn at home . They are happy that Dubai has got jobs for them unlike Canada who would not even look at them .

For educated professionals who are getting a good salary Dubai is good as they can live a decent life and save probably more then they would save in India or Canada ( a pro earning >= Dhs 10 K )

These people enjoy a comfortable life , good savings Indian atmposphere , good weather , cheap cost of goods and services and 1 month paid leave and above everything , work in their own fields and pay no taxes .

Chances are that if the same people enter Canada , 50% of them end up entering odd jobs like salespeople , Tim Hortons , security guards and the like . Plus the weather is a struggle as well and the culture is a thing to get attuned to .

UAE is not Saudi Arabia where you have to cover up .Life is quite liberal , goods and services are cheap because of labour being available cheaply(our labour class people) and the Government subsidizing heavily on essential services including food (billions of Dhs ) .Plus the tax holiday.

Crime is much less .How may murders , killings have you heard in past 2 years . And police is effective .

When you are in educated class , you meet educated people more or less so though you do have a 2nd citizenship feeling it doesnt enter into your daily life .

Dubai has got such a strong Indian community that you dont feel out of India and all Indian things freely available including very good food. Plus the kind of business Indians do in Dubai .

Gas is 1/4 th the price in Canada . 1dhs I understand ~ there s a saying in GCC s that oil is cheaper than water .

Yes you do not have as much freedom or permanence as in Canada but you have other factors there . None is the clear winner .

Quite a good number of GCC emigrants return back from Canada and others stay back ..


Rents have gone up in all GCCs since 2000 .Maybe the Arabs have realized that the only way hey can keep money back in their countries is by increasing rents . That they have increased so much rampantly is eye brow raising .

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Fido.

I wish your comments reflected the reality in Dubai cause what you have written doesn't really sound bad situation to live in. You comments reflected Dubai of 10 years ago. It's quite different now. I am not sure if you have visited/lived in Dubai recently.

To start with your categorization, I would say majority will fall in "c" upto 50 %, 30 % in "b" and only 20% in "a".

10 years ago Dh 10,000 was very good salary and any person with family (4 members)getting that salary was a happy man. Not anymore. Its good enough for 2 people. As soon as you have kids its back to struggle phase.

I agree with chandresh's prediction that it will be like singapore soon. And I am sure it will be for people who do business and have money. Not for ordinary people like myself.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Fido

Everything is relative .

Since this thread has gone lop sided I will try to balance it with my observations of Dubai .

We cannot generalize everyone in the same category as labourers and will have to draw classes and then compare the saving potential .

a. Professionals who are getting good salaries
b.Professionals who are not getting good salaries
c. Labourers and other working class .

If we look above we find that the UAE / GCCs have 80% Indians in the class a , 10% in class b , 10% in class c.

For labourers and semi skilled people who earn <= Dhs 1000/- Dubai is good since they can share a room and still afford to send home twice they would earn at home . They are happy that Dubai has got jobs for them unlike Canada who would not even look at them .

For educated professionals who are getting a good salary Dubai is good as they can live a decent life and save probably more then they would save in India or Canada ( a pro earning >= Dhs 10 K )

These people enjoy a comfortable life , good savings Indian atmposphere , good weather , cheap cost of goods and services and 1 month paid leave and above everything , work in their own fields and pay no taxes .

Chances are that if the same people enter Canada , 50% of them end up entering odd jobs like salespeople , Tim Hortons , security guards and the like . Plus the weather is a struggle as well and the culture is a thing to get attuned to .

UAE is not Saudi Arabia where you have to cover up .Life is quite liberal , goods and services are cheap because of labour being available cheaply(our labour class people) and the Government subsidizing heavily on essential services including food (billions of Dhs ) .Plus the tax holiday.

Crime is much less .How may murders , killings have you heard in past 2 years . And police is effective .

When you are in educated class , you meet educated people more or less so though you do have a 2nd citizenship feeling it doesnt enter into your daily life .

Dubai has got such a strong Indian community that you dont feel out of India and all Indian things freely available including very good food. Plus the kind of business Indians do in Dubai .

Gas is 1/4 th the price in Canada . 1dhs I understand ~ there s a saying in GCC s that oil is cheaper than water .

Yes you do not have as much freedom or permanence as in Canada but you have other factors there . None is the clear winner .

Quite a good number of GCC emigrants return back from Canada and others stay back ..


Rents have gone up in all GCCs since 2000 .Maybe the Arabs have realized that the only way hey can keep money back in their countries is by increasing rents . That they have increased so much rampantly is eye brow raising .

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Manjeet Singh