Cost of Living in the UAE- updated

I’m updating this because I have had a few emails from people who are bringing families over, people want me to include gym membership costs (they are on another post on this blog but I agree should be included in this one too) and also because the cost of living in the UAE is rising while salaries remain stagnant. This can be seen in the rise in the cost of apartments in Sharjah and Ajman- which used to be considered cheaper places to live, now they are not far off prices in Dubai

Also there are new costs being added every day, this includes ID cards, housing fees and ridiculously high cooling charges, usually incurred by the tenant.

This is a much more inclusive post than the previous one, it includes petrol prices, housing fees and Salik. For your information, the UAE has one of the highest costs of petrol in the gulf; in Saudi Arabia, it’s less than half the price we pay!

The positive news is more companies are expected to hire in the coming months after the lethargy of the last few years, so that should help boost the job market.

Please note, am not an accountant and maths is certainly not a strong point but this time am working on AN AVERAGE of the cost of rent in 3 emirates. Costs like Salik only apply to Dubai, so take that cost off if you’re living in a different emirate (Note: People living in all Emirates will need a Salik tag if you visit Dubai)

Things to note out of interest:

• Getting a small car in the UAE, like a Toyota Yaris is quite affordable (about 1800 dirhams a month) however it’s certainly not advisable. This is mainly because most people here have enormous cars and drive like they’ve never been taught- it can be quite a harrowing experience in a small car. A small SUV like a Hyundai Tucson, Honda CRV, Lexus RX should work fine.
• Using the metro is only convenient if you have an hour to spare getting into work and live near a metro station- homes in Mirdif, Motor City, Arabian Ranches are not close to a metro station and would make the journey into work extremely difficult
•  Paying your rent can be quite difficult, since landlords insist on four cheques a year. Some landlords insist on the entire rent amount at the start of the year- don’t fall for this; this used to be common practice pre-2008 but its not anymore. You can do it in 4 cheques; it still hurts though, when 20,000 dirhams goes out of your account every three months. And note: Unless you’re with an Islamic bank, they will not take kindly if the money isn’t in your account when its supposed to be. Try not to bounce a cheque in the UAE, it could land you in jail.
• With the cooling charges, usually its the tenant foots the bill, it’s high. These are just averages- you will have to pay a supposedly refundable deposit (I’ve never got mine back) as well make as a monthly payment
•  Similarly there is a 5% supposedly refundable deposit on the flat you take, the landlords I’ve had in recent years have only ever refunded me the smallest dividend back for ‘repairs’
• Register as a tenant with your land department, if you don’t they may not be able to help you when there is an issue with the landlord or a dodgy estate agent
• As always, if there is anything you would like to know, feel free to email me, hope I haven’t left anything out! Let me know if I have!

·      All prices in AED

Expense	Cost Per Year	Emirate
Rent-Studio	38,000	Dubai
Rent-Studio	45,000	Abu Dhabi
Rent-Studio	35,000	Sharjah
Rent-One Bed	50,000	Dubai
Rent-One Bed	60,000	Abu Dhabi
Rent-One Bed	48,000	Sharjah
Rent-Two Bed	62,000	Dubai
Rent-Two Bed	75,000	Abu Dhabi
Rent-Two Bed	60,000	Sharjah
Rent- Villa	120,000	Dubai
Rent- Villa	180,000	Abu Dhabi
Rent- Villa	90,000	Sharjah
	Cost per month
Groceries Single	2,000
Groceries Family	4,500
Lights and Water	300
Housing Fees	400
Car	2000
Petrol	800
Salik	400
Internet, TV	600
Cleaner	500
Entertainment	2000
Gym Membership	400
Monthly Cooling	550
Rent Deposit	5 % of annual rent
Cooling Deposit	2000

UAE Vs The World

Okay the blog this week was supposed to be a rant at customer service- but then someone from the UK tweeted me (@Audiomonkee) saying they’re coming to visit to Dubai-and wanted to know what is and isn’t allowed in the UAE. I replied saying ‘normal things’ are allowed, having only 160 characters.

However, I do think it’s brought up an important point. The UAE, while it does have random idiosyncrasies, is also one of the most liberal places in the region. Yes, there are rules and regulations, but as far as I know, all societies are made up of certain rules. In the UK you can take pictures of government buildings, in the Ukraine you can’t. In Malia, you can have sex on the beach, in Dubai (and mostly everywhere else in the world) you can’t.

The UAE has got some bad rep recently, thanks to some frisky Brits and equally frisky tabloid papers, which is why I hope I can help you make an informed decision about the country. Firstly the couple infamous for their sexual exploits on the beach would have been breaking public decency rules in pretty much most of the world and an insider has told me that the couple who were charged for kissing in a restaurant were warned numerous times before they were dobbed in.

The UAE bases a lot of its rules on a culture based on a mixture of Islam, Gulf culture and the nomadic and pearl diving heritage it has. Because of the set up, women and men tended to have different tasks and did tend to be separated from each other in a lot of situations. This is something that has stuck, but does not mean the female population here are downtrodden. In fact, Emirati girls are higher achievers than the boys at school and university. This week, I met two who were convinced that there’ll soon be more Emirati women in the UAE cabinet than men, they say like everything, it needs time to help perceptions change, and they are right.

Consider the fact that the UAE is forty years old on December 2^nd, England is hundreds of years old-yet in England only around 22 percent of women make up the parliament today, while a very similar number of women are in government in the Emirates. In the UK, the first woman elected into parliament was in 1919 after the war, in the UAE, women were in parliament since parliament existed. This is an excellent article by two women I have interviewed many times

http://www.dsg.ae/PUBLICATIONS/PublicationDetail.aspx?udt_826_param_detail=501

Around 40 years ago, there were less than 50 cars on the UAE’s dirty, sandy roads…and today it’s got over 400 skyscrapers and a few million cars and an annoying but quite advanced toll system.

The point I’m getting at, is the UAE is a relatively young country and it will make mistakes but its positives outweigh the negatives by far or so many of us expats will not live here.

Of course there are a lot of rules I, and many others, don’t agree with; for example this week a girl was fined 300 dirhams for falling asleep on the metro. When I called the RTA to ask why, the simple answer was it’s a rule. Another metro story, earlier in the year, a colleague of mine was fined for running in the metro station, when I contested it with the police officer, he said the train comes every 8 minutes, just wait and be patient.

Those rules really infuriate me, just like all the bureaucracy it takes to do something simple like cancel a visa or move jobs, but at the same time living here is easy, its safe and there is a strong cultural awareness. Children here are very respectful of older people, to the point I can always tell if an expat has been born and raised in the UAE or their home country.

So, yes, getting back to my point...walking around showing overt public displays of affection are frowned upon, but I don’t really know any society where this is actually okay. I’ve been on buses in England where people do their best to look everywhere but at the couple who are trying to swallow each other’s tonsils at the front. It really isn’t pleasant, whether or not you’re a prude and I say hallelujah to a government that fights for my rights to look all around a bus and have a tonsil-free view.

Things you need to know

This post will cover four short topics that you really need to know if you live here.

Paying Fines

Getting fined for traffic offenses in the UAE is quite a regular occurrence for a lot of people…mainly because they don’t stick to the speed limit. Paying them is quite simple and the government has been lenient on people who owe thousands of dirhams-some of them have been pardoned and others have been given the option of installment payments.

In Dubai you get two different authorities that can fine you, the RTA (For issues like parking) and the Police (for issues like speeding). The good news is you can pay both types of penalty at either office. There is also an online facility, which makes life incredibly easy. I have included the sites below. I’ve made sure they work, so if they don’t, please let me know on feyaza@gmail.com

These are the online sites for the 3 most important emirates:

Abu Dhabi

http://www.adpolice.gov.ae/en/Portal/e.services.aspx

Sharjah

http://shjpolice.gov.ae/en/index.html

Dubai

http://www.dubaipolice.gov.ae/dp/jsps/home.do?switchLanguage=en&noCache=1320981524980

(The Dubai website has a ‘most-wanted’ section on the home page, which is quite fun…they’re mostly Europeans at the time of writing)

What to do in an Accident

If you ever meet in car crash-whatever emirate you’re in and however minor- you must always call the police. The officer will come out to you (within an hour depending on traffic) and will determine who caused the accident. Usually the person who has caused the crash will be given a 200-400 dirham penalty for being so ridiculous.

Your insurance details will be taken and depending on the circumstances, you may have to go with your crash-partner to the police station.

If your car has been damaged-whether you caused the crash or not, you will also have to visit your insurance office and determine how much excess you will have to pay and where to send your car, they very rarely sort this kind of thing on the phone.

In the cases of crashes with damage to your car, expect around 3 days of hassle.

Salik Toll

Salik was introduced in Dubai to curb the traffic, at first these ‘gates’ were remarkable, for four dirhams, you passed through with ease and bypassed all the other cars. Then everyone decided they don’t mind paying Salik and if you now try going to Deira at 5pm using Sheikh Zayed Road, you will be stuck in manic traffic coming from Abu Dhabi. Same goes for the opposite route in the mornings. (Also, they’re not really gates, they’re more like square arches that use Radio frequency technology, so its all automatic; your Salik tag is charged every time your car passes through one of them)

There are four Salik toll-gates-two of which are on Sheikh Zayed Road and one on the way to the airport. They can be avoided by using other roads, I know lots of people who never pay Salik, but you still need a tag.

You will never be charged more than 24 dirhams in a day and if you take less than half an hour to pass from one to the other gate on Sheikh Zayed Road, you’ll only be charged once.

You can get a Salik application form at some banks or you can apply online. It costs about 100 dirhams- 50 of which is credit. It’s one of the easiest things to do. You’ll need ID and car registration card. This is the website

https://customers.salik.ae/app/RegisterOnline.aspx?culture=eng

Please note, you will be fined if your salik tag isn’t fixed-starting at 100 dirhams and then doubles every time you cross a gate. Also, if you don’t have enough credit on your tag, you will be fined 50 dirhams every time. However, you do get 4 ‘free’ passes before you’re fined for no credit. Since your mobile phone is registered to salik, you’ll get an SMS every time your pass by a toll without credit. I haven’t tested this out but have heard that if the credit is topped up within two working days, the penalty will be waived.

E-gate

Getting an e gate card, is the easiest thing ever and has changed my life. I haven’t waited in an immigration queue at a UAE airport for years. It costs 200 dirhams and needs to be renewed every year. You will need to physically go to the offices in the airport, DNATA buildings or DNRD yourself, since your picture and fingerprints will need to be taken and officials will have to see you are who you say you are.

It takes about 10 minutes in total, and your card will be issued in front of you. You will then be able to bypass the queues use the e-gates at any airport in the emirate.

Please note you should always take cash, and the prices may change so bring enough.


EDIT: As of January 2012, you can link your e-gate card to your ID card; just take your ID card to the DNATA offices, pay the fees and voila.

I haven't decided what to talk about in next week's post as yet, but am considering a rant on customer service in the UAE, and how to maintain your sanity. 

Getting a Emirates ID Card

 If I remember correctly, the first mention to the public of ID cards happened sometime in 2008.

The idea was to have super card that will eventually link bank accounts, health logs, drivers licenses, traffic fines, e gate cards etc and will massively contribute to the ease of the nation. It’s also more convenient for the government to have the records of its mostly-expat population, so in the event of death, for example, it will be a quicker and more convenient way for the government and families to deal with the situation of closing bank accounts and other records.

However, over the past two or three years, the application deadlines for expats and nationals have changed constantly to accommodate the apathetic attitude of the public to the cards. This was partly due to the fact that the online registration form did not work very well (You had to download some type of software to go with it and if you made a mistake you needed another form and would then have to download it from a different computer, it was slightly crazy), the ID card centres were always insanely busy and some government departments and banks had no idea what an ID card was. Dubai’s RTA had also made things easier for people who didn’t have an ID card saying it wouldn’t make it mandatory for people applying for drivers licenses etc to have an ID card.

As a result, the government has had to take a more hard-line approach to get people signing up to the card, it announced more achievable deadlines and also fines for people who didn’t sign up by that time.

The deadlines are separated between UAE nationals, government departments, each emirate and people who already have ID cards and need to renew them. I’ve attached a sheet with information regarding the deadlines, as you will see some deadlines have already been passed. People who have missed their deadline will be fined 20 dirhams per day to a maximum fine of 1,000 dirhams.

If you’ve just arrived in the UAE and are applying for a visa, your HR department should also set up an Emirates ID application for you since the visa and ID card application is now linked.

I hadn’t applied for my ID card till this week and only then because I was writing this blog (Even though I know the process I wanted to experience it) I think the main reason for my procrastination was possibly because of the queues. I had forgotten however that women in the UAE don’t really need to queue. The first part is really easy; you hand your passport over to a reputable typing centre (some are in the ID card centres but can get full very quickly) they fill in a form for you. This could take up to a day depending on how busy they are and the fees will be up to 400 dirhams at the typing centre.

You should get an sms before your appointment (I got mine the day of my appointment and had I not already known when it was thanks to the typing centre, it would have been a mad scramble)

When I got to the ID centre (I went to Al Barsha), there were about 40 men in a queue and my heart sank since we were apparently supposed to collect a ticket before heading to the appointment. This is a bit strange since you shouldn’t need a ticket to tell you when to go for your appointment since you have already been given a time.

Of course, since I was female I didn’t have to wait in the queue and someone very kindly scanned my document from the typing centre and handed me a ticket. Still, what a pointless hassle for the men! A friend says its because they need to check your documents are in order, but I honestly think this could be done during you ’appointment’

After that though, smooth sailing! You wait for your ticket number to be called, head to the appropriate desk and get your fingerprints and a picture taken. And then you’re done. The ID card should take around 6 weeks I’ve been told.

This is the Emirates ID website which may be of some use http://www.emiratesid.ae/en/process-and-fees/registration-process.aspx

Thank you for the positive and kind comments on Facebook and Twitter and please recommend my blog to people who are moving to the UAE.

As always if you have any questions or comments, please email me or comment below and I will do my best to help.

Next week, I’ll do a number of small topics and bunch them together Paying Fines, What to do in an accident, Salik Toll and e gate.