Which job offer should I choose in UAE?

interleukin · Mar 8, 2012

Which one do you want?

chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Mar 8, 2012

I spent a great deal of time working in the Emirates. In my case, things were great, since my employer paid for my hotel, meals and transportation. Things are not so great when you have to pay these out of your own pocket.

My advice to you is to be very certain about both the job and your employer. One job you mention is with ADNOC, the state-owned petroleum company. They have a number of facilities, mostly in Abu Dhabi but there are 7 emirates - Dubai and Abu Dhabi are only the two most well-known. It is fairly expensive to live in the UAE, though the world economic recession may have served to reduce housing costs. You don't say whether the salaries you reference are weekly or monthly. If they're monthly, I would urge you think seriously about working nearly anywhere but the UAE: 5,000 dhs per month is only about $1,350 and in my view, you will be very hard-pressed to survive on that kind of money. In fact, even if that's a weekly salary, you will not be living the high life.

One of the jobs you mention includes housing and board. I'd urge you to find out what the housing is like and how the food will work. There are many foreign worker settlements in the UAE at which the housing ranges from poor to unlivable. Any food associated with these places is unlikely to be acceptable.

I would also make sure you can live in such a hot climate. Summer temps in the Emirates can range upward of 130F/49C. Temps in the evening do not drop enough to make life without a/c bearable. And it's hot from June through Sep. Make sure you are OK to work and live in conditions like this.

Keep in mind that, you will not be allowed to leave the country if you have debts of any kind. And you can build a debt without knowing it. This would mean for example, that if you lived in employer-provided housing and decided to return home without finishing your contract, you would owe your employer rent for the time your were there. Same for your food and maybe other things you're employer may have provided, There are lots of pitfalls like this.

The bottom line is that you need to be very careful about accepting employment in the UAE. Caveat emptor.

ivan_aldrich · Mar 9, 2012

Thank you very much sir. Very informative. Based from your comment, I will be living in a poor condition there if I will choose option #1. Well I think I have to turn down both options. I have read in blogs and forums that option #2 is a scam. Yes OPAS were able to send nurse to UAE but only 5 out of 50 nurses. The processing is 1 year. And many from there are already licensed nurses but cannot go to UAE. I think I will wait for the government hospital there to have a vacancy. They offer high salary, free food and accommodation. I should not be in a hurry in working abroad. Thank you very much

Nurseadam · Mar 29, 2012

Are you American? those salaries are so low for a U.S. citizen if you are... I would never work for a 5,000 Dirhams as an american traveling to dubai. If you aren't a U.S citizen and don't have a passport, i guess the job with better salary is the way to go.

I've lived in dubai, and 5000 isn't much to spend, it's really expensive there.