Dubai? Extremely bad advice unless you deeply understand the sometimes “crazy” implications of their Sharia based laws e.g. debts:
The UAE has no bankruptcy laws, so there is no protection for those who fail to meet their car repayments, pay off their credit cards or default on their mortgage, even accidentally.
Anyone who fails to make their payments faces imprisonment in the notoriously tough prisons of the United Arab Emirates, and the Sharia-influenced debt offences have even led Interpol to circulate red alerts to capture indebted Europeans attempting to flee the UAE.
There have been previously recorded cases of foreign workers being prevented from leaving the Emirates after being blacklisted for simply missing one credit card payment or bouncing a cheque. As a result, many expats are forced to abandon their lives to avoid jail time, often with their car keys still in the ignition.
I would bet they fixed their information systems, and you couldn’t now leave if you happen to screw up.
Don't forget the 0% tax lowering the probability of bankruptcy significantly while living expenses are on par to a regular German city... Most of those expats you mentioned simply wanted to live above their means.
> Most of those expats you mentioned simply wanted to live above their means.
Actually, I had a friend working there as a nurse who bought property to live in, and they were underwater for a while. They were not stupid: it was an easy and normal mistake to make given their background (mortgages are not thought of as jail material at home, I’m not sure if they were warned of dangers).
I expect there are other unknown serious “gotchas”, because you are not a citizen in Dubai. You could easily be treated the same as the third-world working imported labour, and the legal system there can heavily penalise non-citizens.
Yeah: 0% tax is nice, but personally I think it is not worth it to live in a crappy place and there are hidden costs. Been there for a week just to have a good look around: fucking hated how people were treated there - weird economy.
https://www.carkeys.co.uk/news/the-story-behind-dubais-aband...