Bye Bye Dubai ! Is it better to stay in Dubai or move to Canada? www.waka.ng

Dubai is a 5 Star Hotel Stopover
Ravi Punjwani
, lived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2009-2016)

I moved from Dubai to Canada, and I’ve never looked back.

If your goal in life is to make more money and live an easy, luxurious lifestyle, stay in Dubai.

If your goal is to “feel” secure knowing that you are a citizen of a first world country, move to Canada.

The only people who have both these things are the Emiratis, which you will never be. You will always be an expat.

This is why after being born and raised in Dubai for 33 years, I decided to move to Canada.

In my opinion, there are two types of expats in Dubai:

Expat A: Those who moved to Dubai as citizens of a first world country. Their objective is – Stay in Dubai for 5–7 years. Make more money, tax free. Pay off the mortgage early. Go back to home country to raise their family, mortgage free.
Expat B: Those who moved to Dubai as citizens of a third world country. Their objective is – Stay out of our home country because it’s corrupt, overpopulated and polluted. But be a remote patriot. Make more money than we never dreamed of making as middle class. Cross our fingers, and hope our situtation and health allows us to meet the work visa requirements needed to stay here for as long as possible.

Even though I was born in Dubai, I inherited my parent’s third world nationalities.

I was the worse kind of Expat B.

I had no knowledge of how to live in the country I was a legal citizen of. Never lived a day there, didn’t understand any culture or customs. So I could not see myself living there under any circumstance.

But the day that came that either me, my wife, or two kids, did not meet the conditions to live in Dubai on our work visas, we’d have to leave.

If I was single, I would have continued to live with that risk. With family, I personally was not willing to take that risk.

Then I asked myself is “Can I see myself growing old in Dubai?”

I looked to my parents, who lived in Dubai for 50 years. The seeds of Dubai’s boom were planted by folks like my parents in the 80s-90s. They will now be the first generation of retiring expats.

They couldn’t afford (or get) private health insurance in Dubai at their age.

My dad got sick. We had no choice but to send him back to his home country for medical care. We could not be with him because we had our own families back in Dubai/Canada, and we had to work our days jobs to pay for that care.

He eventually passed away, alone in a hospital bed.

Now my mom has retired. She’s had to move back to her home country, as she cannot afford the medical care she needs in Dubai. My in-laws will follow.

So here we are, one, big, happy, separated family. I’m in Canada, my mom and in-laws in India, brother in-law in Australia, siblings in Dubai.

This is, in my experience, what typically happens with families that choose to live in Dubai.

I don’t want that for my future.

I want to grow old with my kids and my grandkids. I don’t want them to feel the guilt I feel, not being with my parents when they age.

Some may say “Why struggle in Canada for most of your life, when you can have it easy in Dubai?”

I had the same thought. But after several months of soul-searching, I chose to take on the struggles of Canada in order to secure me and my kids future. As a silver lining, I’ve had to become a much better person to manage those struggles, learning new things to do on my own, and hustle like never hustled before to make it, while still having time for family.

Now, if I ever choose to go back to Dubai, I will be Expat A.

As for my kids? I don’t know what the future holds for them. Who knows, maybe they will choose to move to Dubai in their 30s!

At least they know they will always have a real home to come back to, with their dear old dad.

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