My mom lives there working for Lifescan. She travels the world, often to Africa, teaching about diabetes. As I’ve visited her often, sometimes for months at a time, and worked there for the summers, I can say if you’re going to move to a Middle Eastern country Dubai would be the one to choose. It’s an incredible place, diverse and well-governed, plenty to do, see, and the country’s definitely on the rise. Downsides include traffic and heat during the summer.

I’ve only visited Dubai for short periods of time, but I completely agree with the answer above. At the time, I was travelling in and out of Iraq, so I was always happy to get back to Dubai. The heat and traffic are horrible, but those are the only drawbacks that I see. It’s the most Western country in the region, and is considered to be the shopping capital of the world. I would live there long-term, depending on the circumstances.

I lived in the UAE for two years. I worked for an ad agency and my wife taught an American school in Jumeirah Beach (Dubai). Dubai is a very forward thinking and cosmopolitan city, although living there can get expensive. We lived in Sharjah, the next big emirate where it is much cheaper to live with all of the same ammenities. Going to Dubai was easy (although I hear traffic has gotten pretty bad in the last year). Working in Dubai was easy because everyone speaks English, and most companies employ expats – which makes being there more comfortable. I would definitely recommend working there, the beaches, golf, tourist activities, shopping, festivals and food are all paramount to my awesome experience in the region. I will go back soon to show my son where he was born, but I won’t go in the summer. It gets up to 50 degrees celcius!