Summer temperatures all year long, everyday life between paradisiacal pool bars and luxurious shops, a neighborhood made up of lots of like-minded people: for many people, Dubai represents the perfect place to start a new life. Every year around 1,500 Germans emigrate to the United Arab Emirates, which also includes Dubai. They all dream of a better life, more self-determination, freedom – and probably also of fewer taxes.
Many of the motivated emigrants return after just a few months. The reasons are varied, but in most cases the gap between expectations and reality was probably too wide. But there are also those emigrants who enjoy life in the emirate. The emirate’s population now consists of 85 to 90 percent immigrants. Anthony Canty and his partner Nina Noel are also included.
The ex-basketball player and the influencer emigrated from Hamburg to Dubai with their two sons two years ago. However, the decision had little to do with the goal of saving taxes, as the two told stern: “To be honest, life in Dubai is so expensive that that’s not really an argument.” The couple is alluding to the high cost of living in Dubai. The residents don’t actually pay taxes, but they do pay many fees that don’t exist in Germany.
Each company license and registration costs around several thousand euros, and the residents have to pay for pension and health insurance themselves, as well as for kindergarten and school education. According to the Numbeo database, all other living costs in Dubai are 6.8 percent higher than in Berlin. Life in the Arab Emirate is expensive, especially for families. “We and our family pay around 15,000 euros a month – and that’s a good average,” calculates Nina Noel.
So it’s not the money that makes Dubai so tempting. But what is it then? The weather was one reason for moving to the desert metropolis, especially the always blue sky. “There is also extremely good education, the childcare ratio in the schools and kindergartens is very good and the children automatically come into contact with different cultures thanks to the international clientele of the schools,” says Nina Noel, who is currently expecting her third child.
Because there are so many misunderstandings and misconceptions about emigrating to Dubai, the 35-year-old founded the agency “Dubai Emigration” together with her partner. Together with their team, they support private individuals and companies in their new beginning in the city of superlatives. But what actually fascinates people so much about life in a metropolis of three million people that seems to be striving for more and more luxury and is repeatedly criticized for human rights violations?
“A big aspect that speaks for Dubai is the feeling of security. Even if I walk through a deserted alley in the dark, I don’t feel afraid here,” says Noel. She notices every time in Germany that this is not a given. “Many women there think carefully about whether they should walk alone at a train station in the evening or which corners of the city they should avoid. In my two years as a woman here, I have never received a single stupid comment.” The actress feels very respected – and free – as a woman in Dubai.
So is the actually strictly religious emirate becoming more liberal and open with the many international residents? This is an impression that many influencers spread on social media. They appear revealing in public and post bikini photos from one of the many pool bars. But that is just one of the realities of life in Dubai.
15 percent of Emiratis live in Dubai, for whom stricter rules usually apply. For example, men are allowed to be married to multiple women. The lives of these women are likely to be very different from those of the emigrants. Immigrants like Noel and Canty live in different parts of the city than workers or locals. Parallel societies emerge. “We enjoy spending a lot of time in our garden or meeting up with friends within our community,” the two say. What Noel experiences as a woman does not necessarily apply to all women in Dubai.
It is also part of the couple’s reality that almost everything can be delivered: the hairdresser comes to the house, purchases are conveniently delivered to the front door and the nanny looks after the children when the entrepreneur duo has professional obligations. “In Dubai, everything is designed so that you can concentrate on the positive things in life if you have the necessary change,” is how the emigrants sum up their new lifestyle.
“Of course we miss our families sometimes, it would be nice if my brother’s children could play with ours.” However, they don’t travel to Germany more often because of this; the two of them tend to encourage their family members to also move to Dubai. But through their consulting work they also know that emigrating is not for everyone.
“Many people don’t feel like it, but I think most are simply afraid,” says Canty. Emigration is actually always a win. “Even if you realize after a while that the new place isn’t it, you haven’t failed. In most cases you can go back and be richer in life experience.” But this requires determination and courage. In the case of Dubai, in order to emigrate you also need a job in the emirate or regular income from your own company as well as a permanent residence in Dubai – and of course the necessary change.
According to the influencer couple, there is currently no better place in the world for them to live. For them, the public criticism of their chosen homeland – the accusations of modern slavery, homophobia and utopian growth at the expense of the climate – plays no role. The couple focuses on the positive side of the Dubai vibe: “The people who come here just want more out of life and are willing to do a lot to get it. It’s contagious,” says Anthony Canty. And perhaps it is precisely this striving for more that makes the popular Arab Emirate so magical.
Sources: Human Rights Watch, Dubai Emigration, Federal Statistical Office
