Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Expat life

hasan al fardan

Fintechs having ‘no impact’, says remittances CEO

Fintechs are no threat to the UAE-based remittances company Al Fardan Exchange, its CEO Hasan Al Fardan has declared. Al Fardan said there was no intention to drop fees to compete with finance technology startups. To date, he said, fintechs have had “no material impact on our business or our operations. We are hitting record […]

Expat remittance from Saudi Arabia rose 11 percent month on month in May 2024

Expat remittances from Saudi rise 12% to $3.4bn

Expat remittance from Saudi Arabia jumped by 12 percent year on year to SAR12.6 billion ($3.4 billion) in May, according to the Saudi Central Bank (Sama). Remittances rose 11 percent month on month, or SAR1.3 billion, in May, the central bank said. Globally, remittances to low- and middle-income countries grew by an estimated 3.8 percent […]

Patients from the GCC are travelling to India, Thailand or Egypt for cheaper medical treatment

Affordable healthcare in the GCC: a prescription for profit

The GCC’s affordable healthcare market is ripe for investment, research suggests, as patients are forced to travel to India, Thailand or Egypt to find cheap treatment. Low-income inhabitants make up about 38 percent of the Gulf’s total population, according to Mansoor Ahmed, executive director for healthcare at Colliers Middle East in Dubai. The proportion ranges […]

Evening shoppers in downtown Riyadh. A lack of prime residential properties in the city is a growing problem

Expats scramble for housing in Riyadh

Saudi Arabia’s historic development push – and an influx of foreign professionals looking to play a part in it – is putting the spotlight on a dearth of prime residential properties in the capital Riyadh. High-quality homes are snapped up, often finding tenants before or within days of getting listed, said Sujith Chandar, Saudi-based Emea […]

Russians Turkey Istanbul Bridge

Russians rush from Turkey as costs and restrictions bite

Rising costs, increased difficulties in obtaining residency permits and tighter enforcement of restrictions on the number of foreign nationals who can live in popular regions are prompting an exodus of Russian citizens from Turkey.  The number of Russian nationals holding Turkish residence permits has plunged to just over 96,000 as of May 16, down from […]

An apartment near a beach in Dubai is unlikely to appeal to Brits, according to property experts

What Dubai’s united nations of property buyers want

When purchasing a property in Dubai amenities are important to Brits, while Indian buyers are all about the return on investment, according to real estate experts. Last year Dubai recorded 1.6 million real estate transactions, a record 17 percent year-on-year increase, according to data from the Dubai Land Department. The demand comes from a largely […]

As part of his March budget, the UK's Jeremy Hunt announced plans to abolish the country's 200-year-old non-dom tax status

UK’s non-dom shake-up to attract high earners to Gulf

There is likely to be an influx of expats and returning nationals to the Gulf as a result of the UK’s abolition of non-domicile tax status from April 2025, experts told AGBI. ‘Non-doms’ live in the UK but claim to have a permanent residence in another country, so they do not pay tax on overseas […]

Construction cranes tower over the Grand Mosque in Mecca, as a pilgrim kneels in prayer

Super-rich Muslims seek homes in Saudi holy cities

Wealthy Muslims are keen to take advantage of golden residency visas in Saudi Arabia to buy nearly $2 billion of property in Mecca, Medina and Riyadh, according to new research.  Just over 500 high-net-worth individuals from nine countries with a sizeable Muslim population – Algeria, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore and Turkey – […]

Public sector jobs have traditionally been preferred by Emiratis, but the Nafis programme seeks to change those perceptions

UAE to invest $1.7bn to place more Emiratis in private sector jobs

The UAE is aiming to add 36,000 Emiratis to the private sector workforce this year and has approved a $1.7 billion budget to support Emiratisation. The number of UAE nationals working in the private sector was about 92,000 by the end of 2023, according to the Emirati Talent Competitiveness Council. Nearly 42,000 joined private businesses […]

shared rental Dubai apartment

Hope at last for Dubai expats seeking a shared rental home

Shared rental accommodation for expats in Dubai, something previously difficult to offer because of rules against subletting, is being developed by a company called Co-Living Legends, working with developers and landlords. Co-Living Legends was set up in 2021 to help female expats find house-share rental options in Dubai.  House sharing is well established in markets […]

Dubai property mortgages rents The value of mortgage approvals in Dubai is soaring like a skyscraper as tenants seek refuge from higher rents by owning their own homes Video length: 07:13

Dubai mortgage surge as tenants flee rent rises

There was a 40 percent increase in the value of home mortgage approvals in Dubai last year despite climbing interest rates, with tenants seeking to get on the property ladder to dodge rising rents, according to new data. Not since the 1980s, when the US Federal Reserve tried to curb inflation, have interest rates shot […]

Breast cancer screening at a UAE hospital. An increasing amount of retiring expats in the region are in need of health insurance

Zurich Middle East plots growth on needs of expats

Zurich International Life, the Middle East division of Switzerland’s Zurich Insurance Group, is expanding its core business in response to rising demand from expatriates.  With expats staying in the region for longer, there is a growing need for products and services such as life insurance, workplace savings plans and critical illness cover. There is also […]

Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s lower retirement thresholds of 60 years old for both men and women

Saudi Arabia should raise retirement age, study shows 

Saudi Arabia should raise the retirement age to create a sustainable pension system and institute other much-needed improvements, according to a study released this week.  The Global Pension Index by Mercer, a New York professional services company, ranked Saudi Arabia – the leading Arab economy and world’s biggest oil exporter – at 28 out of […]

Expat employees in the UAE traditionally leave with a "golden goodbye" bonus. But this is starting to change

Expats in UAE get ready to leave ‘golden goodbye’ behind

The “golden goodbye” has long been a staple of UAE office life. Expat staff are handed a lump sum by their employer when they leave, based on a percentage of their salary and length of service.  But the practice is starting to change. More companies are looking to set up workplace pension and saving plans instead.  […]

Passengers on the Ain Dubai wheel look out over Palm Jumeirah – now a popular spot for Russian property investors

Russians snap up plots of land to build ‘Little Moscow’ in Dubai

Russian investors in Dubai are working to become real estate developers or acquire clusters of homes to build “Little Moscow” communities in the emirate. Buyers from Russia have become big investors in Dubai property since sanctions imposed on Moscow locked them out of European and North American markets. The UAE has also become a key […]

Baseball United CEO Kash Shaikh (left) launches Dubai Wolves and Abu Dhabi Falcons, the first professional baseball franchises in the Gulf

Baseball ready to strike home run in the Middle East

When the opening pitch is thrown at Dubai International Stadium in November it will signal the official start of the first ever professional baseball league in the Middle East and South Asia. And the power broker behind the ambitious project hopes the 25,000-seater venue will be at least a quarter full to mark the inaugural […]

Ritesh Agarwal, seen at a SoftBank event in 2019, founded Oyo in 2013

Oyo expands to meet expat demand for Abu Dhabi flats

Indian hospitality chain Oyo is adding 2,000 apartments to its offering in Abu Dhabi as demand grows for expat housing. The furnished units will be available for long-term rent and many will be located in business districts such as Khalifa City, Al Zeina, Al Raha, Al Reem Island, Al Reef and Al Mushrif. Other apartments […]

Aldar's Faisal Falaknaz said overseas buyers were becoming homeowners in Abu Dhabi

Aldar targets China as sales to overseas buyers balloon

Aldar Properties is working to attract more Chinese customers as it reports a fourfold increase in sales to overseas and expat buyers for the first half of the year. “One interesting demographic we are starting to see is the Chinese,” said Faisal Falaknaz, group chief financial and sustainability officer at the Abu Dhabi developer. “It […]