Adjusting to living in Dubai

Whether you’ve come to Dubai for business or pleasure, this city always has something new to offer. This is an ultra-modern, fast-developing city that welcomes visitors from all over the world. At the same time, the Dubai lifestyle incorporates many traditional elements of the region that it calls home. If you’re working in Dubai, you’ll find that there are plenty of great places to learn about the culture in your off time. This not only builds an appreciation for what the city has to offer, but also has real benefits for those doing business in Dubai.


The Basics

Dubai is one of the six original states that joined to form the United Arab Emirates in 1971. The UAE now includes seven emirates along with Dubai. The capital is Abu Dhabi.

The nation has a legal system that blends civil law that most Westerners will be familiar with along with Islamic law. The government is a constitutional monarchy with a president and vice president elected by citizens. The current president is Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Approximately nine million people call the UAE home. The nation’s official language is Arabic, but many different languages are spoken through the USA, including Hindi, Urdu and Persian. English is widely used as a trade language and, in fact, the nation got its independence from the UK in 1971, demonstrating some of its western ties.

According to the CIA World Factbook, the largest industry in the nation is the oil and petrochemical industry. Real estate is also a very active sector in Dubai, with the city being home to some of the most notable structures in the world. According to the same source, around 85% of the workforce in this nation is made up of expatriates.

Culture

Dubai is an international city and the residents are mostly practiced at accommodating people from all over the world. The residents of this city do have religious freedom, though Islamic law is a part of the culture, as well.

If you’re living in Dubai or working in Dubai, you’ll find plenty of resources where you can go meet people, learn about the local culture and, in doing so, open up new opportunities to really understand how unique this city is. The Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Centre for Cultural Understanding is one of the best places to do this. They open visitors from other nations with open arms and provide wonderful ways to learn about Dubai, from the city’s intensely modern recent history to its traditional and incredibly fascinating past.

There is plenty to do in Dubai, but simply living here is one of the most memorable experiences that visitors are likely to have. There are few places in the world that offer a business environment that is firmly in the 21st Century combined with a rich history, both modern and ancient, that has so much to offer. Visitors will soon find out that they are most welcome here and, in fact, that much of the city is really built with the intention of accommodating citizens of all nations in the world.