Is Canada a Better Place Than the UAE / Gulf?

[sahilsharma88]

I'm quite surprised by a lot of comments in this thread. A lot of them stem from personal experiences, but many feel to be hearsay.
As a background, I have lived in Dubai for 3 years and in Canada since almost an year (Montreal). I come from a comfortable background in India and worked for Big4 accounting firms in Dubai (Associate to Sr Associate levels) and moved to Montreal with a job in my field and which considered my experience. So, I do believe I can give a fair comparison of two countries - as my experience has not really been marred by negatives in either two countries e.g. issues like racism, poor jobs, or bad employers (UAE is full of them).

Out of the bag, one cannot compare UAE to any country in the world - simply because that country is a bubble in itself. Its very protected, very controlled and the money making potential in UAE is unmatched.

First question is - which is your home country? If it's India, then trust me you are not bad enough. I'm sure India has its own issues (which are not very different from Canada), but if you are earning well in Dubai and can see yourself growing over the next 10 years..then by all means stay put. You will make enough money to lead a comfortable life, if you ever have to move back to India. And India is now a global country - you get all brands, all the facilities and digital services (most cheaper than in Canada) and things should only improve (albeit if we are able to get rid of saffronisation). However, if you are from countries like Pakistan, B'Desh, war torn countries like Syria, Yemen, North African countries - by all means come to Canada and stay here (at least till you get your citizenship).

Now the life. Life in Canada is pretty fucked up. People talk about freedom - to speak, to scream, to dress how you want to be. But honestly who cares? Canada roads are shit, key industries like telecom, banking and insurance are running with the sole purpose to take every penny from the Canadian residents (its like the 2g scam in India but on a whole different level).

People here are talking about long drives in Canada. Yes, I agree that's possible and a lot of nature around but a few caveats. I will try and be as unbiased and comprehensive as possible. Please do remember, I do not gain whether someone moves to UAE or Canada and neither are my country at this point, so request others to not get very emotional about either countries. Remember, in the end whatever works. So here goes:

a) you generally have 5-6 months to travel (its really cold other wise and unless you know how to Skii...not much to do)

b) when the weather is good, you will find traversing within Canada to be extremely expensive. A flight and hotel from Montreal to Banff is gonna be way more expensive than Montreal to Paris. Part of this, again, is Canada's anti-competitive air industry (heavy restrictions on foreign players).

c) Oh when we are on the topic of commute - don't forget about insurance. In Ontario, your car insurance depends on the following - make/model of the car, add-ons, your driving experience, and THE NEIGHBORHOOD YOU LIVE IN. Anyway be prepared to pay upto 300-400$ a month on insurance. Now, say you have got your car, and you're paying this insurance diligently, and have your brother visit you or even your friend in Canada. They have valid driving license and maybe want to borrow your car. Guess what, they can't. If they bang up your car even by no fault of theirs, your insurance will still wont cover you. And if you do approve you let him drive, be prepared for a huge jump in insurance. I know of people paying upto 500-600 in car insurance? The simple reasoning for this is - lobbying by the insurance companies which are more often than not Canadian as foreign players are restricted. So all the best with your cross-country driving (if you're able to afford a car errr.. car insurance that is)

c) you pay for damn everything - even healthcare. Please people - unless you're planning to come to Canada and rely on social assistance or work below minimum wages, you are paying a lot for medical and trust me what you get in return is not the best. Personally for me there is a wait time of 534 days to be appointed my family doctor. What that means is, if i fall sick and need attention, i need to wait almost whole day to be seen by my doctor and then get my medicines. If its an emergency, say you broke your ankle - you will still need to wait a lot of time till you're served. Mind you, you will wait for hours with a broken leg. So that's there for free healthcare.

d) free education is genuinely the biggest factor if you have kids,. You can save tons of money in Canada. And the education level is pretty solid too.

e) the Canadian economy is heavily dependent on the US (even more than Dubai on oil) and this leads to policy paralysis and usually stagnation. Salaries do not increase and they are damn low to start with. Canada is an employers market and you can never expect to get rich by being employed - no matter how much you make. If, however, you're really smart and have the potential to earn like CAD 200k a year, you're doing a disservice to yourself by living in Canada.Go to US or wherever and print money.

An example of the dependence - Canada has huge sand-oil reserves. But refining sand-oil is expensive and low Canadian population and consumption cannot justify the investment in refineries. Additionally, thanks to its geographical location, Canada cannot export to any country on cost-efficient basis. So we sell to US for almost free. US refines it and sells it all over the world for a huge margin. Feel good?

f) Housing. Housing is a mess in Canada - thanks to our Chinese neighbors. They have single-handedly ruined the housing market of BC and Ontario and Montreal is next. Nothing against them, but it again goes on to show how corrupt the Canadian Govt is. My only objective is to inform people that Canadian Govt is no saint. They give a damn about their residents or their interests. They are simply here to serve the corporate and this becomes evidently clear the moment one starts living in Canada. UAE in that instance is way more transparent, even though you lack rights.

All the good things which you hear about - is on the people. Canadians are genuinely wonderful people and believe in socialism and leading a good peaceful life where everybody in the society is treated equal etc. However, they fail to understand that socialism cannot function when every thing in the country is controlled by capitalists. Huge mismatch and great disparity in expectations.

Anyways, short point is its gonna be tough to buy a house here unless you're comfortable with a 4 hr commute each day.

g) Dubai is an urban jungle and there are fines and no parking spots etc etc. Wait unless you come to Toronto. That city simply feels ugly when you compare to Dubai. And I am not over exaggerating. The roads are narrow, downtown pavements taken over by homeless (oh yes you have plenty of them), insane traffic and parking spots are a joke here. No malls have free parking like Dubai and forget free, they are insanely expensive too.

At the end of the day - relocating to Canada is a two way street. Canada has vast uninhabited lands, extreme temperatures, an aging population who need to be fed by immigrant tax dollars. Then there a lot of immigrants who want to move as their home country is either facing economic uncertainty or is too undeveloped. This is the match made in heaven. For almost all others, I believer there are much better options.

Also, for everyone else, UAE now gives permanent residency to its people on meeting either of the three conditions -
a) Having monthly income of AED 20000 i.e. CAD 6300; or
b) own a house in Dubai (and no, you do not need to be a Muslim to own a house in UAE)
c) have an investment of AED 1million i.e. CAD 350k.

I do not find any of the residency criteria to be impossible to achieve. Rather they are pretty less compared to how much one needs to retire in Canada.

 

[canuck78]

I'm quite surprised by a lot of comments in this thread. A lot of them stem from personal experiences, but many feel to be hearsay.
As a background, I have lived in Dubai for 3 years and in Canada since almost an year (Montreal). I come from a comfortable background in India and worked for Big4 accounting firms in Dubai (Associate to Sr Associate levels) and moved to Montreal with a job in my field and which considered my experience. So, I do believe I can give a fair comparison of two countries - as my experience has not really been marred by negatives in either two countries e.g. issues like racism, poor jobs, or bad employers (UAE is full of them).

Out of the bag, one cannot compare UAE to any country in the world - simply because that country is a bubble in itself. Its very protected, very controlled and the money making potential in UAE is unmatched.

First question is - which is your home country? If it's India, then trust me you are not bad enough. I'm sure India has its own issues (which are not very different from Canada), but if you are earning well in Dubai and can see yourself growing over the next 10 years..then by all means stay put. You will make enough money to lead a comfortable life, if you ever have to move back to India. And India is now a global country - you get all brands, all the facilities and digital services (most cheaper than in Canada) and things should only improve (albeit if we are able to get rid of saffronisation). However, if you are from countries like Pakistan, B'Desh, war torn countries like Syria, Yemen, North African countries - by all means come to Canada and stay here (at least till you get your citizenship).

Now the life. Life in Canada is pretty fucked up. People talk about freedom - to speak, to scream, to dress how you want to be. But honestly who cares? Canada roads are shit, key industries like telecom, banking and insurance are running with the sole purpose to take every penny from the Canadian residents (its like the 2g scam in India but on a whole different level).

People here are talking about long drives in Canada. Yes, I agree that's possible and a lot of nature around but a few caveats. I will try and be as unbiased and comprehensive as possible. Please do remember, I do not gain whether someone moves to UAE or Canada and neither are my country at this point, so request others to not get very emotional about either countries. Remember, in the end whatever works. So here goes:

a) you generally have 5-6 months to travel (its really cold other wise and unless you know how to Skii...not much to do)

b) when the weather is good, you will find traversing within Canada to be extremely expensive. A flight and hotel from Montreal to Banff is gonna be way more expensive than Montreal to Paris. Part of this, again, is Canada's anti-competitive air industry (heavy restrictions on foreign players).

c) Oh when we are on the topic of commute - don't forget about insurance. In Ontario, your car insurance depends on the following - make/model of the car, add-ons, your driving experience, and THE NEIGHBORHOOD YOU LIVE IN. Anyway be prepared to pay upto 300-400$ a month on insurance. Now, say you have got your car, and you're paying this insurance diligently, and have your brother visit you or even your friend in Canada. They have valid driving license and maybe want to borrow your car. Guess what, they can't. If they bang up your car even by no fault of theirs, your insurance will still wont cover you. And if you do approve you let him drive, be prepared for a huge jump in insurance. I know of people paying upto 500-600 in car insurance? The simple reasoning for this is - lobbying by the insurance companies which are more often than not Canadian as foreign players are restricted. So all the best with your cross-country driving (if you're able to afford a car errr.. car insurance that is)

c) you pay for damn everything - even healthcare. Please people - unless you're planning to come to Canada and rely on social assistance or work below minimum wages, you are paying a lot for medical and trust me what you get in return is not the best. Personally for me there is a wait time of 534 days to be appointed my family doctor. What that means is, if i fall sick and need attention, i need to wait almost whole day to be seen by my doctor and then get my medicines. If its an emergency, say you broke your ankle - you will still need to wait a lot of time till you're served. Mind you, you will wait for hours with a broken leg. So that's there for free healthcare.

d) free education is genuinely the biggest factor if you have kids,. You can save tons of money in Canada. And the education level is pretty solid too.

e) the Canadian economy is heavily dependent on the US (even more than Dubai on oil) and this leads to policy paralysis and usually stagnation. Salaries do not increase and they are damn low to start with. Canada is an employers market and you can never expect to get rich by being employed - no matter how much you make. If, however, you're really smart and have the potential to earn like CAD 200k a year, you're doing a disservice to yourself by living in Canada.Go to US or wherever and print money.

An example of the dependence - Canada has huge sand-oil reserves. But refining sand-oil is expensive and low Canadian population and consumption cannot justify the investment in refineries. Additionally, thanks to its geographical location, Canada cannot export to any country on cost-efficient basis. So we sell to US for almost free. US refines it and sells it all over the world for a huge margin. Feel good?

f) Housing. Housing is a mess in Canada - thanks to our Chinese neighbors. They have single-handedly ruined the housing market of BC and Ontario and Montreal is next. Nothing against them, but it again goes on to show how corrupt the Canadian Govt is. My only objective is to inform people that Canadian Govt is no saint. They give a damn about their residents or their interests. They are simply here to serve the corporate and this becomes evidently clear the moment one starts living in Canada. UAE in that instance is way more transparent, even though you lack rights.

All the good things which you hear about - is on the people. Canadians are genuinely wonderful people and believe in socialism and leading a good peaceful life where everybody in the society is treated equal etc. However, they fail to understand that socialism cannot function when every thing in the country is controlled by capitalists. Huge mismatch and great disparity in expectations.

Anyways, short point is its gonna be tough to buy a house here unless you're comfortable with a 4 hr commute each day.

g) Dubai is an urban jungle and there are fines and no parking spots etc etc. Wait unless you come to Toronto. That city simply feels ugly when you compare to Dubai. And I am not over exaggerating. The roads are narrow, downtown pavements taken over by homeless (oh yes you have plenty of them), insane traffic and parking spots are a joke here. No malls have free parking like Dubai and forget free, they are insanely expensive too.

At the end of the day - relocating to Canada is a two way street. Canada has vast uninhabited lands, extreme temperatures, an aging population who need to be fed by immigrant tax dollars. Then there a lot of immigrants who want to move as their home country is either facing economic uncertainty or is too undeveloped. This is the match made in heaven. For almost all others, I believer there are much better options.

Also, for everyone else, UAE now gives permanent residency to its people on meeting either of the three conditions -
a) Having monthly income of AED 20000 i.e. CAD 6300; or
b) own a house in Dubai (and no, you do not need to be a Muslim to own a house in UAE)
c) have an investment of AED 1million i.e. CAD 350k.

I do not find any of the residency criteria to be impossible to achieve. Rather they are pretty less compared to how much one needs to retire in Canada.

Dubai is beautiful and new but was only really built in the past 20 years so everything is new and because migrants workers were exploited and paid almost nothing. I also encourage people to look at what they are making in other countries because it often doesn’t make sense to move to Canada.

 

[sahilsharma88]

Dubai is beautiful and new but was only really built in the past 20 years so everything is new and because migrants workers were exploited and paid almost nothing. I also encourage people to look at what they are making in other countries because it often doesn’t make sense to move to Canada.

I do agree with you. On public infrastructure, of course Canada cannot compete with any Asian powerhouse. Asia is new money and as expected everything new.

But how about comparing to European cities? They have similar taxes, lower population and are old cities as well. However, their public transport, roads, medical facilities, telecom and banking facilities are miles ahead of Canada.

And lets not talk about exploitation of migrant workers. I see similar mal-practices in Canada as well. We have a huge population of able-bodied Canadians, who chose not to work and live on social assistance which is paid by us. While there are hard working people not paid enough and are asked to rely on tips. Which leads to the mandatory tips on everything even when you are not satisfied with the service staff. Its absurd. Also, things have improved a lot in UAE with respect to blue collar worker treatment. You need to understand that they might be earning less in Dubai compared to a Canadian blue collar worker, but thats maybe 10x more than what they make in their own country. A person earning more than CAD 1.73/day is considered above the poverty line in India. Go figure!

Also, a lot of the immigrant blue collars i have spoken to, don't really complain against Dubai. They complain about recruitment agents in theri home countries who took charged them insane commission on getting the job and made false promises. Does this sound similar? Yes. Walk into any of the immigration consultancies in Punjab, India and you will get the answer. From fake marriages to fake work experience..the scams are endless.

So of course the human rights are much better in Canada (its a G7 country after all), but also i have never seen so many beggars or homeless people sleep on the road. ( This again is not limited to Canada. Europe has them as well)

 

[canuck78]

I do agree with you. On public infrastructure, of course Canada cannot compete with any Asian powerhouse. Asia is new money and as expected everything new.

But how about comparing to European cities? They have similar taxes, lower population and are old cities as well. However, their public transport, roads, medical facilities, telecom and banking facilities are miles ahead of Canada.

And lets not talk about exploitation of migrant workers. I see similar mal-practices in Canada as well. We have a huge population of able-bodied Canadians, who chose not to work and live on social assistance which is paid by us. While there are hard working people not paid enough and are asked to rely on tips. Which leads to the mandatory tips on everything even when you are not satisfied with the service staff. Its absurd. Also, things have improved a lot in UAE with respect to blue collar worker treatment. You need to understand that they might be earning less in Dubai compared to a Canadian blue collar worker, but thats maybe 10x more than what they make in their own country. A person earning more than CAD 1.73/day is considered above the poverty line in India. Go figure!

Also, a lot of the immigrant blue collars i have spoken to, don't really complain against Dubai. They complain about recruitment agents in theri home countries who took charged them insane commission on getting the job and made false promises. Does this sound similar? Yes. Walk into any of the immigration consultancies in Punjab, India and you will get the answer. From fake marriages to fake work experience..the scams are endless.

So of course the human rights are much better in Canada (its a G7 country after all), but also i have never seen so many beggars or homeless people sleep on the road. ( This again is not limited to Canada. Europe has them as well)

Don’t think you can complain about homeless people on the street compared to India. In Dubai you will either get deported or locked up somewhere if you attempted to live on the street.

Have you been to a hospital in most of Europe recently? Many places are certainly worse than Canada. There are also lots of infrastructure issues although not often in the areas where tourists may visit of the central business district. Public transportation is better because the cities are more compact and were built before cars where as most Canadians cities where built and expanded assuming most would drive a car. That is why we have such a big problem with urban sprawl.

Don’t think most migrant workers are loving their livings working in Dubai often outside in the heat and returning to a bunk they share with 20 roommates. They just don’t have other opportunities and are stuck so getting some money is better than nothing. Same things with domestic workers. Many work long hours daily without any rest day, are usually not paid very well and are very often physically abused and potentially raped. There are some nice families who value their domestic workers but that is the minority. Can’t see how exploiting migrant workers is related to people staying at on welfare when they are capable of working. The welfare rates are so low so people should want to work if they are able to. There are issues with people being on welfare when they could work in every country where welfare payments exist.

Not saying that Canada is perfect but you can’t compare life in Dubai compared to Canada. UAE is a very young country so they will and have a lot of citizens will want to enter the work force in the well paid industries. This will very slowly impact industries.

 

[sahilsharma88]

Don’t think you can complain about homeless people on the street compared to India. In Dubai you will either get deported or locked up somewhere if you attempted to live on the street.

Have you been to a hospital in most of Europe recently? Many places are certainly worse than Canada. There are also lots of infrastructure issues although not often in the areas where tourists may visit of the central business district. Public transportation is better because the cities are more compact and were built before cars where as most Canadians cities where built and expanded assuming most would drive a car. That is why we have such a big problem with urban sprawl.

Don’t think most migrant workers are loving their livings working in Dubai often outside in the heat and returning to a bunk they share with 20 roommates. They just don’t have other opportunities and are stuck so getting some money is better than nothing. Same things with domestic workers. Many work long hours daily without any rest day, are usually not paid very well and are very often physically abused and potentially raped. There are some nice families who value their domestic workers but that is the minority. Can’t see how exploiting migrant workers is related to people staying at on welfare when they are capable of working. The welfare rates are so low so people should want to work if they are able to. There are issues with people being on welfare when they could work in every country where welfare payments exist.

Not saying that Canada is perfect but you can’t compare life in Dubai compared to Canada. UAE is a very young country so they will and have a lot of citizens will want to enter the work force in the well paid industries. This will very slowly impact industries.

I thought the whole idea of the this thread to compare life between UAE and Canada. I see a lot of people then digress to comparison with India.

First thing first - we are in most cases talking about express entry where people usually with some level of professional experience and skills apply. Most of these applicants, I presume are not living in bunk beds and working in the heat (actually we all do face heat as we face -30 in Canada).

For these applicants, I am not sure if they are scared of getting locked behind bars or sexually assaulted. I am not sure when was the last time you visited UAE, but its not the same strict Sharia governed city anymore. Yes, if you do something stupid, you will get into trouble. At least, I in my 3 years of living there haven't found anything too fundamental or restricted (i had a live-in with my GF, kept alcohol at home, and did everything i do here in Canada).

Yes, I have been to a hospital in Europe, especially in a remote village in Spain, where no one knew English and it basically had the same issue as here - wait and wait and wait.

Okay, Montreal is a pretty old city and trust me its a mess. Secondly, going by your logic, as Canada was built later and around cars, I am surprised to see the mess that is Toronto - where driving a car is a living nightmare. All lanes are usually one-way, cramped on the sides, real dearth of parking spaces etc.

Finally, I am in no way dissing Canada, I live here as well and I'm living a happy and peaceful life. But the reason for that is people of Canada. they are really polite and genuinely open minded and free. Other than that, everything else is at best below-average. There is huge wage stagnation, rising living expenses and ever reliance on taxing the rich instead of opening up the economy to foreign players.

It has taken all the negatives of the Dubai economy - 4 local banks, 3 local telcos, 2 airlines, handful of big retailers - absolutely no competition in any key industry.

 

[canuck78]

I thought the whole idea of the this thread to compare life between UAE and Canada. I see a lot of people then digress to comparison with India.

First thing first - we are in most cases talking about express entry where people usually with some level of professional experience and skills apply. Most of these applicants, I presume are not living in bunk beds and working in the heat (actually we all do face heat as we face -30 in Canada).

For these applicants, I am not sure if they are scared of getting locked behind bars or sexually assaulted. I am not sure when was the last time you visited UAE, but its not the same strict Sharia governed city anymore. Yes, if you do something stupid, you will get into trouble. At least, I in my 3 years of living there haven't found anything too fundamental or restricted (i had a live-in with my GF, kept alcohol at home, and did everything i do here in Canada).

Yes, I have been to a hospital in Europe, especially in a remote village in Spain, where no one knew English and it basically had the same issue as here - wait and wait and wait.

Okay, Montreal is a pretty old city and trust me its a mess. Secondly, going by your logic, as Canada was built later and around cars, I am surprised to see the mess that is Toronto - where driving a car is a living nightmare. All lanes are usually one-way, cramped on the sides, real dearth of parking spaces etc.

Finally, I am in no way dissing Canada, I live here as well and I'm living a happy and peaceful life. But the reason for that is people of Canada. they are really polite and genuinely open minded and free. Other than that, everything else is at best below-average. There is huge wage stagnation, rising living expenses and ever reliance on taxing the rich instead of opening up the economy to foreign players.

It has taken all the negatives of the Dubai economy - 4 local banks, 3 local telcos, 2 airlines, handful of big retailers - absolutely no competition in any key industry.

There are certainly tons of abuse going on in Dubai but not in the higher wage earners. Yes there are certainly issues in Canada but the same thing could be said in Dubai. Your employer could decide they don't like you and you could have to leave righr away, the country could decide to change their policy on expat employees at anytime, etc. All companies in Dubai could decide to eliminate a benefit like not to pay for housing, flights home, etc. Just saying you are comparing countries that are similar at all.

You were the one who said European hospitals are better. I see that you now agree the are the same and sometimes even better I believe depending on where you are comparing.

 

[chinju]

We are comparing APPLES and ORANGES here. They both serve a purpose - nutrition; but in their own way.

Comparing one with the other is fine. But what is important in doing so is understanding what aspect are you comparing and why are you comparing it.

I have been working in the UAE for quiet sometime now. I have also lived in Canada, USA and UK for a relatively short periods of time.

UAE - first up is the best country to live in as far as the Middle East is concerned. But, the life this country offers - comes with a set of rules.

Everybody knows this country offers high living standards IF you measure up to a certain income level. This feature, however, is inherent in any country that you pick on the globe. So if there are people who fall below certain income group - you will fall in a different bracket as far as living standards are concerned which may not be as attractive as others. UAE as such is not to be put on a spot for this because this is plain economics.

The country does have some preset standards when it comes to employment. Example: Local Emiratis/Arabs are always the stakeholders in any sphere and domain (99%). Then you will generally find Caucasians (Europeans/Americans/Australians) at the top of the food chain (Management or Executives) followed by the Middle east immigrants - Egyptians, Jordanians etc (Senior Managers/VPs). The South east Asians such as Indians, Srilankans, Pakistanis etc then follow up and make the working class. At the bottom of the pyramid (general cases) are Filipinos, Pashtos etc who make the labor segment. There is no rule book that specifies this. But this is the pyramid the whole society falls into if you look closely. The downside is that even before you start you know its only so far you could probably go as far as the economic ladder is put. But then - you also need to look into the geographical and socio-economic background that these segment of population come from. For example - an American or a European will most certainly NEVER complain about 'citizenship' because they do not intend to spend the rest of their lives in this part of the world. Money is probably the only stimulus as far as they are concerned. The exact same goes for Filipinos/Pashtos at the bottom of the pyramid because their expectations coming in to the country are only so much.

Its mostly the working class towards the middle of the pyramid, the ones in a constant need to progress and catch up economically with the upper segment of the triangle who fall into the zone of uncertainty. This leads to higher expectations under the circumstance where the rules, which may not always agree with you, have been clearly laid out in the first place to begin with.

Therefore the basic aspects to consider here are LIVING and LIFE.

Its pointless to talk about racism, favoritism, biasness, social insecurity etc because its prevalent in every country in the world. If I face ONE instance of racism living in a given country I could brand it as a racist society. But that only applies to me or in most cases to a given percentage of people who agree with my views. Truth can be different.

UAE is a country where LIVING aspects are more focused upon. And with LIVING - follows bills and due dates. Rents are high. Education is expensive. Books are expensive. Healthcare is expensive. But they all generally match up to the price when it comes to quality and service. Its a different point altogether that you may not have an option to settle for something within your wallet whereby you will be financially shelling out more than you may have been willing to. As far as employment is concerned - as I plotted the pyramid earlier - you have to make peace with it. That is why you choose to continue to live in the country. Period. On weekends - you could take a trip to a mall; then to another one; then another one until you've come full circle. Then you stop. And then you start again. At most, you would be touring abroad on a couple of occasions annually but apart from that there is only so much activities you can do while you live in this country.

You could buy a house in certain freehold areas but the prices are mostly exorbitant and you wont find something to fit your wallet even if you could afford something at a lower price range because that aspect is generally missing. Even if you could buy a house - you are on an 'Employment' Visa. For some reason either you or the employer decides to part ways and you will be the one left in a situation.

That is why people generally come in to the UAE with a certain level of expectation of achieving an economic goal and then sooner or later head home. That is all to it. Whether you would like to make peace with what the country takes in return from you and be happy is your choice.

Living in any western country is where LIFE comes into picture. And it is the most prevalent as far as Canada is concerned. It offers you Social Security. It offers you citizenship. And both come at an above average standard of living. You are not tied to your employer. You can choose to innovate your financial objectives and the means to achieving them (within the confines of the law). You could invest in property and you have varied options in price range. You could visit places within the country. Children have an opportunity for better extra curricular growth which are more than iPads and Xbox consoles. The country has its 'Education System' It does not lean upon other educational institutions and governing bodies to setup domestic curriculum (as in the UAE).

You will generally end up in a lower income slab in Canada (at least during initial period) than in the UAE. UAE wont apply taxes to your income but that in a way is one stimulus for the ever increasing expense to income ratio in the country. Canada will tax you. But it will also provide you with an 'opportunity' for social stability.

You have to understand these aspects which account for more than 'savings' and 'exchange rates' in the long run.

Just read this message and was useful for me, we are in a decision making stage Living in Abu Dhabi now.