The UAE is the best country in the world for expat lifestyle, according to a survey by HSBC.
A chance to secure a better lifestyle is the top reason why people relocate to the UAE showed the survey, which highlights the motivations and challenges faced by those who take the decision to move abroad.
Lifestyle is the prime motivation for 36% of respondents who have relocated to the UAE – a proportion higher than any other global market surveyed.
UAE expat lifestyle
Expat life in the UAE was rated most favourably compared to other markets for increased earnings (36%), family stability (34%), making money go further (37%) and the option of living in a more sustainable environment (30%).
The study was commissioned to understand how, post pandemic, international citizens’ financial lives are evolving, their motivations for moving abroad and the issues they face as they settle into their new home.
Globally, the survey also uncovered some of the difficulties people face when moving abroad as 53%, for example, say they were unsettled by the initial struggle with setting up a bank account or home utilities.
A lack of local credit history was the reason for these challenges say 56% of respondents.
For the United Arab Emirates, these figures are much lower than the global survey’s average at just 44% for both feeling unsettled and citing local credit history as the reason.
Half of all respondents (51% across all nine markets in total and in the United Arab Emirates) say nobody helped them prepare financially for the move, while 70% of all respondents (74% in the United Arab Emirates) said they need help understanding tax implications of overseas investment.
Daniel Robinson, Head of Wealth and Personal Banking at HSBC UAE, said: “The attractiveness of the UAE as a place to live has drawn people from all over the world. While moving anywhere internationally can be a challenge logistically, financially and personally, we see the UAE so highly rated among the categories that matter most to expats.”
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