More young professionals and start-ups are choosing Dubai as their home – with newly relaxed visa rules and a fast vaccine programme among the key drivers.
The National spoke to the founder of a German homeware brand, a British software company, and a Lithuanian travel agency, along with other digital remote workers who made the move.
Several visited during the height of Europe's winter lockdowns and have now decided to return.
“There were a lot of people who came here last autumn and stayed for several months because of the restrictions in their own countries," said Fred Roeder, managing director of London-based Consumer Choice Centre.
Dubai is experiencing a tectonic shift at the minute, with more highly skilled professionals starting to call it home
Fred Roeder, Consumer Choice Centre
“There was nowhere else to go that offered the same freedoms in Covid times.”
Now many of those visitors are making the move permanent.
"Dubai is experiencing a tectonic shift at the minute, with more and more highly skilled professionals starting to call it home," he said.
Mr Roeder, a respected health economist, produces a regular global resilience ranking of how well countries fared in the pandemic, which last week ranked the UAE second in the world.
It also recognised the Emirates for performing significantly better with its vaccination campaign than European Union countries.
The campaign, which delivers doses to people of all ages at the same time, means new arrivals can get the shots as soon as their visa residency documents are ready, which typically takes three or four weeks.
“Even though there is a lot of freedom you still see people sticking to the rules, you don't see as many people in other countries keeping their masks on," said Mr Roeder, a German who now too is based in Dubai.
The government's decision to grant resident visas for working remotely make it an even more desirable location, especially for younger people.
The most recent figures available, from Dubai Tourism in late March, show 1,700 people had applied for its remote working visa - the application link is here - with most accepted. For the first time, it allows people to live in the Emirates and work for a company abroad that has no base here.
In addition, 16,000 foreign travellers opted to take advantage of the city's free visa extension in January, Dubai Tourism's chief executive Issam Kazim told CNN Travel. Traditional visa routes working for domestic companies, self-employment and founding a start-up business are still popular.
German homeware founder finds a new home
Berlin resident Hanna Achilles-Auferoth, 34, plans to make the move to Dubai soon.
“I was there from February to April and now plan to move there permanently soon,” said the founder and chief executive of Achilles Berlin, a luxury lifestyle and homeware company.
“Dubai is an extremely attractive proposition for an e-commerce entrepreneur.
“When I was there I saw how easy it was to work remotely. I was impressed by how it was open for business meetings in restaurants, which was not something I could do in Germany.”
Ms Achilles-Auferoth already has one of the new remote work visas. The nature of her business means her employees do not need to be based in one location.
“We have a team of 10 but we all work remotely around the globe,” she said.
“It’s a very attractive prospect to be based in Dubai.”
Dubai's sunshine beats a Lithuanian winter
Edmundas Balcikonis relocated to Dubai in December to work temporarily while his home country, Lithuania, was under lockdown.
Mr Balcikonis, 34, runs a travel software firm called Eddy Travels, and despite the disruption caused by the pandemic, found his stint in Dubai was successful.
He plans to return to Lithuania soon to tie up loose ends before making the switch to Dubai permanent.
“Nothing was happening anywhere except in Dubai, so I decided to work from there instead of being in lockdown by myself at home,” he said.
“Being able to go to business meetings in person gave me great confidence in the market here.
“It made me decide to make the move to Dubai full-time.”
UK resident Edward Batrouni, 41, stayed in Dubai – working remotely – with his wife and two children, from December to April.
“We ended up staying longer than we first expected,” he said.
“My company has offices globally and Dubai is a perfect hub for me to operate from.”
He now plans to return and make it his family’s permanent home.
"I knew the UAE was at the forefront of innovation and were digitising as many processes as they could," said the founder of software company Zenitech.
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Company%20Profile
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Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Points to remember
- Debate the issue, don't attack the person
- Build the relationship and dialogue by seeking to find common ground
- Express passion for the issue but be aware of when you're losing control or when there's anger. If there is, pause and take some time out.
- Listen actively without interrupting
- Avoid assumptions, seek understanding, ask questions
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Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The Bio
Ram Buxani earned a salary of 125 rupees per month in 1959
Indian currency was then legal tender in the Trucial States.
He received the wages plus food, accommodation, a haircut and cinema ticket twice a month and actuals for shaving and laundry expenses
Buxani followed in his father’s footsteps when he applied for a job overseas
His father Jivat Ram worked in general merchandize store in Gibraltar and the Canary Islands in the early 1930s
Buxani grew the UAE business over several sectors from retail to financial services but is attached to the original textile business
He talks in detail about natural fibres, the texture of cloth, mirrorwork and embroidery
Buxani lives by a simple philosophy – do good to all
