Anyone ever live in the Middle East?

Bahrain wouldn’t be the worst of the Middle East places but not the most forward thinking either. You can still get locked up for sex out of wedlock in Dubai ffs and that’s the best of them. Living in a place like that wouldn’t have any draw for me.
That said a good friend of my missus taught in dubai for two years and loved it. As fran said she got to hit a lot of places in Asia on weeks off and that kind of thing.

well i have kev israel and a stint in qatar oil contracting that wasnt really living per se 28ONOFF rotate
i lived in israel for 4 years- now this might suprise many people but its probably the most sane part of it
i think it depends where ure living , if ure at oil or contracting ull be with expts most of the time if in arab countries
arabs, look ive written enough here on them no im not blinkered because im married to one at least she’s christian ( they do exist in israel - Leb and syria)
a westerner i believe cannot live amounsgt arab moslems we can be as PC as we want but by fuck they are impossible,
the worst part of them is the pride and saving face culture, they are very primiative socially, i have said here that democracy can never work in an arab country and it cannot for the simple reason they cannot take part in reasoned debate, everything is personalised and they are hyper sensitive, they are a horrible agressive bunch,
the poor mouthing of their situation is also annoying, the worst i ever met were the palestinians, i understand and appreciate their issues and why they’d have a chip on their shoulders but ive never met a lazier, bitterer , angrier , nastier group, id played soccer with a few and i hated their guts, sneaking, dishonest, lying, thieving bastards who refuse to better themselves
arab culture also is very ego inflated , again this comes from the saving face aspect, they cant engage in discussion and they have zero sense of humour or ambiguity, a very frustrating bunch, again its all about getting one over your neighbour, they’d cut your hand off for the last bottle of milk in a shop, the cant form a queue, autism amougsnt arabs is an everyday occorunce as all sit in aroom shouting…
kev, they’re not for you man, i had decent arabic 3 years ago, ive lost it now

kev, if you were doing that gig in bahrain i guarantee you its either security work or youre living in a westerners compound, u will have 0 dealings with the locals id imagine and will be paid in dollars, a form of relo per se, like ull never be able to buy a house in an arab country id imagine as the laws are fucked up…
ull socialise in a closed group, itl drive you mad

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A fair few inter county footballers can’t kick a ball straight so don’t be too hard on your buddy .

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S&C in some big school

I know a good few from Galway in Dubai, add i know a girl from kerry who lives in Saudi. They all seem to just live in an unrealistic expat bubble, great money and they are always at the races, drinking in hotels or around the GAA club etc, but zero contact with locals or the world outside their mini fantasy lands. Sounds like hell to me.

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surely an expat school with a fee paying all western clientele
look u could have a great time, but ull again only deal with westerners on relo expt lifestyles, dont expect to see any culture of experience too much different , u wont be bar hopping with the locals in doha anyway

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israel is the only middle eastern country ( also lebanon… well …) where you can actually live amoungst the locals
that saying, u couldnt live in an israeli arab moslem city like saknin, u could live in haifa that is mixed, ( u wont make money tho on local wages) and if you lived in the west bank ud eventually by killed or kidnapped by hamas or something
there is no way u could just rock up in saudi and rent a gaff and live amoungst the locals, simply no way

To be honest they want some form of commitment to finalizing whatnot in interviews/skype chats etc before giving me exact details. Prestigious school with an exceptional salary, first year rent free (i think onsite ir nearby).
Didn’t mention cultural stuff. Just that soccer is big.

A friend of mine has been in Abu Dhabi a few years. He went there to earn good money for the most part and also likes to travel and has used it as a base to see some of the region. His accommodation is paid for by work, a room in a big house with other westerners. The money he earns is also tax free. Still and all after three years there he hasn’t a bob saved up. There is nothing there to do socially. Every weekend a bus of them go up to Dubai for two nights and he’d tag along often enough. You’ve to drink in hotels or casinos only. He said he’d drop 400-500 on the weekend between hotel and eating/drinking money. I suppose if you went over there and lived like a hermit you’d earn good dough in two years. He’s miserable over there as well. The initial novelty has worn off and the reality is its a bubble where you mix with other ex pats and no-one else. The women go around in hibjabs or whatever the full body black veils are called. He’s invited me over anytime but fuck that I know I would despise it and fear I would do something wrong and get locked up.

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If you lived in the middle east for a few years and came back to Ireland with a wad of money, would there be taxation implications when you repatriated the dosh?

Depends on residency/ordinary residence days rules. In a clean example, if you leave Ireland, at 31 Dec, do not spend longer than 30 days per annum in Ireland in the period you are absent, the money you bring home from salaried employment is non taxable.

Obv, most people leave during the year. If you are non resident (less than 183 days in that year) and non resident the following year, your employment income is again non taxable. Income outside of employment income is still subject to Irish income tax.

Can get a little more complex than that but that’s the general jist of it.

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So would the income I earned by backing Pogba to score Wed night be subject to tax? Cunts if so.
How about winnings from the stock market based on calling 10 of the last 2 bear markets?

Depends how you earned the money. Stocks/ equities subject to CGT. If its spread betting, that’s gambling and not subject to tax. If it’s CFD’s I’m not sure on the rules there but at a guess I think they would qualify as taxable, not sure tbh.

When is the next bear market going to bite? S&P and Dow close to all time highs…

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Also you are probably non resident, non ordinarily resident and non domiciled at this stage, so none of the cash you bring home would be subject to Irish tax.

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Late summer I think. We are very elevated on a small and declining number of names. It could zoom higher in fits and starts but first confirmation of a recession we will drop like a stone. Another 50% down I’d say.

I spent a couple of years in Navan. Twas fine

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@caoimhaoin - know loads that have gone to various parts of the region teaching. Overall sense is that it’s great as 20 something as most drink the shit out of it and then take one year to save their holes off. It’s ridiculously expensive and to save you’ll have to live a low key lifestyle…if saving isn’t your goal you can travel all over the region and see a lot but it will be fairly sanitized I’d say.

Are you brining a lady with you? You won’t be able to live together if your not married and she will have a lot more cultural issues to worry about. You’ll also have a few things to learn about dealing with members of the opposite sex over there but you probably won’t deal with many. Overall it’s the culture that will get to you…You’ll have your Irish and GAA to keep you going but your always going to be in a country where the people look at you as a heaten and have some horrible cultural differences/laws.

I personally couldn’t do it for more than a year but each to their own etc

You’d pay the standard 45% idiot tax

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You couldn’t pay me enough kev I don’t think. I’d consider one year, but it’d turn you into an oddball I reckon, if you spent longer than that. It has to be an entirely mercenary decision. It woukd be 100% about the money you could realistically bring home afterward.
Not for me.
Mickee has the best take on it.
Abu Dhabi would be the best of a bad lot (well I was approached about working there by an ex colleague two years ago, and he painted a rosy picture, but he’s a Pakistani albeit westernised Muslim)
I was offered flights home regularly, big tax free wage, free accommodation, and free boarding school fees for the kids.
Still nowhere near worth it.
I’d consider my last working year there maybe, but tbh, I’ll more likely go to Oz or Canada for a year before heading home, if I don’t half move home meantime.
You’ve a decent business now I presume. You’d be mad to go imo, unless herself was desperate to get nearer home.

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