Rakess and general info on RAK

Hi Matt,

That's great, thank you for sharing your insights.
We are so excited to get started and discover the many unknowns of living in a different culture and climate!

I am sure we will all get to know eachother quite well over the orientation period and the next few years. A very exciting chapter lies ahead.

Ali

Hi everyone,
I would advise you all to leave your electronics such as TV, stereo and other appliances at home. It will save some weight in your luggage/shipping and thus money
All this kind of equipment is rather cheap over here and resells quite well when you leave.
Have a nice day
Arlette

Dear Feeacer,

My thinking is that it will be a bit of a logistical nightmare acquiring all the goods we need shortly after arrival without transport and alone with a one year old as my husband will star t work the week after we arrive and so am prepared to pay a little extra to have our goods delivered to our door? Is my thinking silly? Will it be easier to  find and get things delivered  than I anticipate? Its going to be cheaper to ship our goods than buy new ones. What would you suggest?

Many thanks
Ali

Hey Matt.

How was the sense of the school when you were skyping? Man, sounds like you are well organised and on it. I better get myself sorted asap. Time is approaching.

Boon

Hi All,
Hope you are well. I was just thinking about the driving situation when we get there. I know initially we will be in taxis but then eventually I would like to own a car and drive myself. Im just confused because apparently we need visas which may take months which may require a visa run and then medical tests and then international driving driving licence and so on and so forth..Can somebody please clarify the procedure please!?

How are people preparing? Keep posting!
byebyexx

Hey,
      How are you? I've no idea about driving lol but preparations coming along nicely. Everything sorted just need to pack up and go now . Got my E ticket for flights this morning xxx

Regards
Donna

Hey Donna

I'm good thanks! Hope you are too! Got my e tickets yesterday! but am still waiting for paperwork to come back from offices and stuff and then its just packing up I suppose.
Any more news on registering children in the school or which curriculum to go by?

Speak soon, take care!

Hey ,
    That's good news. You should contact the school about school places ASAP as the classes are filling up fast .
I've decided to continue with the British Curriculum .
Speak soon
Donna

aliwise wrote:

Dear Feeacer,

My thinking is that it will be a bit of a logistical nightmare acquiring all the goods we need shortly after arrival without transport and alone with a one year old as my husband will star t work the week after we arrive and so am prepared to pay a little extra to have our goods delivered to our door? Is my thinking silly? Will it be easier to  find and get things delivered  than I anticipate? Its going to be cheaper to ship our goods than buy new ones. What would you suggest?

Many thanks
Ali

Hi Ali, please keep in mind that in UAE shopping hours are completely different from elsewhere : mornings most shops only open at 10 but remain open very late in the evening (really late )
Only supermarkets such as Spinneys (8 am), Carrefour (9 am) open early.

This should help!

As long you don't have your resident visa, you can rent a car and drive with an international driving licence or maybe even with your home driving licence (the latter to be checked however).

Feeacer,

That is very helpful and definitely changes things. Thank you!

Rgds
Alison

Hi everyone,
    Hope we are all well. I'm just wondering about purchasing a mobile phone or sim on arrival. We are on contracts in the UK which obviously will end once we leave. If we have an unlocked phone can we easily purchase a UAE pay as you go sim to be going on with so we can send texts and call home until we are sorted .
Do UK pay as you go sims work even if we just use it for a short while.
Just curious which option would be best . Any ideas anybody ?
Regards
Donna

Good point! I went to phone shop and they said an unlocked phone with a local sim is the way to go. Other options are just far too expensive. Feeling a bit of a lul at the moment. Need to ignite the excitement of moving, maybe its just the rain.. Speak soon.

You were all right, getting the flights confirmed gives you a real reality check!!

Regading phones I would recommend Etisalat rather than Du prepaid cards.

Thought I would add this if it applies to anyone.  If you bank with HSBC, you can set up an account in the UAE before you go.  We have set up a savings account with a debit card attached so we could send money over before we leave,  It is then easier to change that to a current account when you have your residence visa, also HSBC will transfer you credit history over with you so that should make it easier to get credit!!

Many thanks, that's a good tip!

I went in to our bank (HSBC) to ask about that sort of thing and they didn't know anything about it!  They suggested I open one with them when we get out there but it may be easier to do it here as you suggest.

I was told about it in my branch in Gloucester.  it costs £100 if you have a normal account and £50 if you have an advance account.  If you have an advance account, in theory you will get an advance account in the UAE.  You just need to make an appointment with the international banking centre who you can get in contact with through Internet banking.

This info is very helpful! Thanks all!

hey all,
hope the preparations are going well. I had a bad experience with HSBC and was wondering about any other banks which we will be available to use on arrival. I have still to finish my paperwork but other than that I suppose am waiting. What is everyone else doing?

Hope you are well, speak soon
Bye!

I seem to recall reading in the last available staff handbook that a lot of the staff get accounts with the RAK bank? We're getting there with the paperwork and preparation but I think it will really kick off in July, as many of the arrangements need to be done about 4 to 6 weeks before you want them to come in to effect.

We will have to start our ebay-ing before then though!!

We are with Emirates NBD bank since sept 2008 and never had any problem with them. On the contrary their banking system is very reliable and if they would seem to notice any unusual operation, .they would call straight away to check it out.

But yes RAKESS are on RAKBank so it might be better to open an account in that bank to facilitate the transfer of your salaries.

has anybody started the countdown yet?

Yes!!!

Me too !!!! xxx

Us 2 too!!!!
Tickets have arrived, not Visas yet!Do you folks have your Visas?

We have the days and weeks to go on our family calender!

No visas yet, the FCO didn't recognise the Notary that signed Domi's papers so they are having to check them out.  They said it could take up to 20 days!

Got another shipping agent coming round this afternoon to see if we can get a more competitive quote.  The house is now with the rental agent and we're putting loads of stuff on ebay!!  So yes, we are getting sorted!

Hi les and Domi,
Same visa situation here, does my head in!!
Good to know things are moving forward. Is Amelie enrolled yet?
Speak soon!

Hi Ali,

Can I ask what orientation have you been told you are getting? as all staff have to be in school from 25th August, which does not give much time from your arrival for orientation, last year new staff arrived a week prior to school opening and got taken on several trips to Carrefour,trips to the beach clubs and sailing club and to Dubai Mall and one to Ikea and Mirdif City Center. I hope you get the same opportunities...if not I am sure there will be people happy to show you around.
Hope all goes well for you and you have a safe journey here.
It has been a cool 43 degrees today

Sunnee

I believe that we will not get our resident visas until we arrive.  if you have a British passport, then you can enter UAE on your passport and get a visa stamp at the airport that is valid for 90 days (I think?).  You get you residence visa when in the UAE, as the school will need your actual passport as well as the originals of all your attested documents.  I believe it takes around two weeks once we have arrived, but I could be wrong!!

I have been told nothing regarding orientation, other than we are arriving on the 23rd at 6am in Dubai and orientation starts on the 25th for a week.  I believe school starts properly on the 1st September.  As long as I can do something fun on the 28th, as it will be my birthday (21 again!!) I will be happy!!

Hi Matt,

Your visa will last for 30 days, it is possible you will get your residency visa within those 30 days but not guaranteed, the school are very good at sorting all the paperwork out for you, you just need patience :)if your residency visa is not sorted the school will take you on a visa run to the Oman border about 45 minutes away it is a pain but it is also a solution just remember be PATIENT everything will get sorted eventually. Sounds like new staff get orientation for the week 25th - 1st and current staff have to be in school for the week. All classrooms at BC School are being decorated this summer (or so we have been told) so should be nice and clean for September . Life here is so much more relaxed than in the UK. I am sure all you newbies will love it

Hi Sunnee

I haven't been told anything about orientation, but was under the impression there was a weeks worth as school only commences on 1st September in line with the British school year. It seems most of us arrive on the 23rd.

Not long now


Ps. what do you do when its so hot??

Hi Matt.

That's interesting about the visas.  I've been told by the shipping company that they can't/won't ship until they have a copy of a visa as it creates problems if the shipment arrives without a copy of one?

He did say that a letter from the school confirming that the person is working for them may be OK as a substitute.  Another company said they wouldn't let it leave the UK without a copy of the visa?

Something else we're not sure about are the visas for us husbands who won't be working initially?  I appreciate our wives will get working visas but do we get two year residents visas too?  Curious to find out.  We did ask the school and they said it wouldn't be a problem but didn't elaborate on it any further.

Hi Les

I had the same problem with one company who said that they would not ship, even after I said that it is impossible to get a residence visa for the UAE unless you are in the UAE!!  We then went with another company who said that as long as we e-mail them a copy of the visa page as soon as we get it, it would not be a problem.  The school also said they would give us a letter stating that the visa is being obtained. 

Regarding spousal visas, I believe that you are sponsored by your wife, as I am sponsoring mine!  I think that if you are successful in achieving employment, you would then get a work visa that is sponsored by your employer.  Again, I could be wrong so it is worth checking with someone who knows a little more than me!!

Sorry, another thought is that if you send stuff by ship, it will take 6-10 weeks to arrive and if it goes by groupage (shared container) it won't leave port, until the "shared container" going to the UAE is full.  This means that your stuff could be picked up one week, but doesn't leave the UK for another 2-3 weeks!!  We thought this was the best way of doing things as it means that you have more time to sort the visa out before things arrive!!  We are only taking "non essentials" by ship, so it doesn't matter when it gets there.

Hi
  Non working husbands do get their visa through the school as they are sponsored by their wife. Just checked and both mine and my husbands visa are valid for 3 years.

Also we shipped things via DHL and didn't have a problem, not heard of anyone else having these problems???? I am sure your things will get here quicker than 10 weeks. Tomorrow is our last day thankfully....it is getting hot now 42 degrees at 3pm today when we left school.....best advice is to stay indoors with the air-con on.

hi Sunee,

We can't even hit the high 20's so your heat will probably be noticed when we get there. You say school finishes tomorrow, but admin staff are there should we need them right?!

I have decided to leave work early to get things done as Ramadhan will hold us up for a bit. I think we break our first fast at 9.35pm! so I don't think I will be in the mood for doing things. It's always the first one which is the hardest.Hope everybody is well.
Enjoy Wimbledon! Keep posting!