Dubai gets more expat content than almost any city on earth. YouTube videos of luxury apartments. Instagram reels of brunches. Breathless articles about zero income tax and year-round sunshine.
This article was originally published on 27 November 2025 on The Brief at sebsauerborn.com.
Most of it is either selling you something or produced by people who arrived eighteen months ago and have not yet had to navigate anything complicated.
I have been advising clients on UAE residency for years. I have seen who it works for and who it does not. This is the honest version.
What Dubai Actually Gets Right
Let me start with the genuine advantages, because they are real and substantial.
Zero personal income tax. This is not a rumour or a loophole. There is no personal income tax in the UAE. No capital gains tax on personal investments. No inheritance tax. For an entrepreneur who has built a business generating significant income, the tax saving compared to Germany, the UK, or France is not marginal. It is life-changing in scale.
Political stability. The UAE is an autocracy. I will address the implications of that below. But as an autocracy, it is an unusually well-run one. The government is competent, the infrastructure works, the rule of law as it applies to commercial matters is respected, and there is essentially no street crime. I have clients who have lived there for fifteen years and feel safer than they did in London or Frankfurt.
International connectivity. Dubai is the best-connected city on earth by air. From Dubai, you can reach virtually any major city in the world within eight hours. For someone who travels constantly for business, this is not a minor convenience. It is a structural advantage.
Business infrastructure. The UAE free zones — DIFC, ADGM, DMCC, and a dozen others — provide genuinely world-class business infrastructure. Common law courts staffed by experienced international judges. Sophisticated banking. A deep pool of international professional services.
The expat community. Dubai is home to one of the most international populations on earth. Around 90% of the UAE's population is foreign-born. The social environment, particularly for professionals and entrepreneurs, is stimulating, cosmopolitan, and genuinely diverse in a way that most European cities, for all their talk of diversity, are not.
What Dubai Gets Wrong
Now for the parts that do not make the Instagram reels.
It is not a democracy, and that has real implications. The UAE has no independent judiciary in the Western sense for matters involving the state. Freedom of speech, as a practical matter, does not exist in the way it does in Europe or America. Criticising the government, the royal family, or UAE foreign policy in a public forum can result in consequences that would be unthinkable in Germany or the UK.
For most foreign entrepreneurs running a legitimate business, this does not affect daily life. But it is a genuine constraint. If you are a journalist, a political activist, or someone whose business involves challenging powerful local interests, Dubai is not for you.
The summer is brutal. From June to September, outdoor life in Dubai is essentially impossible. Temperatures regularly exceed 45 degrees Celsius with high humidity. The city retreats entirely indoors. If you love outdoor life, as I do on the ranch in Texas, six months of forced indoor existence is a significant lifestyle cost.
The social fabric is thin. Dubai is extraordinarily transient. Most people are there for three to five years and then move on. Deep friendships, the kind that sustain you through difficult periods, are harder to build in a city where your entire social network turns over every few years. For families with children, this is a particular issue.
The Germany-UAE double tax treaty expired in 2021 and has not been renewed. This creates genuine complexity for Germans who maintain any connection to Germany after moving. Anyone moving from Germany to Dubai needs careful advice on how to manage this gap.
Substance requirements are real and are being enforced. The days of getting a UAE residence visa, renting a flat, and then spending most of your time elsewhere while claiming UAE tax residency are over. The UAE has committed to international tax information exchange standards. Tax authorities in Germany, France, and the UK are fully aware of the substance requirements for genuine UAE residence and are increasingly scrutinising claims that do not meet them.
You need to be genuinely there. That means physical presence, a real home, your economic activity genuinely based in the UAE. If your life is actually in Munich and you have a Dubai address, you are not a UAE tax resident. You are a German tax resident with a Dubai address.
Who Dubai Is Actually For
Having laid out both sides honestly, let me give you my genuine assessment of who Dubai works well for.
It works best for entrepreneurs who have genuinely portable businesses. If your income comes from a business that can be run from anywhere — consulting, advisory services, digital products, investment management — and you are willing to actually live in Dubai for the required period, the tax saving is transformative and the lifestyle, for the right person, is genuinely excellent.
It works well for people who travel constantly and want a home base that is maximally connected.
It works for families who are comfortable with the expat school system, the transient social environment, and the cultural conservatism of UAE society outside the international bubble.
It does not work well for people who want the full European lifestyle, outdoor activities, genuine democratic participation, deep community roots, and expect to maintain significant connections to their home country while claiming UAE residency.
The Practical Checklist
If you are seriously considering Dubai, here is what I tell every client before they start the process.
First, get an honest assessment of your German, Swiss, or Austrian exit tax exposure before you move. If you have unrealised gains in a business, the timing and structure of your departure matters enormously.
Second, decide which UAE free zone or mainland structure suits your business. The choice of DIFC versus DMCC versus ADGM has real implications for what you can do, who you can bank with, and how your business will be perceived internationally.
Third, establish UAE banking before you wind down your European banking. Many people get this backwards and spend months in frustrating limbo.
Fourth, commit to genuine physical presence. Count your days. Keep records.
Fifth, get clarity on your home country's exit conditions before you leave.
Dubai is not for everyone. But for the right person, structured correctly, it remains one of the most powerful legal tax optimisation tools available to European entrepreneurs. The key word is correctly.
Work with Sebastian
I have been advising European entrepreneurs on UAE residency for years. I know what works, what has changed, and where the traps are. If you are seriously considering Dubai as your base, let's build the proper picture of your specific situation before you make any commitments. Book a consultation.