There are two types of expats living in Dubai, says journalist Annabel Kantaria.

The first are the ones “who ride the world like a merry-go-round, jumping on and off the fastest horses before completing the circle, enriched, exhausted and content to be back in their home countries, mortgage paid off and kids’ university fees secured.”

The others are those who move to the UAE intending to do the same, but then fall in love with the place and never want to leave.

Except, maybe they should.

In today’s Telegraph, Kantaria writes:

While it’s happy to entertain expats for a while – to amuse them with a fling – it offers no long-term commitment. No citizenship, no rights. Lose your job, break the law, turn 60 – any of these and the UAE will spit you out before you’ve time to say “one-way ticket to Heathrow”.

Perhaps the broken-hearted can find solace somewhere else? 

But lovers of Dubai have an alternative; a suitor offering an engagement if not a marriage. It may not be Dubai but it’s in the Gulf – a cousin, with some familial resemblance, if you like. Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you Qatar.

You can read the case she makes for Qatar in the Telegraph. 

Image courtesy of Jacquoulecroquant.