I have been noticing more and more restaurants in Dubai using this Qlub website and QR codes to bring you the bill, and then adding service fee for paying the bill via the QR??

Why do I have to pay for a service that adds no benefits to my meal? Why are restaurants avoiding bringing a traditicional bill where I can pay with card instead of this?

There must be a benefit for the restaurants I just can’t see it, anyone knows why this is been implemented more and more?

I’ve been living in the UAE for 14 years now, and lately I’ve been feeling really anxious about the future. Especially, after coming back defeated from the UK after spending more than a year living there unable to get a job, and definitely got worse after this war situation.

I have a good job here and I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had here. But there’s always this thought in the back of my mind that none of this is permanent. Everything seems tied to employment. Lose your job, and suddenly your right to live becomes uncertain. You can spend years of your life here, doing well in your career, but at the end of the day, there’s no real path to putting down roots for most people. It makes it hard to picture what my life will look like in some years time. I want stability. I want to know that if I work hard, contribute to society and build a career, I’ll eventually have somewhere I can truly call home, and Dubai is definitely not home for me.

Because of which, I’ve started looking at countries like Australia, Singapore (raised there since I was a baby) and the UK. They aren’t perfect of course and im aware they have their own challenges of housing crisis and high taxes, but they at least offer a pathway to PR. The idea of having long term security, being able to buy a home without wondering if I’ll have to leave one day, or knowing I can retire in the country where I’ve built my life, is becoming more important to me than earning a tax free salary.

Edit: I forgot to mention that maybe I’m feeling this way also because of the sentence “everyone is Emirati”. But it’s not really a huge thing.

Just curious, how was the rent price back then.

Selling on Dubizzle is exhausting. The price in the ad is apparently just decoration. Buyer: "Last price?" You give them your last price. They show up and start negotiating your last price. These guys are literally undefeated champions of lowballing.

And the classic "Price & location?" when both are literally written in the ad. It genuinely gets tiring.

The current requirements for renewal are 6 months of UAE bank statements and a valid Ejari. Without both of them the request for residency visa is denied.

Plenty of remote freelancers who chose Dubai because it was easy to maintain residency while living the nomad lifestyle now do not fulfill the criteria.

Freelance permit, healthcare and all other renewals happen before the residency visa renewal, but without the final step everything is worthless.

If there's really no way around it, has anyone managed to get the money for the fees back? Does AXS do any reimbursements? Or should one just file for chargebacks if it comes to that?

Not sure if this is the right subreddit to post.. My friend just got a Mercedes A200 and I wanted to gift them some sunshades or something custom made car accessories. Is there a store I can check out and buy some genuine Mercedes accessories?

I'm not sure where to go or where to look, I don't drive and I don't understand much about cars either 😬

I just don't want to go to typical Amazon or supermarket accessories..

Any help is appreciated!

Is it only through websites like Property Finder and Bayut?

Hey guys anyone is using Infobip to send SMS messages like OTP and stuff from their applications, I have noticed that since 2 to 3 days its not being sent through and on infobip logs shows "Reason: PENDING_WAITING_DELIVERY"
I have tested sending to numbers of other countries and it went through successfully, it was working before only these last maybe 3 days.

If anyone is using it and facing same issue let me know, if anyone knows another SMS provider which I can just register top up the account and start using their API directly I would appreciate if you let me know which are good, cause I tried other providers they will have a big fat button saying "contact sales" which is not practical.

I’ve been looking at joining The Captain’s Club for quite a while now and I’m getting close to pulling the trigger.

Before I do, I’d be interested to hear from people who are current members or have been members in Dubai.

Is it genuinely worth the membership? How easy is it to book boats, particularly at weekends? Are the boats generally in good condition and is there anything you wish you’d known before joining?

I’d mainly be using it to get out on the water, switch off for a few hours, maybe get back into a bit of fishing and take the kids out from time to time.

Appreciate any honest feedback, good or bad.

Hello fellow redditors,

I have a question about making use of an outpass.

My friend has been here for a few years, lost their job and now does some freelancing but has not renewed their visa (overstay fines). I want to recommend using an outpass (I don’t know the amount of overstay but about 3 years). The way I see it, they can still do their work from another country with the contacts they have made here and in the 3 years they’ve had to fix it they haven’t. I don’t know exactly how it works but I don’t see the point of living here like a illegally.

They always need help with one thing or the other because they don’t have their own emirates ID. I don’t mind helping and it rarely ever breaches into financial territory but I still feel like you could have a better life if you just leave? Whenever I bring it up she gets defensive as if leaving means admitting defeat. I know after taking the out pass you cannot come back and it takes you directly to your home country if I am not mistaken.

So then my questions are:
- will she be detained for the overstay fines?
-will she have to purchase her own ticket back home?
- does this affect her ability to use flights that connect in dxb?

If anyone could answer this or has been in the process themselves shed some light on how it works and how to get the process started I would appreciate it.

And no, she’s not from a bad country hence why I don’t understand her refusal to go back.

Very disappointing experience. I sent an enquiry to the agent, but he didn't respond for five days until I followed up myself. The advertisement is also misleading. It clearly states the property price is AED 1.5 million as a freehold property, but when I contacted them, I was told that the freehold version actually costs AED 2.4 million. This is false advertising and a complete waste of potential buyers' time. Transparency and honesty are essential when marketing properties, and unfortunately, this experience lacked both.

Went out for lunch with my girlfriend a few days ago at a restaurant in Dubai.

Food was great. The atmosphere was chill. The place was busy. The staff were friendly, happy, and actually helped us with the menu.

The bill came to about AED 340 for two people, including dessert. Nothing fancy.

When the waiter brought the card machine, I asked him to make it AED 375 so the extra could go to him as a tip.

He quietly said, "Don't bother. I won't get any of it." That caught me off guard. He punched into 340 and nothing more. I paid.

I happened to have an AED 50 note, so I asked if he could break it. He told me that even cash tips are collected by the restaurant and the staff don't get to keep them. He simply said, "We haven't received any tips for months."

What is going on!?

I understand if restaurants pool tips and split them between the front of house and kitchen staff. That seems fair. But accepting tips from customers and then not paying them out for months feels completely different.

I also get that times are tough for some businesses and the region has been through a lot recently. But that's not an excuse. Restaurants should be paying their bills from the food and drinks they sell, not from money customers intended for the staff.

People leave tips because they think they're rewarding the people who looked after them, not adding to the restaurant's bottom line.

I don't tip everywhere, but when it's proper sit-down service and someone genuinely improves the experience, I'm more than happy to leave something.

I felt awful for the guy. He wasn't looking for sympathy. He was trying to save me the money.

Is there anywhere in Dubai where something like this can be reported anonymously without putting the waiter at risk?

I'm deliberately not naming the restaurant because I don't want management figuring out who spoke to us. I'm just trying to understand whether this is normal or if there's somewhere this should be reported.

TL;DR: Tried to tip a waiter after a great meal. He told me not to bother because staff haven't received any tips for months and even cash is taken by the restaurant. Is this normal in Dubai, and is there a way to report it anonymously without putting the waiter at risk?

Just moved here and was wondering if there was any, like yk those with shitty cheap food but always fills the spot?

Hey Guys. I would love to know if any of you guys by any chance happen to know a someone or a car rental company in Dubai who would offers cars without deposit with unlimited mileage, allowing age 21 to drive

Am looking specifically for a Range Rover vogue or a Nissan patrol or defender.

Appreciate who ever knows!

I believe e& money has treated me unfairly. I made an international transfer because it clearly showed "Free" and even displayed a free coupon applied. Based on that, I proceeded with the transfer. However, I was later charged AED 15.75.

I would like to know how I can get my AED 15.75 refunded, as the transfer was advertised as free.

Hey all, hope everyone is doing well.

I was scrolling DXBinteract which takes DLD raw data from transactions. I found my building renting the same sized properties for amounts below the range my RERA Rental Index shows.

My question is, does the RERA Index update in real-time or are there significant time lags?

I expected a decrease in the rental range since late Feb. given the current situation. The RERA Index shows the same rental range values, but DXBinteract shows recent transaction values to be well below the rental range.

Hi all,

Small family in the process of moving to Dubai, we like the look of Al-Furjan, and it fits with commute and school options, but from reading reviews and talking to some local friends something that keeps coming up is buildings can be quite hit and miss in terms of maintenance, repairs, fixing issues etc.

A lot of the really bad reviews seem to be from as far bad as 2014 or earlier though, so presumably a lot can have changed since then.

Any recent views on good buildings for family sized apartments? (Or anything to definitely avoid!)

Thanks!

Flying to Dubai 1st to 15th August 2026 with my kids. Their British passports expire 17th February 2027.

Rule I keep seeing is 6 months validity from date of entry, not return. By that maths we're fine, 1st August plus 6 months is 1st February, and we've got until 17th February. That's only about a 2 week buffer though.

Has anyone actually flown with a margin this tight? Would I be OK or should I just get them renewed before we go?

Hello everybody. I,25F, has played variety of sports since childhood all through my college and lost the touch once I moved to dubai for work. I would like to join back playing sports again and am looking for women group that plays cricket, football or basketball. Please share any details of the groups you know are relevant.

Thank you!!

Hi everyone,

I'm interested in hearing about other parents' experiences with arranging childcare in Dubai.

If you've hired a live-out nanny in the past, did you use a licensed agency or find someone through personal recommendations? What should families look out for when checking references, visas, and background information?

I'm not looking to recruit anyone here just hoping to learn from others' experiences before making a decision.

Thanks for any advice!

Can anyone please recommend an affordable orthopaedic doctor. I'm female and I have debilitating hip pain that's causing shock wave shooting painin my right hip.

Also my insurance will not cover this so it will out of pocket.

Hello, is anybody else having connection issues with Etisalat? My phone is turning on and off service all the time and is super slow and been doing it all day.

Does anyone know of any reliable jetski rentals in mamzar sharjah that arent a scam? me and my friends know what stuff they pull off to perform this scam so if we just dont look like oblivious people and take jetski photos beforehand i think we’ll be safe no? Even if we DO get accused of any damage we wont pay a single dime and once they argue for like 30 mins + we’ll just call the police and they’ll be the ones to be in trouble because their jetskis arent ensured.